It was 20 years ago today, April 15, 1989.

Liverpool were to take on Nottingham Forest in an FA Cup semifinal at Sheffield Wednesday's stadium—Hillsborough.

It was meant to be a happy day, a day in which Kenny Dalglish's Liverpool fought against Brian Clough's Forest for a place in the final of the greatest domestic club competition on Earth.

Certainly, for my family, it started off as a happy day.

My sister was celebrating her first birthday. My Dad, an Everton fan, was relishing the prospect of the FA Cup final being a Merseyside Derby.

He sat down in front of the television preparing for a great football match. His smile, however, soon turned into a look of utter shock and disbelief at the events unfolding before him.

This couldn't be happening, could it?

After all, Liverpool was still reeling from the Heysel disaster four years previously, in which Liverpool fans had indirectly caused the deaths of 39 rival fans. The disaster shook European football to its very foundations.

The deaths of those 38 Italians and one Belgian were no less significant than those who perished in Hillsborough, but there is no doubt which tragedy hit Liverpool hardest. It is always harder when you lose one of your own.

That fateful day, on April 15, Liverpool lost 96 of their own.

The first mistake was made in the ticket allocations. Liverpool fans, despite being the much larger turnout, were put in the Leppings Lane End, which had a capacity of 14,600.

Nottingham Forest was given the Spion Kop End, with a capacity of 21,000.

In addition to this error, the Liverpool fans were left queuing outside the stadium, with thousands trying to get through the two small turnstiles so that they didn't miss the start of the match.

Those who had been denied entry couldn't get out because of the crowd behind them and acted merely as an obstruction to those trying to get in, thereby worsening the congestion problems.

Seeing this overcrowding, the police opened up Gate C, a gate without turnstiles. Instead of serving the intended purpose of being an exit, however, thousands of Liverpool fans rushed to get through the gate and into the stadium, causing an even bigger crush.

By this time, the fans at the front were being forced against the fences designed to stop spectators from going onto the pitch. The reasons why no stewards or police were at the entrance to the tunnel directing people away from the central pens, are questions to which we are all still seeking answers.

Despite the evident problems in the Leppings Lane End, the game got underway. Only six minutes were played before everyone involved realized just how serious the problems were, and the match was called off.

The scenes of desperation and despair are still shocking to watch, as fans desperately tried to escape the fatal crush. Some were pulled up to the West Stand, directly above the Leppings Lane End, while others climbed the fence to escape.

Eventually the sheer weight of the mass of people caused the fence to collapse. Thousands of people spilled onto the pitch, and those capable of helping used advertising hoardings to carry away the injured or dead.

Despite the obvious tragic happenings, the police still forcibly prevented fans from carrying the injured to reach the ambulances.

Forty-four ambulances arrived, but all but one of them were turned back by the police. That one was so overwhelmed by the number of people needing help that it also had to turn back.

Twenty years later, the hurt is still there among Liverpool fans. Most still refuse to buy The Sun after its despicable headlines following the Hillsborough disaster.

The survivors are still haunted, and the city still mourns whenever Hillsborough is mentioned.

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