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Hillsborough and Bradford disasters - where were you?


Bob The Badger

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Bradford - was doing University finals

Hillsborough - was at the gee-gees in Newmarket.

Both occasions caught up on later news bulletins. Its hard to explain to kids just how cut off from information you could be back then.

Both terrible incidents - there seemed to be a lot of them back in the 80s, with Clapham, Kings X, Lockerbie......

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I was decorating our bedroom at Smethwick at ten past three when Graham Richards announced "Derby have just gone ahead against Manchester United, we are going over to Hillsborough!

There are ambulances going onto the pitch and fans are pulling down hoardings to use as stretchers!"

I will never forget how icy cold I felt at that moment. The Rams' 2-0 victory felt hollow and I echoed Dagleish's comment "Football's irrelevant now.

Four years later I attended a work conference on PTSD with one of the counsellors who dealt with the immediate after effects of that afternoon.

Nobody was unaffected. Even some Forest supporters suffered long-term trauma as they initially chanted abuse which stopped suddenly as the full horror was revealed, followed by feelings of helplessness at being bottled in and unable to help.

Anyone can find commentary on Youtube but be warned... It is a life changing experience.

"There will be a full inquiry! There will be a full inquiry!" After 30 years the conclusions differed little from the commentator's report at 1650 on the first afternoon that police opened a gate causing hundreds more supporters to pour into an overcrowded section of the ground where ordinary fans were slready being crushed by cage barriers.

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Was playing rugby for East Retford v's Sheffield Medics on the day of Hillsborough. Match had to be abandoned by half time, as their pagers were all going crazy and they had to go back to Hallamshire hospital.

Watched Bradford fire on telly at my parents in Repton, I'm sure it was the same afternoon as John Lowe scored the first televised 9 dart checkout. I can also confirm the story regarding the Dirties fans turning up at The Mount Pleasant pub, later that evening.

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17 hours ago, Brummie Steve said:

I was decorating our bedroom at Smethwick at ten past three when Graham Richards announced "Derby have just gone ahead against Manchester United, we are going over to Hillsborough!

There are ambulances going onto the pitch and fans are pulling down hoardings to use as stretchers!"

I will never forget how icy cold I felt at that moment. The Rams' 2-0 victory felt hollow and I echoed Dagleish's comment "Football's irrelevant now.

Four years later I attended a work conference on PTSD with one of the counsellors who dealt with the immediate after effects of that afternoon.

Nobody was unaffected. Even some Forest supporters suffered long-term trauma as they initially chanted abuse which stopped suddenly as the full horror was revealed, followed by feelings of helplessness at being bottled in and unable to help.

Anyone can find commentary on Youtube but be warned... It is a life changing experience.

"There will be a full inquiry! There will be a full inquiry!" After 30 years the conclusions differed little from the commentator's report at 1650 on the first afternoon that police opened a gate causing hundreds more supporters to pour into an overcrowded section of the ground where ordinary fans were slready being crushed by cage barriers.

I know a couple of red dogs that have never been to a game since that day.

so so many contributing factors as to why it happened.

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I am lucky to have grown up in a day and age where deaths a football matches are purely accidental or the result of medical emergencies as opposed to systematic failings from footballing authorities, clubs and police forces.

I know some people yearn for the days where you could pack shoulder to shoulder in to a stand and find that sense of community in it, but what we have now is surely better? I would gladly take my daughter to a football match in 2020, I would absolutely not have considered it had I been around in the 70's and 80's.

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On 05/02/2020 at 18:28, JuanFloEvraTheCocu'sNesta said:

I am lucky to have grown up in a day and age where deaths a football matches are purely accidental or the result of medical emergencies as opposed to systematic failings from footballing authorities, clubs and police forces.

I know some people yearn for the days where you could pack shoulder to shoulder in to a stand and find that sense of community in it, but what we have now is surely better? I would gladly take my daughter to a football match in 2020, I would absolutely not have considered it had I been around in the 70's and 80's.

I know how bad it must look but in those days fathers and mothers still took their sons and daughters USUALLY "trouble "could be avoided, fans developed a sense of when and where " hooliganism" was going to happen .

The two disasters were not football violence related Bradford was a discarded cigarette thrown in a wooden stand. My first matches which my Dad took me to at the BBG were in the Normanton Stand middle wooden terracing fans still smoked and still threw there fag ends on the floor. I,m sure my Dad never considered NOT taking me because the smoking ban wasn`t going to be enforced untill 2007.

Hillsborough( in my opinion) was due to the fact that the gates were opened allowing 1000s of people to cause an over crowding on the Leppings Lane terracing .Having been on the same terracing the previous years, on one occasion Sheffield Wednesday fans had infiltrated  the visitors end and fighting was occurring for most of the first half one Wednesday fan received such a kicking just in front of me that he needed to be carried out by St Johns Ambulance men .At the time  I thought the tunnel was very low, too narrow ,and sloped dangerously downwards .But it didn`t stop me attending matches I still went back to Hillsborugh and stood in Leppings Lane  to watch the Rams again and again (after the disaster the tunnel was closed).

If I had been to either of the games where the fans died I might have thought differently and possible seeing the terrible events it may have stopped me attending games in the future 

 

  

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19 minutes ago, Alan Ramage 4 EVA said:

I know how bad it must look but in those days fathers and mothers still took their sons and daughters USUALLY "trouble "could be avoided, fans developed a sense of when and where " hooliganism" was going to happen .

The two disasters were not football violence related Bradford was a discarded cigarette thrown in a wooden stand. My first matches which my Dad took me to at the BBG were in the Normanton Stand middle wooden terracing fans still smoked and still threw there fag ends on the floor. I,m sure my Dad never considered NOT taking me because the smoking ban wasn`t going to be enforced untill 2007.

Hillsborough in my opinion was due to the fact that the gates were opened allowing 1000s of people to cause an over crowding on the Leppings Lane terracing .Having been on the same terracing the previous years on one occasion Sheffield Wednesday fans were in the visitors end and fighting was occurring for most of the first half one Wednesday fan received such a kicking just in front of me he was carried out by St Johns Ambulance men .At the time  I thought the tunnel was very low, too narrow ,and sloped dangerously downwards .But it didn`t stop me attending matches I still went back to Hillsborugh and stood in Leppings Lane again to watch the Rams again and again (after the disaster the tunnel was closed).

 

  

I understand the two incidents were not violence related, but the very fact that the rules, regulations and actions (or lack of actions) of the authorities and clubs allowed them to happen is unfathomable by todays standards. It's a great shame that it took these tragedies happening for people to wake up and make changes that were long overdue.

With regards to getting a sense of when and where hooliganism might occur, I don't think it should ever happen or have happened under any circumstance. Football is a game played for entertainment, being tribalistic to the point where you are willing to kick someones head in over it has always seemed completely infantile to me to be honest.

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2 hours ago, JuanFloEvraTheCocu'sNesta said:

I understand the two incidents were not violence related, but the very fact that the rules, regulations and actions (or lack of actions) of the authorities and clubs allowed them to happen is unfathomable by todays standards. It's a great shame that it took these tragedies happening for people to wake up and make changes that were long overdue.

With regards to getting a sense of when and where hooliganism might occur, I don't think it should ever happen or have happened under any circumstance. Football is a game played for entertainment, being tribalistic to the point where you are willing to kick someones head in over it has always seemed completely infantile to me to be honest.

I think Sheffield Wednesday safety officer was brought to account for not improving and developing the ground the tunnel being very dangerous .

Regarding the sense of when and where it was going to kick off that was something most fans developed in those days you needed to have your wits about you it was a different time if not a different world.I am NOT for one moment condoning kicking any ones head in I am just saying it happened every week and was just part and parcel of match days in the 70s and 80s 

The point I was trying to make in this post is regarding taking children to games at the time ,parents did take children .It is similar to saying you would not have got in a car without seat belts or ridden a motor bike without a helmet .At one time you didn`t have a choice 

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15 minutes ago, Alan Ramage 4 EVA said:

I think Sheffield Wednesday safety officer was brought to account for not improving and developing the ground the tunnel being very dangerous .

Regarding the sense of when and where it was going to kick off that was something most fans developed in those days you needed to have your wits about you it was a different time if not a different world.I am NOT for one moment condoning kicking any ones head in I am just saying it happened every week and was just part and parcel of match days in the 70s and 80s 

The point I was trying to make in this post is regarding taking children to games at the time ,parents did take children .It is similar to saying you would not have got in a car without seat belts or ridden a motor bike without a helmet .At one time you didn`t have a choice 

Fair point. I'm not having a go at anyone in particular, I am just relieved I can take my family to a match without having to worry about any of that nonsense.

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On 02/02/2020 at 23:44, Elgin_Ram said:

I remember going to Bradford earlier in the season, before the fire and fans throwing concrete from the Broken terraces at each other. The big fences were up, a Derby fan got knocked out in front of me and he had to be lifted over them. Madness

I was at OT and at Newport on the days of the disasters but I do remember this trip to Bradford vividly.  The crumbling terrace was being chucked between fans and loads of Derby were in the seats in main stand where it was going off all afternoon.

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Was in the Forest end at Hillsborough in their Kop

Awful experience

Watched the Bradford fire live on Yorkshire TV - shocking

All these deaths were not in vain - this could have happened to so many of us. 

Thankfully the changes they brought (along with Hysel) meant they have never happened again. A small consolation to those who suffered losses. 

 

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Bradford - Just out of Derby station and walking back to town after Newport away, a police car pulled over just to speak to us;

"Lads, have you been to the match?"; "Yeah, why?"; "Have you heard about Bradford?... There has been a fire... 6 people have died!"

Immaturity be an excuse (we were 15/16), but one of the lads ran down Siddels Road singing 'Bradfords burning...'

Hillsborough - Driving to Tescos in Mickleover and heard on the radio... Wasn't until I got back home I realised how bad it was.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Bradford - watching TV 

Hillsborough - I was watching the Rams at old Trafford at half time they said on the tannoy that the game had been suspended due to trouble in Liverpool end ( a small number of Man U fans cheered )   So I have disliked them since with greater intensity 

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9 hours ago, Sparkle said:

Bradford - watching TV 

Hillsborough - I was watching the Rams at old Trafford at half time they said on the tannoy that the game had been suspended due to trouble in Liverpool end ( a small number of Man U fans cheered )   So I have disliked them since with greater intensity 

They cheered because they didn't know what had happened, no one did.

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On 24/02/2020 at 08:19, Van der MoodHoover said:

Tough day by the look.

Remember watching the news later and seeing all the forest fans at their end standing silently. Presumably wondering what was going on. Thought that your crowd appeared very dignified in the circumstances. 

At first we weren't  simply didn't know what was happening

 

The we saw the hoarding stretchers and ambulances

 

Outside the ground and back to the car, i remember listening to the radio and hearing the death toll rise

 

A truly awful day for football, but for the families...i cant imagine

 

 

 

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