38 Years ago today

[Shipley Ram]

Anyone remeber 38 years ago?  I was on the football special to Newport away, which was an eventfull day in a very mid eighties kind of way. We won and finished 7th in the third division, on 70 points. 

I will also always remember it the day of the shocking Bradford fire. I was pleased we sang stand up for the 56 in our pre sesason friendly, it was noted by the fans up here.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-leeds-65413744

[Ram-Alf]

Sure do now that you've reminded me.

A mini bus of us climbed aboard and off to south Wales we go, Got to the outskirts of Newport and asked a young lad where's the football ground...a quick reply was...phuck you, He recognised our English accents...foolish and brave, We mooched on parked up and went for a few beers.

Get into the ground watch an unassuming game, Get on the bus to drive to Worcester, Word started to filter through that there was an incident at Bradford...nothing of note at the time, By the time we'd got back on the bus a few hours later we'd heard there was some deaths following a fire.

Get home and to bed, Next morning I turn the TV on to see all and sundry, I remember an old fella walking across the pitch with his hair on fire, Sat there in shock...tears rolling down my face...a sad sad day 🥲

[EtoileSportiveDeDerby]

7 minutes ago, The Last Post said:

Sure do now that you've reminded me.

A mini bus of us climbed aboard and off to south Wales we go, Got to the outskirts of Newport and asked a young lad where's the football ground...a quick reply was...phuck you, He recognised our English accents...foolish and brave, We mooched on parked up and went for a few beers.

Get into the ground watch an unassuming game, Get on the bus to drive to Worcester, Word started to filter through that there was an incident at Bradford...nothing of note at the time, By the time we'd got back on the bus a few hours later we'd heard there was some deaths following a fire.

Get home and to bed, Next morning I turn the TV on to see all and sundry, I remember an old fella walking across the pitch with his hair on fire, Sat there in shock...tears rolling down my face...a sad sad day 🥲

I remember many years ago going on a health and safety course ran bya retired fireman. He was on duty that day and told the story of somebody some distance away from the stand but the combination of intense heat with hair products their head just suddenly caught fire. Sad day indeed. 

[RebelScum]

Remember getting back from Newport walking with my mates from the station & a police car pulled over & asked if we had heard about Bradford.😥

[Mucker1884]

"This is a burning hell... And look at THAT!  Oh this is awful... Desperately trying to save the life of a supporter who had come to watch the football... This is human tragedy."

John Helm, TV Commentator,
As policemen and fellow fans alike battered the flaming body with coats, scarves, and even the soles of their own boots, in their vain attempts to extinguish the flames.

A combination of film and words that still cannot be re-visited without tears, even after all these years.

 

 

Whenever anyone comments negatively on PPS... or any other "modern, soulless bowl of concrete and steel"... I never fail to remember those scenes, those words, and the 56 souls who never got to see another minute of football.  

 

RIP to each and all.
xxx

 

[JJs dms]

I was there seem to remember that the news on the fire was a bit sketchy on the way back more of a case of have you heard Bradfords grounds caught fire. It had been a bit rough up there on our previous visit so there was a bit of hilarity at the time until we found out the true depth of the disaster and that obviously changed RIP

[Guest]

Not at the Newport game, (too young) but I did see it in the tele and my Nan and Grandads house where I usually spent Saturday afternoons.  It shocked me greatly at the time, and was it a wake up call for football that was never fully heeded.  Fire safety was improved, but it had to wait for another tragedy to really focus on overall fan safety.

I know we romanticise about the BBG, and rightly so, it was a place I loved and a holding place of significant memories for many, but it could well have been at any ground that day with old fashioned wooden stands…

RIP the 56 victims.

[Van der MoodHoover]

6 hours ago, Andrew1 said:

Not at the Newport game, (too young) but I did see it in the tele and my Nan and Grandads house where I usually spent Saturday afternoons.  It shocked me greatly at the time, and was it a wake up call for football that was never fully heeded.  Fire safety was improved, but it had to wait for another tragedy to really focus on overall fan safety.

I know we romanticise about the BBG, and rightly so, it was a place I loved and a holding place of significant memories for many, but it could well have been at any ground that day with old fashioned wooden stands…

RIP the 56 victims.

and not just football......the combination of smoking and wood caused the tragedy at Kings Cross tube station not long after - 1987 or something?

[Anag Ram]

The 80s had a number of awful disasters, often involving poor crowd behaviour, but this one was different.

Although most stands aren’t flammable now I still feel there’s a risk of a similar incident due to the narrow concourses and gaps between seats. 
It’s very difficult to move en masse and in a panic, very easy for people to fall.

I wonder just how many lessons have been learned as a result of Bradford and how confident clubs are that they could prevent future issues?

 

[Guest]

16 minutes ago, Van der MoodHoover said:

and not just football......the combination of smoking and wood caused the tragedy at Kings Cross tube station not long after - 1987 or something?

Yes, you are quite right VdM…

Both linked by negligence and a lack of investment.

[Guest]

8 minutes ago, Anag Ram said:

The 80s had a number of awful disasters, often involving poor crowd behaviour, but this one was different.

Although most stands aren’t flammable now I still feel there’s a risk of a similar incident due to the narrow concourses and gaps between seats. 
It’s very difficult to move en masse and in a panic, very easy for people to fall.

I wonder just how many lessons have been learned as a result of Bradford and how confident clubs are that they could prevent future issues?

 

I agree, people could quite rightly trip, and prevent the egress of others, and in doing so get injured too, irrespective of what else that you do.

However I think that the difference is that Bradford was preventable, and was mainly due to negligence and lack of investment, the stand was a known risk.  A little research shows that the stand was due to be replaced as it had already been condemned, which in some ways makes it worse.

Removing the root cause of what would make people have to leave in a hurry in the first place is the key…

[GangwayD]

On 11/05/2023 at 13:12, Shipley Ram said:

Anyone remeber 38 years ago?  I was on the football special to Newport away, which was an eventfull day in a very mid eighties kind of way. We won and finished 7th in the third division, on 70 points. 

I will also always remember it the day of the shocking Bradford fire. I was pleased we sang stand up for the 56 in our pre sesason friendly, it was noted by the fans up here.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-leeds-65413744

I was on the Football special that day too - it certainly was an eventful mid-eighties kind of away day.

Kicked off in and around Newport all day.  Fighting with the Coppers in the Away end and remember one losing his helmet.  DLF in the home end and a great win, all singing 'We're going up next year' (and we did).   

Ironically the Football special train stopped near St Andrews on the way back and Leeds had played Birmingham.  Some wag on the train, shouted, 'Let us off, we'll sort the Leeds out'

I doubt they knew, there had been a huge amount of trouble that day with Blues and Leeds and a wall had collapsed killing a young fan.  This seems to get overlooked. 

We got back to learn of the horrific scenes at Bradford.  I didn't do that pre-season friendly Shipley Ram but big respect that we sang that.

Cheers

Gangway D from the terrace

 

Edited May 12, 2023 by GangwayD