The Heysel Stadium disaster was a crowd disaster that occurred on 29 May 1985 when Juventus fans were escaping from an attack by Liverpool fans while they were pressed against a wall in the Heysel Stadium in Brussels, Belgium, before the start of the 1985 European Cup final. The stadium was in need of maintenance and had not been adequately updated.[1] It had failed inspections prior to the disaster,[2] and the wall collapsed under the force. 39 spectators—mostly Italians and Juventus fans—were killed in the subsequent crush, while 600 more were injured.[4]
Approximately an hour before the Juventus-Liverpool final was due to kick off, incidents of aggression between the two sets of supporters were taking place across the flimsy divide between the Liverpool section and what was intended to have been the "neutral" section, populated by those who had purchased tickets in Belgium. The throwing of objects back and forth led to larger scale physical altercations, and the chicken wire fence was soon ripped down. After initial fighting, the (largely Juventus) fans in the neutral section began to run away from the Liverpool fans who had become involved, initially towards the pitch (where Belgian police would not allow them to go) and the exit (where they were not permitted to leave, and then in the direction of the decrepit wall.[5][6][7] Fans already standing near the wall were crushed; eventually the wall collapsed, providing an escape route for some while contributing to the fatalities.[8][9] Many people climbed over to safety, but many others died or were badly injured. The game was played despite the pre-match incidents by authorities and organizers' joint decision for public policy doctrine reasons[10] after a state of siege was declared in the city,[11] with Juventus winning 1–0.[12]
The tragedy resulted in all English football clubs being placed under an indefinite ban by Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) from all European competitions (lifted in 1990–91), with Liverpool being excluded for an additional three years, later reduced to one,[13][14][15] and 14 Liverpool fans were found guilty of manslaughter and sentenced to six years' imprisonment, with the Belgian authorities also being blamed, including police captain Johan Mahieu, who had been in charge of security, found guilty of manslaughter. The disaster was later described as "the darkest hour in the history of the UEFA competitions".[16]
Background
In May 1985, Liverpool were the defending European Champions' Cup winners, having won the competition after defeating Roma on penalties in the previous season's final. Again, they would face Italian opposition, Juventus, which had won unbeaten the 1983–84 Cup Winners' Cup. Juventus had a team of many of Italy's 1982 World Cup winning team, which played for Juventus for many years, and its playmaker, Michel Platini, was considered the best footballer in Europe and was named Footballer of The Year by the magazine France Football for the second year in a row in December 1984. Both teams were placed in the two first positions in the UEFA club ranking at the end of the previous season[17] and were regarded by the specialist press as the two best teams on the continent.[18] Both teams had contested the 1984 European Super Cup four months earlier, with a 2–0 victory for the Italian team.
Despite its status as Belgium's national stadium
Confrontation
At approximately 7:00 p.m. local time, an hour before kickoff, the initial disturbance started.[26] The Liverpool and Sections X and the mixed, but largely Juventus, supporters in Section Z (a supposedly neutral section for which tickets had been sold locally in Belgium) stood merely metres apart. The boundary between the two was marked by temporary chain link fencing and a central thinly-policed no man's land.[27] Hooligans began to throw flares, bottles and stones across the divide and picked up stones from the crumbling terraces beneath them.[20]
As kickoff approached, the exchange of objects increased. Eventually angry Liverpool fans charged towards the Juventus fans, the boundary between Section X and Z broke down, and the few police officers stationed at the divide were overpowered. As the largely Juventus fans started fleeing, initially towards the pitch (but the Belgian police would not allow them to go there) and the exit (where the officials would not open the gate to allow them to leave) and then towards the decrepit concrete wall at the perimeter of Section Z. Fans standing near the wall were crushed, and as the pressure mounted the entire lower portion of the wall collapsed, burying fans underneath it as it fell.[28]
Match
It was decided that the match should eventually start for public policy doctrine reasons[30] because abandoning the match would have risked inciting further disturbances.[10] This decision was jointly made by UEFA officials, the Italian, English and Belgian national associations, the country's Ministry of Interior led by local Premier Wilfried Martens, Brussels Mayor Hervé Brouhon, and the city's police force, despite the scale of the disaster, the state of siege in the City of Brussels consequently declared by the Belgian government[11] and Juventus expressed concerns about the match proceeding.[31][30] After the captains of both sides spoke to the crowd and appealed for calm,
Victims
Of the 39 people killed, 32 were Italian (including two minors), four Belgian, two French, and one from Northern Ireland.[37][38]• 🇮🇹 Rocco Acerra, 29
• 🇮🇹 Bruno Balli, 50
• 🇧🇪 Alfons Bos, 35[39]
• 🇮🇹 Giancarlo Bruschera, 21
• 🇮🇹 Andrea Casula, 11
• 🇮🇹 Giovanni Casula, 44
• 🇮🇹 Nino Cerullo, 24
• 🇧🇪 Willy Chielens, 41
• 🇮🇹 Giuseppina Conti, 17
• 🇧🇪 Dirk Daeninckx, 38
• 🇮🇹 Dionisio Fabbro, 51
• 🇫🇷 Jacques François, 45
Investigation
The investigation focused initially on the actions of Liverpool fans. On 30 May, official UEFA observer Gunter Schneider said, "Only the English fans were responsible. Of that there is no doubt." UEFA, the organiser of the event, the owners of Heysel Stadium and the Belgian police were investigated for culpability. After an eighteen-month investigation, the dossier of leading Belgian judge Marina Coppieters was finally published. The investigation concluded that blame should not rest solely with the fans, and some culpability lay also with the police and authorities. Several top officials were incriminated by her findings, including police captain Johan Mahieu, who had been in charge of security. He was subsequently charged with involuntary manslaughter.[42]
Effect on stadiums
After Heysel, English clubs began to impose stricter rules intended to make it easier to prevent troublemakers from attending domestic games, with legal provision to exclude troublemakers for three months introduced in 1986, and the Football Spectators Act 1989 introduced in 1991.
Serious progress on legal banning orders preventing foreign travel to matches was arguably not made until the violence involving England fans (allegedly mainly involving neo-Nazi groups, such as Combat 18) at a match against Ireland on 15 February 1995 and violent scenes at the 1998 FIFA World Cup. Rioting at UEFA Euro 2000
Litigation
British police undertook a thorough investigation to bring the perpetrators to justice. Some seventeen minutes of film and many still photographs were examined. TV Eye produced an hour-long programme featuring the footage while British newspapers published the photographs.
A total of 34 people were arrested and questioned with 26 Liverpool fans being charged with manslaughter—the only extraditable offence applicable to events at Heysel. An extradition hearing in London in February–March 1987 ruled all 26 were to be extradited to stand trial in Belgium for the death of Juventus fan Mario Ronchi. In September 1987 they were extradited and formally charged with manslaughter applying to all 39 deaths and further charges of assault. Initially, all were held at a Belgian prison, but, over the subsequent months, judges permitted their release as the start of the trial was further delayed.
The trial eventually began in October 1988, with three Belgians also standing trial for their role in the disaster: Albert Roosens, the head of the Belgian Football Association, for allowing tickets for the Liverpool section of the stadium to be sold to Juventus fans; and two police chiefs—Michel Kensier and Johan Mahieu—who were in charge of policing at the stadium that night.[3] Two of the 26 Liverpool fans were in custody in Britain at the time and stood trial later. In April 1989, fourteen fans were convicted and given three-year sentences, half of which were suspended for five years, allowing them to return to the UK.[45] One man who was acquitted was Ronnie Jepson, who would go on to make 414 appearances over a thirteen-year career in the
Aftermath
English club ban
Pressure mounted to ban English clubs from European competition. On 31 May 1985, British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher asked The Football Association (the FA) to withdraw English clubs from European competition before they were banned,[47][48] but two days later, UEFA banned English clubs for "an indeterminate period of time".[49][50][51] On 6 June, the International Federation of Association Football (FIFA) extended this ban to all worldwide matches, but this was modified a week later to allow friendly matches outside Europe to take place.[52]
Commemorations
In 1985, a memorial was presented to the victims at the Juventus headquarters in Piazza Crimea, Turin. The monument includes an epitaph written by Torinese journalist Giovanni Arpino. Since 2001 to 2017 it has been situated in front of the club's headquarters in Corso Galileo Ferraris and since then in Juventus Headquarter.[65]In 1991, another memorial monument for the 39 victims of the disaster, was inaugurated in Reggio Emilia, the hometown of the victim Claudio Zavaroni, in front of Stadio Mirabello: every year the committee "Per non dimenticare Heysel" (In order not to forget Heysel) holds a ceremony on 29 May with relatives of the victims, representatives of Juventus, survivors and various supporters clubs from various football clubs, including Inter Milan, Milan AC, Reggiana and Torino.[66] During Euro 2000, members of the Italian team left flowers on the site in honour of the victims.
On 29 May 2005, a £140,000 sculpture was unveiled at the new Heysel stadium, to commemorate the disaster. The monument is a sundial designed by French artist Patrick Rimoux and includes Italian and Belgian stone and the poem "Funeral Blues" by Englishman W. H. Auden to symbolise the sorrow of the three countries. 39 lights shine, one for each who died that night.[67]
See also
- Crowd control
- Crowd control barrier
- Crowd manipulation
- Hillsborough disaster
- English football clubs in international competitions
- Football hooliganism in the United Kingdom
- Juventus F.C. in international football
- Liverpool F.C. in international football
- 2017 Turin stampede
- Kanjuruhan Stadium disaster
Further reading
- Evans, R., & Rowe, M. (2002). "For Club and Country: Taking Football Disorder Abroad". Soccer & Society, 3(1), 37.
External links
- Heysel Disaster Original reports from The Times, at Internet Archive
- Heysel Tragedy article on LFC Online
- BBC Sports columnist Alan Hansen – Reds tie evokes Heysel memories
- Football Violence in Europe Paper by the Social Issues Research Centre
- Partial article by Paul Tompkins
References
- Mark Davies. Heysel: a tragedy waiting to happen Euronews, 28 May 2015, retrieved 19 April 2024^
- Heysel Stadium disaster Encyclopædia Britannica, 19 May 2023, retrieved 19 April 2024^
- 'Een aaneenschakeling van kleine foutjes heeft tot het Heizeldrama geleid'