Brother of West Brom fan who died during match recalls call from son and wants inquiry
The brother of a West Bromwich Albion fan who died watching his team has recalled the harrowing moment his son told him what had happened.
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Steve Townsend has said he's committed to getting justice for his brother Mark, who collapsed and died at Hillsborough on Saturday during the Baggies' Championship fixture at Sheffield Wednesday.
The 57-year-old had gone to the match with Steve's son, Matthew.
Speaking to ITV Central news, Mr Townsend spoke of hearing about his brother being taken ill from his son, then later learning about how long it had taken for a medic to arrive.
He said: "I was sat at home watching the football and heard the commentator say there seems to be a bit of a commotion and the next thing I knew, my phone is ringing off the hook and it was my son Matthew telling me that my brother, his uncle, had collapsed and he wasn't breathing.
"I could hear all this going on in the background with people shouting and I could even hear the crowd saying 'stop the game, stop the game'".
Mr Townsend said he'd learnt that it had taken the stadium's medic and a defibrillator 10 to 12 minutes to get to his brother, who had been helped by an off-duty paramedic who was watching the game.
He said that news had been hard to take adding: "It's a little bit late at the moment to do anything to bring my brother back and I would like to think they'd be moving heaven and earth to put right what's gone wrong and make sure it doesn't happen again."
Mr Townsend also said that he was calling for an independent coroner's inquiry into what happened, saying that something seriously needed to be done to address the failings of what had happened, while also saying that he had heard nothing official from Sheffield Wednesday.
West Bromwich Albion held a tribute to Mark Townsend during their Championship fixture against Middlesbrough on Tuesday night, with a shirt place on the 57-year-old's seat in the Birmingham Road End and a minutes applause on the 57th minute.
Steve Townsend said the tribute had meant a lot to the family and been a great help and said it was spurring him on to find justice for his brother.
He said: "If ever there was a send off, that was a send off and it's helped the family a lot.
"I'm in this for the long haul to get a bit of justice for my brother and to make sure that no other football fan ever has to go through what we're going through."
