On This Day: 96 fans died in Hillsborough disaster - You Will Never Walk Alone!

Hi all, welcome to All Football's On This Day! Let's find out what happened today (April 15th) in football history. If you have more stories and news that happened on this day in history, feel free to post them in the comment area and share them with AFers!

On this day in 1989 - Hillsborough disaster

On 15 April 1989, 94 Liverpool supporters died at Hillsborough Stadium in Sheffield, England during an FA Cup semi-final match between Liverpool F.C. and Nottingham Forest F.C. Two people died later as a result of injuries sustained that day, raising the total number of fatalities to 96. A total of 766 fans were injured.

The stadium - like many around the world at the time - had standing room only areas called terraces, which were sectioned off into a number of fenced pens.

A number of fans showed up late to the match, having been held up by unscheduled roadworks. Large crowds formed at the entrances as the match started and the police, in order to ease the congestion and avoid injuries, opened two side gates into the central pens for the Liverpool supporters. The police failed to monitor the number of supporters in the central pens, however, so that the ensuing rush of supporters filled them far beyond capacity.

The people in the front were forced up against the fencing between the terraces and the pitch, crushed by the weight of the crowd behind them. Because of an absence of stewards or police to direct the crowd, the entering supporters did not know what was happening at the front and continued to press their way in to see the match. The pressure of the crowd was so great that many of the 96 casualties died while standing up.

The British government appointed Lord Justice Taylor to investigate the circumstances leading to the disaster. His conclusion, known as the Taylor Report, led to the elimination of fencing between the supporters and the pitch and the conversion of many of the larger stadiums in Britain to all-seaters.

To this day, the incident at Hillsborough is the deadliest stadium-related disaster in British history.

Liverpool official twitter also presents their thoughts.

On this day in 2015 - Barca beat PSG 3-1 in UCL quarter-final first leg

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On this day in 2009 - Ronaldo scored this Puskas-winner goal

Ronaldo won the award for his long-range goal against Porto in the UEFA Champions League quarter-final second leg on 15th April 2009 while in the colours of Manchester United.

The recipient of the first ever Puskás Award was Portugal's Cristiano Ronaldo and he was presented with the trophy by Mrs. Ferenc Puskás who was taking part in her first and last Puskás Award ceremony and was escorted up to the podium by Liberian George Weah, the only African player ever to have won the Golden Ball Award. 

On this day in 2017 - Zapata scored this goal in Milan derby

Inter appeared to be cruising after Antonio Candreva and Mauro Icardi scored to give them a 2-0 half-time lead before Alessandro Romagnoli pulled one back with seven minutes left. Milan then won a corner in the seventh minute of stoppage time, Inter failed to clear and Cristián Zapata managed to force the ball back towards goal at the far post.

On this day in 1889 - The original early substitution

On 15 April 1889, goalkeeper Sam Gillam became the first substitute in international football when he came on for Wales in a match against Scotland.

While substitutions had been used informally at the club level for several years, the rules for international football at that time prohibited them for any reason, including injury. As a result, national teams typically picked only eleven players for a match.

Unfortunately for Wales, their chosen goalkeeper, James Trainer, was not released by his club, who failed to notify the Welsh Football Association until shortly before kick-off. The WFA sent an emergency call for Gillam to take Trainer's place, but the two teams agreed to start the game as scheduled, with Wales using a local amateur named Alf Pugh in goal until Gillam arrived, which he did in the 30th minute.

FIFA did not officially recognize the use of substitutes in international football until the qualification matches for the 1954 World Cup