Heysel disaster

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Stadium plan: Block Z was stormed by the Liverpool FC hooligans

The Heysel disaster was a mass panic during the final of the European Football Cup in 1984/85 . It happened on May 29, 1985 before the match between Liverpool FC and Juventus Turin at the Heysel Stadium in the Laeken district of Brussels . As supporters of Liverpool stormed into the neutral sector, panic broke out and a wall collapsed. 39 people were killed. The information on the number of injured varies between “more than 450” and 600.

procedure

Drunk fans had rioted in the city by noon. An hour before kick-off, the supporters of Juventus started throwing stones and flares in the stadium, while the supporters of FC Liverpool responded with slurs and Bengali fires . Two Juventus fans stormed onto the lawn.

After throwing stones crumbling from the dilapidated standing area at each other, several hundred Liverpool fans who were in Block X stormed the neighboring Block Z at 7.45pm. Although this was actually intended for neutral spectators, they were standing especially Juventus fans who fled in panic. Many of them were pressed against a wall and trampled down. When it finally collapsed, she buried more people under her. The collapse made it possible to reduce the pressure and provided an opportunity to escape. Most of the fatalities died from asphyxiation or as a result of impact with the wall.

The match was kicked off 87 minutes late by the Swiss referee André Daina after announcements from the two team captains who asked the fans to be quiet. The European football association UEFA , the Mayor of Brussels and the police management decided to hold the game for security reasons so as not to let the already very heated atmosphere in the stands boil over. However, this happened against the will of most of the actors. In the end, a penalty converted by Michel Platini ensured a 1-0 victory for Juventus. Many television stations, including ZDF , stopped broadcasting their live at the start of the game “out of respect for life”.

causes

The Italian fans had received the tickets for Block Z from an Italian travel agency, which in turn had obtained them from a corrupt UEFA official . The Juventus fans shouldn't have been in Block Z, which was only intended for neutral spectators.

In addition, the stadium did not meet the UEFA requirements for a European Cup final . The dilapidated condition of the stadium, which had not been renovated for years and had been poorly maintained, was known beforehand, and Liverpool FC protested in advance against the decision for the venue. The establishment of a neutral block next to the Liverpool fan block was also criticized in advance. Block Z was only inadequately secured - the only demarcation there was a weak chain link fence, which could be pushed down without great effort and easily overcome. The collapsed wall was already brittle. Even when it was inspected by UEFA the day before the accident, the stadium actually failed. Still, the game went as planned.

The security organization was inadequate: the police only had eight security guards to prevent the Liverpool fans from entering Block Z. In Block Z there were neither law enforcement officers nor police officers. In addition, the police were initially unable to call for reinforcements because the radio batteries were empty. The radios used by the police and gendarmerie were not compatible.

Consequences

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32 Italians were dead, four Belgians, two French and one Northern Irish died. Of a total of 26 hooligans extradited to Belgium , 14 were sentenced to prison terms of up to three years. Belgium paid the surviving dependents the equivalent of around 1.25 million euros in compensation.

All English football clubs were banned from all international competitions by UEFA on June 2nd for an indefinite period. The ban was lifted for most clubs after five years, and Liverpool returned to international competitions after six years. Juventus Turin and the Belgian Football Association were also fined.

After the Heysel disaster, the Brussels stadium was hardly used for football matches, was almost completely rebuilt in 1994 and reopened as King Baudouin Stadium on 23 August 1995 with the match between Belgium and Germany (1: 2) . A memorial plaque on the back of the grandstand commemorates the tragedy. Exactly twenty years after the disaster, a 60 square meter sundial sculpture was inaugurated to commemorate the victims of the stadium disaster in 1985. The designer of the object, French Patrick Rimoux, explained that Italian and Belgian stones, as well as an English poem, would be used to express the regrets of the three nations concerned.

This catastrophe led on the one hand to structural changes in other stadiums, especially in countries where major tournaments or important international games took place, and on the other hand to a change in the allocation of tickets, especially at the 2006 World Cup . Furthermore, seats may only be offered at almost all international games, which is rejected by many fans. The personalization of the tickets, which is carried out for large tournaments, is also intended to prevent well-known hooligans from entering the stadium. Furthermore, by making the stadiums more attractive, more women, children and families should be won over as spectators. For special games, e.g. B. During the world championships, to which many foreign fans travel, there is also increased cooperation between the respective police authorities. Among other things, police officers accompany the fans from their country to the respective country in which the games take place and are present at problematic points.

As a result of these measures, the clashes between the hooligans shifted to the inner cities (see Daniel Nivel ) or in stadiums in which the security precautions had not yet been installed in the same way.

See also

literature

  • Fabio Chisari: ´The Cursed Cup´: Italian Responses to the 1985 Heysel Disaster . In Paul Darby, Martin Johnes, Gavin Mellor (Eds.): Soccer and Disaster . Routledge, Oxford 2005, ISBN 0-7146-5352-7 , pp. 77-94

Individual evidence

  1. ^ S. Rouquet: Drame du Heysel, il ya 34 ans: Retour sur les événements. In: rtbf.be. RTBF , May 29, 2019, accessed on July 7, 2020 (French).
  2. ↑ Rob Hughes: 30 Years After Heysel Tragedy, Pain Lingers for Families. In: The New York Times . The New York Times Company, June 2, 2015, accessed July 6, 2020 .
  3. ↑ Liverpoolfc.tv: LFC STORY 1985. May 20, 2006, accessed June 22, 2020 .
  4. ↑ a b 35 years ago - The Heysel catastrophe. May 29, 2020, accessed June 22, 2020 .
  5. ^ Claudia Rey: Liverpool FC: Stadium disaster in Heysel . In: Neue Zürcher Zeitung . ( nzz.ch [accessed on June 22, 2020]).
  6. ↑ Liverpool FC / BBC : Heysel and the tragic aftermath ( Memento from June 1, 2015 in the web archive archive.today ), April 4, 2005
  7. ↑ Michael Jahn: Visit to the Heysel Stadium in Brussels ten years after the football tragedy. "But monsieur, there is war here!" In: Berliner Zeitung . August 26, 1995. Retrieved May 28, 2015 .

Web links

Commons : Heysel Disaster  - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files