 Photograph of Section X during the disaster. | |
 | |
| Date | 29 May 1985; 40 years ago (1985-05-29) |
|---|---|
| Venue | Heysel Stadium |
| Location | Brussels, Belgium |
| Coordinates | 50°53′45″N4°20′3″E / 50.89583°N 4.33417°E /50.89583; 4.33417 |
| Cause | Football hooliganism; dilapidated stadium; negligent administration; poor policing[1][2] |
| Participants | Supporters ofLiverpool andJuventus |
| Outcome | English clubs banned from European competition for five years; Liverpool for six years |
| Deaths | 39 |
| Non-fatal injuries | 600 |
| Arrests | 34 |
| Convicted | Police captain Johan Mahieu,[3] and 14 Liverpool fans convicted ofmanslaughter |
TheHeysel Stadium disaster (French:Drame du Heysel[dʁamdyɛzɛl];Dutch:Heizeldrama[ˈɦɛizəlˌdraːmaː];Italian:Strage dello 'Heysel[ˈstraːdʒedelloeiˈzɛl]) was acrowd disaster on 29 May 1985, whenJuventus fans were escaping from an attack byLiverpool fans while they were pressed against a wall in theHeysel Stadium in Brussels, Belgium, before the start of the1985 European Cup final. The stadium was in need of maintenance and had not been adequately updated.[1] It had failed inspections before the disaster,[2] and the wall collapsed under the force. Thirty-nine spectators—mostly Italians and Juventus fans—were killed in the subsequent crush, while 600 more were injured.[4]
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An hour before the final was due to kick off, incidents of aggression between the two sets of supporters were taking place across the flimsy divide between the Liverpool section and what was intended to be a "neutral" section, for those who had purchased tickets in Belgium. The throwing of objects back and forth led to larger scale physical altercations, and the chicken wire fence was soon ripped down. After initial fighting, Juventus fans in the neutral section began to run away from the Liverpool fans who had become involved, initially towards the pitch (where Belgian police would not allow them to go) and the exit (where they were not permitted to leave), and then in the direction of the decrepit wall.[5][6][7] Fans already standing near the wall were crushed; eventually the wall collapsed, providing an escape route for some while contributing to the fatalities.[8][9] Many people climbed to safety, but many others died or were badly injured. The game was played despite the pre-match incidents,[10] after astate of siege was declared in the city,[11] with Juventus winning 1–0.[12]
The tragedy resulted in Englishfootball clubs being banned byUnion of European Football Associations (UEFA) from all European competitions (lifted in 1990–91), with Liverpool being excluded for an additional three years, later reduced to one,[13][14][15] and 14 Liverpool fans were found guilty ofmanslaughter and sentenced to six years' imprisonment, with the Belgian authorities also being blamed, including police captain Johan Mahieu, who had been in charge of security, found guilty of manslaughter. The disaster was later described as "the darkest hour in the history of the UEFA competitions".[16]
In May 1985,Liverpool were the defendingEuropean Champions' Cup winners, having won the competition after defeatingRoma onpenalties in theprevious season's final. Again, they would face Italian opposition,Juventus, which had won unbeaten the1983–84 Cup Winners' Cup. Juventus had a team of many ofItaly's1982 World Cup winning team, which played for Juventus for many years, and itsplaymaker,Michel Platini, was considered the best footballer in Europe or the world and was namedFootballer of The Year by the magazineFrance Football for the second year in a row in December 1984. Both teams were placed in the two first positions in theUEFA club ranking at the end of the previous season[17] and were regarded by thespecialist press as the two best teams on the continent.[18] Both teams had contested the1984 European Super Cup four months earlier, with a 2–0 victory for the Italian team.
Despite its status as Belgium'snational stadium, Heysel Stadium was in a poor state of repair by the1985 European Cup final. The 55-year-old stadium had not been sufficiently maintained for several years, and large parts of the facility were literally crumbling. For example, the outer wall had been made ofcinder block, and Liverpool fans who did not have tickets were seen kicking holes in the wall to get in.[19] In some areas of the stadium, there was only oneturnstile, and some fans attending the game claimed that they were never searched or asked for their tickets.[20]
Liverpool players and fans reportedly expressed surprise at the stadium's condition, despite reports fromArsenal fans that the ground was a "dump" when Arsenal had played there a few years earlier. They were also surprised that Heysel was chosen despite its poor condition, especially sinceBarcelona'sCamp Nou andMadrid'sSantiago Bernabéu were both available. Juventus PresidentGiampiero Boniperti and Liverpool CEO Peter Robinson urged theUnion of European Football Associations (UEFA) to choose another venue and claimed that Heysel was not in any condition to host a European Cup final, especially one involving two prominent European clubs. However, UEFA refused to consider a move.[21][22][unreliable source?] It was later discovered that UEFA's inspection of the stadium had lasted just thirty minutes.[23]
The stadium was crammed with 58,000 to 60,000 supporters, with more than 25,000 for each team. The two ends behind the goals comprised all-standing terraces, each end split into three zones. The Juventus end was O, N, and M, and the Liverpool end was X, Y, and Z, as deemed by the Belgian court after the disaster. However, the tickets for the Z section were reserved for neutral Belgian fans in addition to the rest of the stadium. The idea of the large neutral area was opposed by both Liverpool and Juventus,[24] as it would provide an opportunity for fans of both clubs to obtain tickets from agencies or fromticket touts outside the ground and thereby create a dangerous mix of fans.[22]
At the time, Belgium already had a large Italian community; manyexpatriate Juventus fans from Brussels,Liège andCharleroi bought Section Z tickets.[25][20] Also, many tickets were bought up and sold by travel agents, mainly to Juventus fans. That meant the Juventus fans had more sections than the Liverpool fans with the Z section, which was nominally reserved for neutrals. Reportedly, Liverpool fans were still smarting from being attacked by Romaultras at the 1984 European Cup final and placed next to what amounted to another Juventus section heightened tensions before the match.[20] A small percentage of the tickets ended up in the hands of Liverpool fans.
At approximately 7:00 p.m. local time, an hour before kickoff, the initial disturbance started.[26] The Liverpool supporters in Section X and the mixed, but largely Juventus, supporters in Section Z (a supposedly neutral section for which tickets had been sold locally in Belgium) stood merely metres apart. The boundary between the two was marked by temporarychain link fencing and a central thinly-policed no man's land.[27]Hooligans began to throw flares, bottles and stones across the divide and picked up stones from the crumbling terraces beneath them.[20]
As kickoff approached, the exchange of objects increased. Eventually angry Liverpool fans charged towards the Juventus fans, the boundary between Section X and Z broke down, and the few police officers stationed at the divide were overpowered. As the Juventus fans started fleeing, initially towards the pitch (but the Belgian police would not allow them to go there) and the exit (where the officials would not open the gate to allow them to leave) and then towards the decrepitconcrete wall at the perimeter of Section Z. Fans standing near the wall werecrushed, and as the pressure mounted the entire lower portion of the wall collapsed, burying fans underneath it as it fell.[9] Some fans managed to climb over to safety, but many others died or were badly injured.
In retaliation for the events in Section Z, many Juventus fans advanced down the stadium running track to help other Juventus supporters, but police intervention stopped the advance. A large group of Juventus fans fought the police with rocks, bottles and stones for two hours. One Juventus fan was also seen firing astarting gun at Belgian police.[28]
It was decided that the match should eventually start forpublic policy doctrine reasons[29] because abandoning the match would have risked inciting further disturbances.[10] This decision was jointly made by UEFA officials, theItalian,English andBelgian national associations, the country'sMinistry of Interior led bylocal PremierWilfried Martens,Brussels MayorHervé Brouhon, and the city'spolice force, despite the scale of the disaster, thestate of siege in theCity of Brussels consequently declared by theBelgian government[11] and Juventus' expressed concerns about the match proceeding.[30][29] After the captains of both sides spoke to the crowd and appealed for calm,[31] the players took the field knowing that people had died. Years later, Liverpool captainPhil Neal said that in hindsight, it would have been "a better decision" to call off the game.[22]
Juventus won the match 1–0 thanks to a penalty scored byPlatini, which was awarded by the Swiss referee, Daina, for a foul againstZbigniew Boniek.[32]
At the end of the game, thetrophy was given in front of the stadium's Honor Stand by UEFA PresidentJacques Georges to Juventus CaptainGaetano Scirea. The chants of fans of both teams in the stands[33] and the massiveinvasion of the pitch by journalists and fans at the end of the match generated the collectivehysteria.[34] Some of the Italian club players celebrated the title in the middle of the pitch in front of their fans in the M section, and some of the Liverpool players applauded their fans between the X and Z sections.[35]
Liverpool players only realised the extent of the tragedy when they boarded their bus at a Brussels hotel to go to the airport, when a crowd of Juventus supporters surrounded the bus. Police had to escort the bus out of the lot.[22] The police allowed Liverpool's bus to drive directly onto thetarmac atBrussels Airport to prevent potential disturbances at the terminal.[20]
Of the 39 people killed, 32 were Italian (including two minors), four Belgian, two French, and one fromNorthern Ireland.[36][37]
Rocco Acerra, 29 Bruno Balli, 50
Alfons Bos, 35[38] Giancarlo Bruschera, 21 Andrea Casula, 11 Giovanni Casula, 44 Nino Cerullo, 24 Willy Chielens, 41 Giuseppina Conti, 17 Dirk Daeninckx, 38 Dionisio Fabbro, 51
Jacques François, 45[39] Eugenio Gagliano, 35 Francesco Galli, 24 Giancarlo Gonnelli, 20 Alberto Guarini, 21 Giovacchino Landini, 50 Roberto Lorentini, 31 Barbara Lusci, 58 Franco Martelli, 22 Loris Messore, 28 Gianni Mastroiaco, 20 Sergio Bastino Mazzino, 38 Luciano Rocco Papaluca, 38 Luigi Pidone, 31 Benito Pistolato, 50
Patrick Radcliffe, 38[40] Domenico Ragazzi, 44 Antonio Ragnanese, 49 Claude Robert, 27[38] Mario Ronchi, 43 Domenico Russo, 28 Tarcisio Salvi, 49 Gianfranco Sarto, 47 Amedeo Giuseppe Spolaore, 55 Mario Spanu, 41 Tarcisio Venturin, 23 Jean Michel Walla, 32 Claudio Zavaroni, 28The investigation focused initially on the actions of Liverpool fans. On 30 May, official UEFA observer Gunter Schneider said, "Only the English fans were responsible. Of that there is no doubt." UEFA, the organiser of the event, the owners of Heysel Stadium and the Belgian police were investigated for culpability. After an eighteen-month investigation, the dossier of leading Belgian judge Marina Coppieters was finally published. The investigation concluded that blame should not rest solely with the fans, and some culpability lay also with the police and authorities. Several top officials were incriminated by her findings, including police captain Johan Mahieu, who had been in charge of security. He was subsequently charged with involuntary manslaughter.[9]
After Heysel, English clubs began to impose stricter rules intended to make it easier to prevent troublemakers from attending domestic games, with legal provision to exclude troublemakers for three months introduced in 1986, and theFootball Spectators Act 1989 introduced in 1991.
Serious progress on legal banning orders preventing foreign travel to matches was arguably not made until the violence involving England fans (allegedly mainly involvingneo-Nazi groups, such asCombat 18) at a match againstIrelandon 15 February 1995 and violent scenes at the1998 FIFA World Cup. Rioting atUEFA Euro 2000 saw the introduction of new legislation and wider use of police powers—by 2004, 2,000 banning orders were in place, compared to fewer than 100 before Euro 2000.[41][42]
The main reforms to English stadiums came after theTaylor Report into theHillsborough disaster in April 1989, which ultimately resulted in the death of 97 Liverpool fans. All-seater stadiums became a requirement for clubs in the top two divisions while pitch-side fencing was removed andclosed-circuit cameras became widespread. Fans who misbehave can have their tickets revoked and be legally barred from attending games at any English stadium.
The Heysel Stadium itself continued to be used for some matches of the Belgium national team until 1990, when UEFA banned Belgium from hosting a European final for a minimum of 10 years. In 1994, the stadium was almost completely rebuilt as theKing Baudouin Stadium. On 28 August 1995 the new stadium welcomed the return of football to Heysel in the form of a friendly match betweenBelgium andGermany. It then hosted a major European final again on 8 May 1996 whenParis Saint-GermaindefeatedRapid Vienna 1–0 to win theCup Winners' Cup.
British police undertook a thorough investigation to bring the perpetrators to justice. Some seventeen minutes of film and many still photographs were examined.TV Eye produced an hour-long programme featuring the footage while British newspapers published the photographs.
A total of 34 people were arrested and questioned with 26 Liverpool fans being charged withmanslaughter—the onlyextraditable offence applicable to events at Heysel. An extradition hearing in London in February–March 1987 ruled all 26 were to be extradited to stand trial in Belgium for the death of Juventus fan Mario Ronchi. In September 1987 they were extradited and formally charged with manslaughter applying to all 39 deaths and further charges of assault. Initially, all were held at a Belgian prison, but, over the subsequent months, judges permitted their release as the start of the trial was further delayed.
The trial eventually began in October 1988, with three Belgians also standing trial for their role in the disaster: Albert Roosens, the head of the Belgian Football Association, for allowing tickets for the Liverpool section of the stadium to be sold to Juventus fans; and two police chiefs—Michel Kensier and Johan Mahieu—who were in charge of policing at the stadium that night.[3] Two of the 26 Liverpool fans were in custody in Britain at the time and stood trial later. In April 1989, fourteen fans were convicted and given three-year sentences, half of which were suspended for five years, allowing them to return to the UK.[43] One man who was acquitted wasRonnie Jepson, who would go on to make 414 appearances over a thirteen-year career in theEnglish Football League.[44]
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Pressure mounted to ban English clubs from European competition. On 31 May 1985, British Prime MinisterMargaret Thatcher askedThe Football Association (the FA) to withdraw English clubs from European competition before they were banned,[45][46] but two days later, UEFA banned English clubs for "an indeterminate period of time".[47][48][49] On 6 June, theInternational Federation of Association Football (FIFA) extended this ban to all worldwide matches, but this was modified a week later to allow friendly matches outside of Europe to take place.[50] In December 1985, FIFA announced that English clubs were also free to play friendly games in Europe, though the Belgian government banned any English clubs from playing in their country.[51][52][53]
Though theEngland national team was not subjected to any bans, English club sides were bannedindefinitely from European club competitions, with Liverpool being provisionally subject to a further three years' suspension as well. In April 1989, following years of campaigning from the English football authorities, UEFA confirmed the reintroduction of English clubs (with the exception of Liverpool) into its competitions from the 1990–91 season onward effective from 11 July 1990.[54][55][56] In April 1991 UEFA's executive committee voted to allow Liverpool back into European competition from the 1991–92 season onward, a year later than their compatriots, but two years earlier than initially foreseen. In the end, all English clubs served a five-year-ban, while Liverpool were excluded for six years.
According to former Liverpool strikerIan Rush, who signed with Juventus a year later, he saw pronounced improvement in the institutional relationships between both the clubs and their fans during his career in Italy.[21]
Prior to the introduction of the ban, England were ranked first in theUEFA coefficient ranking due to the performance of English clubs in European competition in the previous five seasons.[57] Throughout the ban, England's points were kept in the ranking until they would have naturally been replaced.
The places vacated by English clubs in the UEFA Cup were reallocated to the best countries who would usually only have two spots in the competition—countries ranked between ninth and twenty-first. For the1985–86 UEFA Cup, the Soviet Union, France,Czechoslovakia, and the Netherlands were granted an additional spot each, while in1986–87,Yugoslavia, Czechoslovakia, France, andEast Germany were the recipients. The1987–88 season saw Portugal, Austria, and Sweden gain an additional place, with Sweden and Yugoslavia gaining the places for the1988–89 competition. The final year of the English ban,1989–90 saw Austria receive a spot, while a play-off round was played between a French and a Yugoslav side for the final space—due to the two countries having the same number of points in the ranking.[58]
England was removed from the rankings in 1990 due to having no points.[59] England did not return to the top of the coefficient rankings until 2008.[60]
The following clubs were denied entry to European competitions during this period:
The number of places available to English clubs in the UEFA Cup would however have been reduced had English teams been eliminated early in the competition. By the time of the re-admittance of all English clubs except Liverpool in 1990–91, England was only granted one UEFA Cup entrant (awarded to the league runners-up); prior to the ban, they had four entry slots, a number not awarded to England again under regular means.
Welsh clubs playing in theEnglish league system, who could qualify for theEuropean Cup Winners' Cup via theWelsh Cup, were unaffected by the ban.Bangor City (1985–86),[note 1]Wrexham (1986–87),Merthyr Tydfil (1987–88),Cardiff City (1988–89), andSwansea City (1989–90) all competed in the Cup Winners' Cup during the ban on English clubs, despite playing in the English league system.
In the meantime, many other clubs missed out on a place in the UEFA Cup due to the return of English clubs to European competitions only being gradual—in 1990, the league had no UEFA coefficient points used to calculate the number of teams, and even thoughManchester United won the Cup Winners' Cup in the first season of returning in1990–91, it took several more years for England to win back the points to the previous level, due to the coefficient being calculated over a five-year period and there being a one-year delay between the publication of the rankings and their impact on club allocation.
Liverpool's additional year of exclusion from Europe meant that there was no English representation in the1990–91 European Cup, as they were1989–90 Football League First Division champions.
Due to the weak coefficient,Football League Cup winnersNottingham Forest also missed out on UEFA Cup places in1990–91, along withTottenham Hotspur and Arsenal. The teams who missed out on the1991–92 UEFA Cup, for the same reason wereSheffield Wednesday,Crystal Palace, andLeeds United. Arsenal andManchester City were unable to take part for the1992–93 competition. For1993–94,Blackburn Rovers andQueens Park Rangers would have qualified.
Leeds United missed out in1994–95 and initially1995–96, though they qualified for the latter via the newUEFA Fair Play ranking, which at the time gave their three top-ranking associations' highest-placed team who've not already qualified for Europe a UEFA Cup spot. Remaining outside the top three of the coefficient rankings, England retained its three UEFA Cup berths instead of four. Sixth-placedEverton lost a Fair Play berth for1996–97 by UEFA, as punishment for the FA due to Tottenham Hotspur andWimbledon fielding weakened teams in the1995 UEFA Intertoto Cup.[61][62]
By this point, while England's coefficient was no longer directly affected by the ban due to it being outside of the five-year window, their coefficient continued to be affected by years of under-representation in the competition. As a result,Aston Villa missed out via their league position for1997–98 and1998–99 but qualified for both through Fair Play. Restructuring of UEFA competitions for 1999–2000 gave the top six associations of the coefficient ranking three UEFA Cup berths (the top three gained fourChampions League berths, whilst 4–6 got three), which England now reached, whilst associations ranked seventh and eighth were given four berths for the competition.
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In 1985, a memorial was presented to the victims at the Juventus headquarters in Piazza Crimea,Turin. The monument includes anepitaph written by Torinese journalistGiovanni Arpino. Since 2001 to 2017 it has been situated in front of the club's headquarters in Corso Galileo Ferraris and since then inJuventus Headquarter.[63]
In 1991, another memorial monument for the 39 victims of the disaster, was inaugurated inReggio Emilia, the hometown of the victim Claudio Zavaroni, in front ofStadio Mirabello: every year the committee "Per non dimenticare Heysel" (In order not to forget Heysel) holds a ceremony on 29 May with relatives of the victims, representatives of Juventus, survivors and various supporters clubs from various football clubs, including Inter Milan, Milan AC, Reggiana and Torino.[64] DuringEuro 2000, members of the Italian team left flowers on the site in honour of the victims.
On 29 May 2005, a £140,000 sculpture was unveiled at the new Heysel stadium, to commemorate the disaster. The monument is asundial designed by French artist Patrick Rimoux and includes Italian and Belgian stone and the poem "Funeral Blues" by EnglishmanW. H. Auden to symbolise the sorrow of the three countries. Thirty-nine lights shine, one for each who died that night.[65]
On 26 May 2010, a permanent plaque was unveiled on the Centenary Stand at Anfield to honour the Juventus fans who died 25 years earlier. This plaque is one of two permanent memorials to be found at Anfield, along with one for the 97 fans killed in the Hillsborough disaster in 1989. In May 2012, a Heysel Memorial was unveiled in theJ-Museum atTurin. There is also a tribute to the disaster's victims in the club'sWalk of Fame in front of theJuventus Stadium. Two years later Juventus' officials announced a memorial in the Continassa headquarter. In February 2014, an exhibition in Turin was dedicated both to the Heysel tragedy andSuperga air disaster. The name of the exhibition was "Settanta angeli in un unico cielo – Superga e Heysel tragedie sorelle" (70 angels in the one same heaven – Superga and Heysel sister tragedies) and gathered material from 4 May 1949 and 29 May 1985.[66]
On 12 November 2015, theItalian Football Federation (FIGC), Juventus' representatives led by Mariella Scirea and J-Museum president Paolo Garimberti and members of the Italian victims association held a ceremony in front of the Heysel monument in King Baudouin Stadium for the 30th anniversary of the event.[67] The following day, FIGC presidentCarlo Tavecchio announced the retirement ofSquadra Azzurra's number 39 shirt prior to the friendly match betweenItaly andBelgium.[68]
A memorial service for those killed in the disaster was held before Liverpool's match withArsenal at Anfield on 18 August 1985, their first fixture after the disaster. However, according toThe Sydney Morning Herald, it was "drowned out" by chanting.[69]
Juventus and Liverpool were drawn together in the quarter-finals of the2004–05 Champions League, their first meeting since Heysel. Before the first leg atAnfield, Liverpool fans held up placards to form a banner saying "amicizia" ("friendship" in Italian). The gesture was met with a mixed reaction from Juventus fans, with some applauding and others choosing to turn their backs on it.[70] In the return leg in Turin, Juventus fans displayed banners reading"Easy to speak, difficult to pardon: Murders" and"15-4-89. Sheffield. God exists", the latter a reference to theHillsborough disaster, in which 97 Liverpool fans were killed in a crush. A number of Liverpool fans were attacked in the city by Juventus ultras.[71]
In May 2015, during aSerie A match between Juventus and Napoli at Turin, Juventus fans held up placards to form a banner saying "+39 Rispetto" ("respect +39" in Italian) including the names of the victims of the disaster.[72]
In an interview withPlanet Football, Liverpool footballerMark Lawrenson spoke about his experience in the immediate aftermath of the Heysel Stadium disaster, describing it as a "surreal, ugly night" and "a horrific chain of events."[73]
it: La città è in stato d'assedio. Per le strade non un'anima viva.[The city is in astate of siege. There is not a living soul on the streets.]
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50°53′42″N4°20′2″E / 50.89500°N 4.33389°E /50.89500; 4.33389
