Taylor Report

The Hillsborough Stadium Disaster Inquiry report is the report of an inquiry which was overseen by Lord Justice Taylor, into the causes of the Hillsborough disaster in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England, on 15 April 1989, as a result of which, at the time of the report, 95 Liverpool fans had died (a 96th fan died in 1993, and 97th in 2021^[1]). An interim report was published in August 1989,^[2] and the final report was published in January 1990.^[3][4]

The Taylor Report found that the main reason for the disaster was the failure of police control.^[5] It recommended that all major stadiums convert to an all-seater model, and that all ticketed spectators should have seats, as opposed to some or all being obliged to stand. The Football League in England and the Scottish Football League introduced regulations that required clubs in the highest divisions (top two divisions in the English system^[6]) to comply with this recommendation by August 1994.

The report stated that standing accommodation was not intrinsically unsafe, but the government, nonetheless, decided that no standing accommodation should be allowed.

Other recommendations of the Taylor Report included points on items such as the sale of alcohol within stadiums, crush barriers, fences (as many Liverpool fans had been crushed to death against the perimeter fencing at Hillsborough), turnstiles, ticket prices and other stadium items.