Heysel Football Stadium Disaster
25 years on from the Heysel football stadium disaster, a memorial was held in the Northern Italian city of Turin, which is the home city of Juventus, to commemorate the day. It was not only in Italy, but memorials were also held in Belgium and Britain to mark the tragedy that took place in 1985. Speaking on the occasion in Turin, UEFA president Michel Platini made a vow that an incident of this magnitude would never take place again. The ceremony was also attended by the managing director of Liverpool Christian Purslow and the new Juventus president Andrea Agnelli.
Tragedy struck at the Heysel stadium in Brussels on 29 May 1985. It was the European Cup final to be held between Liverpool and Juventus. Just as the match was due to commence, Liverpool fans breached a wall that was constructed as a parting to separate them from Juventus fans. As a result Juventus fans retreated into a concrete retaining wall, crushing those that were seated near the wall. Then the inevitable happened, the entire wall could not withstand the force of the feeling fans and collapsed, killing thirty nine people and injuring over a hundred. Out of the thirty nine killed, thirty two were fans of Juventus. However, there were some who miraculously climbed over the wall and ran to safety. To prevent further violence, the officials decided to go ahead with the match, despite the disaster. UEFA however took strict actions. All English clubs were banned till 1990-1, with Liverpool being banned for an extra one year. That was not all some Liverpool fans were also prosecuted for manslaughter. According to UEFA, it was the “darkest hour in the history of UEFA Championships”.
Speaking at the commemoration in Turin, former Juventus player Platini, who played in that match, recalled the horror of the day and the emotions that overshadowed him. He said the memory of that dark day will forever be etched in his mind. He said there was an aura of gloom in the Heysel stadium while the match was underway. He went on to say that as he was the president of UEFA now, it was his duty and also his priority to make sure that such a disaster never reoccurs and that football does not see a dark day like this again.
Over in Liverpool, church bells rang out to mark the anniversary of the tragedy. In a show of respect, flags at all Liverpool FC’s buildings flew at half mast, and thirty nine chimes sounded out of the city’s town hall to remember the victims who lost their life on that fateful day. Speaking on the occasion Juventus president said he was nine years old when disaster struck, but somehow he could not understand or fathom what he was watching on television. However, as he matured, his understanding of how the events unfolded that day became clearer. Agnelli strongly feels that stadiums should be made much safer for the future generations of football fans so that they can enjoy themselves and be surrounded by merriment rather than gloom.
UEFA loaded the entire responsibility of the incident on the shoulders of the Liverpool fans, not questioning even once the organisers of the event, police and even the owners of the ageing Heysel stadium. There was no investigation into ticket sales and allocation either. However after this horrific incident no other football matches were ever played on this ground, it was often used for athletics only. But in 1994, the stadium was broken down and it was replaced by the King Baudoin Stadium. The stadium may now be different, but the memory of Heysel still lies in the shape of a statue that stands outside the stadium.
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