READING through the independent report into the Hillsborough disaster yesterday, and receiving heartbreaking confirmation of the extent of the cover up that followed the tragedy, the abiding question is, 'How did these people think they could get away with it?'

The answer is quite simple. They thought they could get away with it because they could. For 23 years, their lies, deceit and, in some cases, illegal doctoring of official documentation has been accepted as the true account of what happened on that fateful afternoon in South Yorkshire.

With the tacit support of both major political parties, the emergency services and at least one national newspaper, they peddled a lie that besmirched the reputation of the 96 football supporters who lost their lives ahead of an FA Cup semi-final between Liverpool and Nottingham Forest.

Why did people believe the lie? Easy. Because it involved football supporters and then, as now, football supporters are seen as a sub-section of the population that deserve all the mistreatment and criticism that is thrown at them.

Assaulting police officers, urinating on dead bodies, causing a crush. 'They're bound to have done it because they're football hooligans'.

The sport has changed markedly in the 23 years since Hillsborough, but the perception of all football fans as alcohol-fuelled lunatics hell-bent on causing trouble persists.

It is why, even now, supporters are herded around like cattle, forced to adhere to rules and regulations that treat them as little better than criminals and have their civil liberties removed simply because they choose to attend a football match.

Don't get me wrong, there is still an element of the football-going public that is involved in disorder, and there is a need for the policing and organisation of the sport to reflect that.

But if Hillsborough proved anything, it is that it is all too easy to blame football supporters for any harm or wrongdoing they suffer. It is to be hoped yesterday's revelations force a reassessment of that stance.