Non-league side apologises after fans aim Hillsborough chants at Liverpool club

Hebburn Town has said that it was a "minority" of fans who engaged in the offensive chants

A non-league side based in the Tyne and Wear region of the Northeast of England has issued an apology after a number of its fans were reportedly involved in violence with opposition supporters. The incidents in question are believed to have taken place on Saturday during a match between Hebburn Town Football Club and City of Liverpool Football Club in the FA Vase. The home side won the match 1-0 in front of a record attendance, but it was ugly scenes between the two sets of supporters which dominated headlines. Both sets of fans are believed to have been involved in fights and the Liverpool Echo reports that eyewitnesses saw 20 police cars and vans dispatched to the ground. Witnesses also reported hearing home fans aiming songs about the Hillsborough disaster at the travelling Liverpudlians. In a tweet sent after the match, Hebburn Town FC said: "We’d like to apologise to all our neighbours and genuine fans who experienced some awful scenes at full time inside & outside the ground. Unfortunately a small minority of both home & away fans decided fighting was okay. Great game and majority of fans tremendous." https://twitter.com/HebburnTown/status/1051152977396936704 The Hillsborough disaster took place on April 15, 1989 and claimed the lives of 96 Liverpool supporters. The initial inquest into the disaster found the deaths to be accidental, but following a decades-long campaign by the Hillsborough Family Support Group a second coroner's inquest was sanctioned and held between April 1, 2014 and April 26, 2016. The inquest ruled that the supporters were unlawfully killed due to negligent failures by police and ambulance services.