The Hillsborough Disaster: A Fatal Crush, Soccer Hooligans, and a Massive Cover-Up
DISGRACELAND
Exactly Right and iHeartPodcasts
4.6 • 13.4K Ratings
🗓️ 9 June 2026
⏱️ 36 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
On April 15th, 1989, 95 men, women, and children were crushed to death during a soccer match between Liverpool and Nottingham Forest – two additional victims would later die of their injuries. The Hillsborough Disaster ruined lives and communities. But Hillsborough wasn’t just a disaster. It was a fight for justice. It was a war between the establishment and the people, and a cover-up on the largest scale – one that exploited hooligan culture in order to assassinate the character of thousands. And once the dust settled on the very public and very contentious collision of fandom and greedy capitalism, soccer – and, for that matter, all sports – would never be the same again.
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This episode was originally published on August 9, 2024.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | This is exactly right. |
| 0:10.3 | Double Elvis. |
| 0:13.9 | Disgrace Land is a production about football, or should I say soccer for all the Americans out there. |
| 0:32.5 | And it's a story about one of the deadliest tragedies in the history of sports, the Hillsborough disaster. |
| 0:39.7 | It's a story about not just death and destruction, but also about the press and about |
| 0:45.9 | hooligans, and about justice and community, about fighting for what is right, about screaming |
| 0:53.2 | out at the top of your lungs as you in tens of |
| 0:56.3 | thousands engage in the ritual of singing your club's fight song, and in the process, making |
| 1:02.6 | great music. Unlike that music I played for you at the top of the show, that wasn't great |
| 1:08.8 | music. That was a preset loop from my Melotron called |
| 1:13.3 | Spaghetti Standoff, MK1. I played you that loop because I can't afford the rights to |
| 1:20.8 | she drives me crazy by the fine young cannibals. And why would I play you that specific slice of snare drum pop cheese could I afford it? |
| 1:32.4 | Because that was the number one song in America on April 15, 1989. |
| 1:39.1 | And that was the day that a soccer stadium was transformed into hell on earth. |
| 1:44.6 | And a smear campaign against the game's most loyal supporters was hatched. |
| 1:50.4 | On this episode, a fatal human crush, hooligan culture, |
| 1:55.3 | a war between the establishment and the people, and the memory of the 97, |
| 2:03.2 | those who lost their lives in the Hillsborough disaster. |
| 2:06.3 | I'm Jake Brennan, and this is Disgraceland. They say it started when King Edward III was on the throne. |
| 2:38.8 | It was 1349. |
| 2:40.8 | They didn't even use a ball. |
| 2:42.4 | They used a pig's bladder. |
... |
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