Taylor Report

The Hillsborough Stadium Disaster Inquiry report, better known as the Taylor Report is a document, whose development was overseen by Lord Taylor of Gosforth, concerning the aftermath and causes of the Hillsborough disaster of April 1989, at which 95 Liverpool F.C. fans died (a 96th fan eventually died in 1993, having never regained consciousness). An interim report was published in August 1989, and the final report was published in January 1990. It sought to establish the causes of the tragedy, and make recommendations regarding the provision of safety at sporting events in future.

The Taylor Report found that the main reason for the disaster was the failure of police control. It recommended that all major stadia convert to an all-seater model, that all ticketed spectators 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 clubs in the highest divisions (top 2 divisions in the English system) must comply to this recommendation by August 1994. As a result most clubs refurbished or rebuilt (partly and in some cases completely) stadiums, while others built new stadiums at different locations.

Some clubs had started upgrading their stadia before this rule was introduced. For example, St Johnstone arranged for the construction of McDiarmid Park, which opened in time for the 1989-90 season and was already being built when Hillsborough occurred.

The report stated that standing accommodation is not intrinsically unsafe, but the government decided that no standing accommodation was to be allowed at all.

Other recommendations of the Taylor Report included points on items such as the sale of alcohol within stadia, crush barriers, fences, turnstiles, ticket prices and other stadium items.