RiP 56

[ilkleyram]

Today, Wednesday, is the 31st anniversary of the fire at Valley Parade that killed 56 football fans

Rest in peace

[needles]

The forgotten disaster - when compared to Hillsborough. RIP.

[Mafiabob]

RIP.....

[davenportram]

41 minutes ago, needles said:

The forgotten disaster - when compared to Hillsborough. RIP.

not for me, or many others. Just the fans weren't treated like ***** afterwards. I've been to the memorial in Bradford more than once. May they rest in peace. Interestingly Bradford and Lincoln played a charity match I aid of Hillsborough families to help with their fight for justice.

[MrsRam]

Remember it well. We were in a minibus coming back from Newport and heard it on the radio.

stopped for a pint on the way home and the landlord wouldn't serve us.... Have you heard about Bradford.  You football fans.  Nowt but trouble. 

The way that stand went up.  Horrendous. 

Rip.

[Rev]

In common with Hillsborough, isn't there now a decent amount of doubt concerning the original inquest verdict?

http://www.independent.co.uk/sport/football/news-and-comment/bradford-city-stadium-fire-new-evidence-casts-more-doubt-on-verdict-bradford-fire-was-accident-10213925.html

[Wolfie20]

Probably had more of an initial impact on me than Hillsborough. The scenes on the day were horrendous.

 

R.I.P.

[Van der MoodHoover]

32 minutes ago, reveldevil said:

In common with Hillsborough, isn't there now a decent amount of doubt concerning the original inquest verdict?

http://www.independent.co.uk/sport/football/news-and-comment/bradford-city-stadium-fire-new-evidence-casts-more-doubt-on-verdict-bradford-fire-was-accident-10213925.html

I think that in a post @ladyram put into the Hillsborough thread some of the background material to the actual stadium design made reference to some previous reviews. 

One of these noted that there was potential under old stands for debris to accumulate in the void thus creating a fire hazard. Recommendations were made for regular clearing but clubs appeared reluctant to implement on cost grounds.

So there is potentially a case for the football club to answer.

RIP to the 56.

[GboroRam]

[davenportram]

15 minutes ago, HantsRam said:

I think that in a post @ladyram put into the Hillsborough thread some of the background material to the actual stadium design made reference to some previous reviews. 

One of these noted that there was potential under old stands for debris to accumulate in the void thus creating a fire hazard. Recommendations were made for regular clearing but clubs appeared reluctant to implement on cost grounds.

So there is potentially a case for the football club to answer.

RIP to the 56.

I do think if in any way the fans had been blamed then a similar outcry from relatives would have been made. As it was the fans were treated with respect and dignity, and the families were allowed to lay their loved ones to rest with untarnished reputations .

[Van der MoodHoover]

10 minutes ago, davenportram said:

I do think if in any way the fans had been blamed then a similar outcry from relatives would have been made. As it was the fans were treated with respect and dignity, and the families were allowed to lay their loved ones to rest with untarnished reputations .

This is very true. I don't know what enquiries about the fire took place but was only speculating that if the coroners verdicts were accidental death then that may actually be legally flawed,  outcry or no.

I would be horrified if our legal system was built on the basis that critical scrutiny is only applied when a significant and vocal protest movement exists.

[ilkleyram]

16 minutes ago, HantsRam said:

I think that in a post @ladyram put into the Hillsborough thread some of the background material to the actual stadium design made reference to some previous reviews. 

One of these noted that there was potential under old stands for debris to accumulate in the void thus creating a fire hazard. Recommendations were made for regular clearing but clubs appeared reluctant to implement on cost grounds.

So there is potentially a case for the football club to answer.

RIP to the 56.

Living near Bradford and going to the town quite often, the memorial in the town centre is always very moving and this day features large locally.  The stadium dominates the skyline above one of the main roads into the town - one I take often - and I always think of the fire and the people who died when I pass it.  

There isn't the same level of concern about the verdicts locally that there was/is in Liverpool probably because there hasn't been the problem of the authorities i.e. the police, lying in their statements for many years.  Periodically someone writes something that suggests wrongdoing but there isn't the same level of resentment that appears to have been the case in Liverpool. I'm sure that affected families will feel very much more emotional than those words suggest.

Debris under the stand was clearly part of the problem, probably set alight by a cigarette, but there doesn't seem to be any wide ranging desire to sue the football club, rather a wish to remember on anniversaries like today in which the club participates in full, rightly so.

It is interesting, I think, that Bradford was 4 years before Hillsborough.  Bradford led indirectly and eventually to new concrete and steel stadia like the Ipro and was part of the end (some years later) of the BBG which was largely made of wood; Hillsborough saw the end of fences and the beginning of all seat stadia with the Taylor report. The two overlapped in terms of their impact upon the way in which we now watch live sport in this country

[davenportram]

23 minutes ago, ilkleyram said:

Living near Bradford and going to the town quite often, the memorial in the town centre is always very moving and this day features large locally.  The stadium dominates the skyline above one of the main roads into the town - one I take often - and I always think of the fire and the people who died when I pass it.  

There isn't the same level of concern about the verdicts locally that there was/is in Liverpool probably because there hasn't been the problem of the authorities i.e. the police, lying in their statements for many years.  Periodically someone writes something that suggests wrongdoing but there isn't the same level of resentment that appears to have been the case in Liverpool. I'm sure that affected families will feel very much more emotional than those words suggest.

Debris under the stand was clearly part of the problem, probably set alight by a cigarette, but there doesn't seem to be any wide ranging desire to sue the football club, rather a wish to remember on anniversaries like today in which the club participates in full, rightly so.

It is interesting, I think, that Bradford was 4 years before Hillsborough.  Bradford led indirectly and eventually to new concrete and steel stadia like the Ipro and was part of the end (some years later) of the BBG which was largely made of wood; Hillsborough saw the end of fences and the beginning of all seat stadia with the Taylor report. The two overlapped in terms of their impact upon the way in which we now watch live sport in this country

Another aside is improvements and redesign work on Leppings lane was pit on hold because of cost, because of changes being made to the wooden structures of Hillsborough.

 

it is true that out of every disaster something gets made safer for the future.

[MuespachRam]

The chairman of Bradford at the time was being investigated recently for more than one case of insurance claim fraud regarding to fire...

[England Ram]

I was 9 and watched it on tv. Will never forget the burning man. 

Luckily for the viewer but so unlucky for the deceased is that most of the deaths happened inside the stand. Those that tried to exit the way they came in found the turnstiles locked (as they more than often were in those days) and with no ground staff around to open them perished that way. 

Heroics from so many who realised the magnitude.

sheer luck that there were no railings penning them in.