University of Hong Kong vice-chancellor apologises for comparing siege by students to Liverpool FC’s Hillsborough disaster
In email to chairman of local supporters’ club, Peter Mathieson said he had not meant to be unsympathetic or offensive when referring to 1989 event in which 96 football fans died
The University of Hong Kong’s vice-chancellor offered his apologies to Liverpool FC supporters in Hong Kong after he was accused of using the Hillsborough tragedy for political gain.
In an email to the chairman of the club, Peter Mathieson said his remark was not meant to be unsympathetic or offensive.
“If I have caused offence to you or anyone else involved, I apologise unreservedly,” he wrote. “I am a football fan from the UK and like many I was deeply affected by the events at Hillsborough.
“Those memories came back to me when I was trapped in the middle of a large crowd the other evening: I sensed danger and I worried that there could be injury or loss of life,” he continued. “Instead I was reflecting my over-riding concern for safety: please don’t take it any other way.”
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On Sunday, Mathieson said he believed he was in danger as hundreds of students tried to storm the university’s council meeting on Tuesday last week and that “when I was trapped in the middle of a large noisy crowd, having great difficulty staying on my feet, I thought of the Hillsborough disaster in 1989 when 96 football fans died”.
The football tragedy arose from poor crowd control. Thousands of spectators at an FA Cup semi-final in 1989 were caught in a human crush that killed 96 fans and injured hundreds.
Mathieson’s reply came shortly after Steve Parry, chairman of Liverpool FC Supporters’ Club Hong Kong, emailed the vice-chancellor to demand a written apology yesterday morning.
Parry told the Post that Mathieson’s comparison to Hillsborough was “rather distasteful and somewhat desperate”.
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“Those [survivors and victims’ family members] I have spoken to are highly offended by his reference,” he added.
He said Mathieson’s timing could not have been worse, as the Hillsborough inquests were now in their final stage.
“We accept his apology, although I believe it was used for political gain,” Parry said.
Separately, the proposed meeting between HKU students, council chairman Professor Arthur Li Kwok-cheung and Mathieson was still up in the air as the university had yet to agree on the conditions raised by the students.
A HKU spokesman yesterday said details were being finalised.
Additional reporting by Jeffie Lam
