Aye, trouble started by Italian fans, who - true to national traits - ran off when the people they were pelting with stones and other missiles, snarled back at them. Crap Belgian workmanship did the rest.
Not trying to excuse the behavoir of Liverpool fans, but they were villified as the only reason for the tragedy. Even after the horrific events had unfolded, there was still footage of Juve fans charging at Liverpool fans and throwing stuff - including what looks like a scaffold pole - into the Liverpool fans.
Fans of teams from other countries have, on several occassions, been murdered by the softarse 'Ultra' fans in Italy when attending European games. On many other occassions, visiting fans in Italy have been subjected to a concerted assault by missiles thrown by scum Italians. The Italian police take no notice - until, that is, the visiting fans start returning the missiles at the Italian scumbags, then it's time for head-splitting with the batons.
I remember seeing the Heysel tragedy live on BBC1 on 29/5/1985 as a five year old, and even now 26 years later, the images of what happened still haunt me.
As far as my understanding of what happened that night goes, the real troublemakers among the Juve support that you refer to were situated at the opposite end of the ground to where the 39 deaths occured. After the incident where the wall collapsed killing the 39 fans inside section Z (which was intended by UEFA to be for "neutrals"), another riot broke out among Juve fans at the other end and a number of these hooligans then stormed up the running track seeking to attack the Liverpool fans. This happened just as the riot police, paratroopers etc were finally starting to enter the stadium to try to restore order, and as they tried to do so the rioting Juve fans then decided to fight a running battle with them for a while. A considerable number of mounted police were called in, and a line of officers on horseback were position just to the right of the goal at the end where the deaths happened.
This is the account of one man from England who was in the stadium when the terrible events unfolded:
"I was at the back of the block in the stadium where the neutrals were killed. The problem stemmed from there being too many Liverpool fans crammed in two-thirds of one end, while all the Juve fans had one entire end to themselves. Some Liverpool fans also gained entry without tickets - there were holes evident in the breezeblock stadium walls. There was a lot of room in the zone reserved for neutrals, many of whom were Italian. There was no provocation from those Italians, while I clearly saw Liverpool fans throw lumps of the crumbling terraces over the dividing fence. As the missiles rained down, so the crush towards the furthest corner grew and it was soon evident people were dying. What was also very clear to me in touring the city is that it was only the Liverpool fans who were drinking too much.
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I saw some with supermarket trolleys laden with beer in Brussels' Grand Place square. And from 10am, the behaviour of Liverpool's fans deteriorated as more cheap drink was consumed.
I'm not a Liverpool fan. I went for a big football occasion in a city where I had a girlfriend. Thankfully she was not at the match.
I can still picture the sight that greeted me outside the stadium before kick-off.
I left the ground to find safety. I saw rows of bodies, barely covered by tarpaulin of the flags they had carried, and which blew about as police helicopters landed nearby.
I later met some of the families of the dead.
I felt ashamed to be English."
As for who started the missile throwing that precipitated the violence, this has remained unclear ever since, and has very much been a case of claim and counter-claim. What I will say is that if it was some Juve fans in section Z that started throwing missiles first, why the heck did the Liverpool fans next to them not simply try to get away from the trouble instead of getting involved in it, which is exactly what the 39 Italians and Belgians that died were attempting to do when the violence escalated? By the way, I'm not for a second suggesting that it was only those Liverpool fans that charged who were to blame for what happened. UEFA certainly should have held the match at a stadium that was in far better condition and the Belgian authorities were at fault as well for not having enough police officers on duty in the stadium to start with. However, neither UEFA nor the Belgian police can be blamed for groups of individuals (on both sides) that were incapable of behaving themselves properly. If some football supporters cannot go along to a ground to watch a game of football and behave themselves in a civilised fashion, that is nobody's problem but theirs.
Edited by user
19 May 2011 12:32:22
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Reason: Not specified
Lenzie, Glasgow
"Let us not take ourselves too seriously. None of us has a monopoly on wisdom, and we must always be ready to listen and respect other points of view."- Queen Elizabeth II 1926-2022