Luzhniki disaster by "Izvestia" on 20 July. Some controversy in the media coverage of the Luzhniki football disaster is not unique. In 1989, three months before the "dark secret" article in "Sovetsky Sport", "The Sun" newspaper published a sensational article in the UK about the Hillsborough disaster, in which 96 people lost their lives. That article also contained strong allegations and cited unnamed sources. The sensational versions of the Luzhniki disaster proved to be much more popular with the media than the facts provided by the investigation. Despite its refutation in 1989, the figure of 340 fatalities or its variations ("more than
Hillsborough disaster a complaint before the match in 1989. One supporter wrote to the Football Association and Minister for Sport complaining, "The whole area was packed solid to the point where it was impossible to move and where I, and others around me, felt considerable concern for personal safety". Police presence at the previous year's FA Cup semi-final (also between Liverpool and Nottingham Forest and also at Hillsborough Stadium) had been overseen by Chief Superintendent Brian L. Mole. Mole had supervised numerous police deployments at the stadium in the past. In October 1988 a probationary PC in Mole's F division, South Yorkshire