| Today is the anniversary of the Heysel disaster 16:38 - May 29 with 1924 views | Illinoisblue |
Incredible and baffling that the game went ahead after 39 fans were killed. Curious as to the thought process that went into that decision. Different times. |  |
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| Today is the anniversary of the Heysel disaster on 16:46 - May 29 with 1870 views | Perublue |
I was in Italy on a family holiday (Eurocamp in Tuscany) and I remember us being among a small amount of Brits and a load of Dutch families gathering around the TV in the Pizza/BBQ area .. needless to say English commentary wasn’t necessary.
I recall dad and all other Brits either being advised or deciding to remove their GB stickers from their cars for fear of revenge “attacks”… next morning I was woken hearing dad scraping ours off.
Never felt so ashamed to be a Brit … at that point and age, have had many more reasons since sadly. [Post edited 29 May 16:49]
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| Today is the anniversary of the Heysel disaster on 16:59 - May 29 with 1788 views | bluelagos |
Think the reason the match went ahead was the Belgian police were scared of more violence if it was called off.
Less understandable is why the TV coverage carried on - BBC could easily have opted not to show the match given the 39 deaths.
Brutally honest piece from Tony Evans here. He has written a fair bit about it.
https://tonyevans92a.substack. |  |
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| Today is the anniversary of the Heysel disaster on 17:10 - May 29 with 1705 views | Ewan_Oozami |
| Today is the anniversary of the Heysel disaster on 16:59 - May 29 by bluelagos |
Think the reason the match went ahead was the Belgian police were scared of more violence if it was called off.
Less understandable is why the TV coverage carried on - BBC could easily have opted not to show the match given the 39 deaths.
Brutally honest piece from Tony Evans here. He has written a fair bit about it.
https://tonyevans92a.substack. |
"The common belief was that Belgian beer was weaker than the booze at home" - different times indeed.... |  |
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| Today is the anniversary of the Heysel disaster on 17:56 - May 29 with 1607 views | Illinoisblue |
| Today is the anniversary of the Heysel disaster on 16:59 - May 29 by bluelagos |
Think the reason the match went ahead was the Belgian police were scared of more violence if it was called off.
Less understandable is why the TV coverage carried on - BBC could easily have opted not to show the match given the 39 deaths.
Brutally honest piece from Tony Evans here. He has written a fair bit about it.
https://tonyevans92a.substack. |
He seems to get a lot of stick on Twitter but I like Evans. Passionate but fair. | |
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| Today is the anniversary of the Heysel disaster on 18:08 - May 29 with 1595 views | bluelagos |
| Today is the anniversary of the Heysel disaster on 17:56 - May 29 by Illinoisblue |
He seems to get a lot of stick on Twitter but I like Evans. Passionate but fair. |
Met him a few times, sunk quite a few pints. He has done a fair bit - was in "The Farm" before they trimmed their numbers and we went as a young man to the states where I think he overstayed for a couple of years.
To get to be a football editor for the Times is some achievement for an ordinary scally.
Passionate, absolutely. | |
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| Today is the anniversary of the Heysel disaster on 18:10 - May 29 with 1584 views | armchaircritic59 |
Indeed, I was in a friends place in London at the time and couldn't believe what I was watching. It didn't look too bad at first, it soon became very obvious it was far far worse than that. For the sake of those that died and their families, I hope a very important lesson was learned by all concerned. |  | | |
| Today is the anniversary of the Heysel disaster on 18:13 - May 29 with 1574 views | Swansea_Blue |
I assume that partially explains why so many people were able to believe the lies spread by SYP about Liverpool fans at Hillsborough. It may even explain why SYP and the press thought they could get away with spreading lies. That’s not to blame the fans indirectly for Hillsborough of course, but I wonder if the story from that day would have played out differently without Heysel. Maybe or maybe not. Fans in general weren’t getting a lot of good press at that time in any case, and Scousers seemed easy targets for piss taking and abuse in general. |  |
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| Today is the anniversary of the Heysel disaster on 18:25 - May 29 with 1501 views | MattinLondon |
| Today is the anniversary of the Heysel disaster on 18:13 - May 29 by Swansea_Blue |
I assume that partially explains why so many people were able to believe the lies spread by SYP about Liverpool fans at Hillsborough. It may even explain why SYP and the press thought they could get away with spreading lies. That’s not to blame the fans indirectly for Hillsborough of course, but I wonder if the story from that day would have played out differently without Heysel. Maybe or maybe not. Fans in general weren’t getting a lot of good press at that time in any case, and Scousers seemed easy targets for piss taking and abuse in general. |
There’s a very good series on BBC sounds called ‘hooligans’ which touches with how the UK authorities viewed football fans - it wasn’t in a very good light. I’ve linked the series in - if anyone has any spare time it’s quite accessible yet thought provoking.
https://www.bbc.com/audio/seri |  | | |
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| Today is the anniversary of the Heysel disaster on 18:40 - May 29 with 1431 views | armchaircritic59 |
| Today is the anniversary of the Heysel disaster on 18:25 - May 29 by MattinLondon |
There’s a very good series on BBC sounds called ‘hooligans’ which touches with how the UK authorities viewed football fans - it wasn’t in a very good light. I’ve linked the series in - if anyone has any spare time it’s quite accessible yet thought provoking.
https://www.bbc.com/audio/seri |
The foolishness of tarring everyone with the same brush. | | | |
| Today is the anniversary of the Heysel disaster on 18:42 - May 29 with 1420 views | Churchman |
I was playing my usual rubbish in a snooker match and missed it.
Couldn’t believe my ears when I heard and saw the footage in subsequent days. John Wark was there and he said basically that what should have been the highlight of his career turned into the biggest nightmare.
The game should never have gone ahead. It was a disgrace. I think it only did (correct me if I’m wrong) because the inadequate police thought it was more risky to abandon than play it, from a violence point of view.
Nobody should go to a football match and not return home. |  | | |
| Today is the anniversary of the Heysel disaster on 18:54 - May 29 with 1339 views | Radlett_blue |
| Today is the anniversary of the Heysel disaster on 18:10 - May 29 by armchaircritic59 |
Indeed, I was in a friends place in London at the time and couldn't believe what I was watching. It didn't look too bad at first, it soon became very obvious it was far far worse than that. For the sake of those that died and their families, I hope a very important lesson was learned by all concerned. |
I remember coming home to my flat after a couple of post match beers, turning on the TV & couldn't quite believe what I was seeing. As you said, it didn't look too bad on TV but Barry Davies at one point said that it was clear that some lives had been lost. I understood the decision to play the game as the crowd reaction to an abandonment could have been horrific, but my belief is that the Liverpool players knew what had happened & reckoned that if they won, the game would be awarded to Juventus, given their specific request that the game not be played. They, unsurprisingly, put in a half hearted performance & the referee ensured that Juventus "won" the game, which was the best outcome. |  |
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| Today is the anniversary of the Heysel disaster on 19:52 - May 29 with 1259 views | jontysnut |
| Today is the anniversary of the Heysel disaster on 16:59 - May 29 by bluelagos |
Think the reason the match went ahead was the Belgian police were scared of more violence if it was called off.
Less understandable is why the TV coverage carried on - BBC could easily have opted not to show the match given the 39 deaths.
Brutally honest piece from Tony Evans here. He has written a fair bit about it.
https://tonyevans92a.substack. |
Stanley Matthews said his worst time came when playing on after the Burden Park disaster with covered up bodies beside the pitch. |  | | |
| Today is the anniversary of the Heysel disaster on 20:16 - May 29 with 1209 views | glasso |
Was reading stuff about it recently, and crazy to think that Dalglish was present at the Ibrox, Heysel and Hillsborough disasters. Poor bloke must have seen some things. |  | | |
| Today is the anniversary of the Heysel disaster on 20:29 - May 29 with 1166 views | waveneyblue |
| Today is the anniversary of the Heysel disaster on 18:13 - May 29 by Swansea_Blue |
I assume that partially explains why so many people were able to believe the lies spread by SYP about Liverpool fans at Hillsborough. It may even explain why SYP and the press thought they could get away with spreading lies. That’s not to blame the fans indirectly for Hillsborough of course, but I wonder if the story from that day would have played out differently without Heysel. Maybe or maybe not. Fans in general weren’t getting a lot of good press at that time in any case, and Scousers seemed easy targets for piss taking and abuse in general. |
Absolutely correct.
Rightly or wrongly the football fan of the 80's was deemed lowlife.
I guess from the outside looking in, it was an easy, cheap decision to make. |  | | |
| Today is the anniversary of the Heysel disaster on 20:33 - May 29 with 1162 views | bluelagos |
| Today is the anniversary of the Heysel disaster on 20:16 - May 29 by glasso |
Was reading stuff about it recently, and crazy to think that Dalglish was present at the Ibrox, Heysel and Hillsborough disasters. Poor bloke must have seen some things. |
The doc on Amazon (Kenny) is well worth a watch.
The scenes on Heysel are unbelievably hard and disturbing viewing. The coverage at the time on the UK news was very sanitised. Truly one of the darkest days football has ever witnessed. | |
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| Today is the anniversary of the Heysel disaster on 23:36 - May 29 with 874 views | Fixed_It |
| Today is the anniversary of the Heysel disaster on 20:33 - May 29 by bluelagos |
The doc on Amazon (Kenny) is well worth a watch.
The scenes on Heysel are unbelievably hard and disturbing viewing. The coverage at the time on the UK news was very sanitised. Truly one of the darkest days football has ever witnessed. |
A family I knew ages ago were all ardent Town fans and followed them home and away. I lost contact with them, but when I met one of them a few years later I was shocked to learn that hey just stopped going to football after Heysel, it disturbed them so much. |  |
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| Today is the anniversary of the Heysel disaster on 07:22 - May 30 with 688 views | MK1 |
| Today is the anniversary of the Heysel disaster on 18:13 - May 29 by Swansea_Blue |
I assume that partially explains why so many people were able to believe the lies spread by SYP about Liverpool fans at Hillsborough. It may even explain why SYP and the press thought they could get away with spreading lies. That’s not to blame the fans indirectly for Hillsborough of course, but I wonder if the story from that day would have played out differently without Heysel. Maybe or maybe not. Fans in general weren’t getting a lot of good press at that time in any case, and Scousers seemed easy targets for piss taking and abuse in general. |
I disagree. Heysel is the most shameful I have ever been to be British. |  |
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| Today is the anniversary of the Heysel disaster on 21:22 - May 30 with 425 views | armchaircritic59 |
| Today is the anniversary of the Heysel disaster on 20:33 - May 29 by bluelagos |
The doc on Amazon (Kenny) is well worth a watch.
The scenes on Heysel are unbelievably hard and disturbing viewing. The coverage at the time on the UK news was very sanitised. Truly one of the darkest days football has ever witnessed. |
There was very little that was sanitised as it happened live on TV. It appeared they truly didn't understand exactly what was unfolding in front of them. At first neither did viewers until it all started to become horribly obvious. Terribly ironic that those who were treated like animals ended up being used by people behaving like them. | | | |
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