Heysel Stadium disaster

The Heysel Stadium disaster (Italian: Strage dell'Heysel [ˈstraːdʒe delleiˈzɛl]; German: Katastrophe von Heysel [ˌkataˈstʁoːfə fɔn ˈhaɪzl̩]; French: Drame du Heysel [dʁam dy ɛzɛl]; Dutch: Heizeldrama [ˈɦɛizəlˌdraːmaː]) was a crowd disaster that occurred on 29 May 1985 when Juventus fans were escaping from an attack by Liverpool fans while they were pressed against a wall in the Heysel Stadium in Brussels, Belgium, before the start of the 1985 European Cup final. The stadium was in need of maintenance and had not been adequately updated^[1] It had failed inspections prior to the disaster,^[2] and the wall collapsed under the force. Thirty-nine people‍—‍mostly Italians and Juventus fans‍—‍were killed and 600 were injured in the confrontation.^[4]

Approximately an hour before the Juventus–Liverpool 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 have been the "neutral" section, populated by those who had purchased tickets in Belgium. The throwing of objects back and forth led to larger scale physical aggression‍—‍the chicken wire fence was ripped down, and after initial fighting, the fans in the neutral section began to run away from the Liverpool fans who had become involved and in the direction of the wall. They charged at Juventus supporters and breached a fence that was separating them from a "neutral area".^[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] Many people climbed over to safety, but many others died or were badly injured. The game was played despite the pre-match incidents by authorities and organizers' joint decision for public policy doctrine reasons^[9] after a state of siege was declared in the city,^[10] with Juventus winning 1–0.^[11]

The tragedy resulted in all English football clubs being placed under an indefinite ban by Union 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,^[12][13][14] and 14 Liverpool fans were found guilty of manslaughter and sentenced to six years' imprisonment. The disaster was later described as "the darkest hour in the history of the UEFA competitions".^[15]

In May 1985, Liverpool were the defending European Champions' Cup winners, having won the competition after defeating Roma on penalties in the previous season's final. Again, they would face Italian opposition, Juventus, which had won unbeaten the 1983–84 Cup Winners' Cup. Juventus had a team of many of Italy's 1982 World Cup winning team, which played for Juventus for many years, and its playmaker, Michel Platini, was considered the best footballer in Europe and was named Footballer of The Year by the magazine France Football for the second year in a row in December 1984. Both teams were placed in the two first positions in the UEFA club ranking at the end of the previous season^[16] and were regarded by the specialist press as the two best teams on the continent.^[17] Both teams had contested the 1984 European Super Cup four months earlier, with a 2–0 victory for the Italian team.

Despite its status as Belgium's national stadium, Heysel Stadium was in a poor state of repair by the 1985 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 of cinder block, and Liverpool fans who did not have tickets were seen kicking holes in the wall to get in.^[18] In some areas of the stadium, there was only one turnstile, and some fans attending the game claimed that they were never searched or asked for their tickets.^[19]

Liverpool players and fans reportedly expressed surprise at the stadium's condition, despite reports from Arsenal 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 since Barcelona's Camp Nou and Madrid's Santiago Bernabéu were both available. Juventus President Giampiero Boniperti and Liverpool CEO Peter Robinson urged the Union 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.^[20][21] It was later discovered that UEFA's inspection of the stadium had lasted just thirty minutes.^[22]

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,^[23] as it would provide an opportunity for fans of both clubs to obtain tickets from agencies or from ticket touts outside the ground and thereby create a dangerous mix of fans.^[21]

At the time, Belgium already had a large Italian community; many expatriate Juventus fans from Brussels, Liège and Charleroi bought Section Z tickets.^[24][19] 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 Roma ultras at the 1984 European Cup final and placed next to what amounted to another Juventus section heightened tensions before the match.^[19] 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.^[25] The Liverpool and Juventus supporters in Sections X and Z stood merely metres apart. The boundary between the two was marked by temporary chain link fencing and a central thinly-policed no man's land.^[26] Hooligans began to throw flares, bottles and stones across the divide and picked up stones from the crumbling terraces beneath them.^[19]

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 persons stationed at the divide were overpowered. As the Juventus fans started fleeing, they ran towards the concrete wall at the perimeter of Section Z. Fans standing near the wall were crushed, and as the pressure mounted the entire lower portion of the wall collapsed, burying fans underneath it as it fell. 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 a starting gun at Belgian police.^[27]

It was decided that the match should eventually start for public policy doctrine reasons^[28] because abandoning the match would have risked inciting further disturbances.^[9] This decision was jointly made by UEFA officials, the Italian, English and Belgian national associations, the country's Ministry of Interior led by local Premier Wilfried Martens, Brussels Mayor Hervé Brouhon, and the city's police force, despite the scale of the disaster, the state of siege in the City of Brussels consequently declared by the Belgian government^[10] and Juventus expressed concerns about the match proceeding.^[29][28] After the captains of both sides spoke to the crowd and appealed for calm,^[30] the players took the field knowing that people had died. Years later, Liverpool captain Phil Neal said that in hindsight, it would have been "a better decision" to call off the game.^[21]

Juventus won the match 1–0 thanks to a penalty scored by Platini, which was awarded by the Swiss referee, Daina, for a foul against Zbigniew Boniek.^[31]

At the end of the game, the trophy was given in front of the stadium's Honor Stand by UEFA President Jacques Georges to Juventus Captain Gaetano Scirea. The chants of fans of both teams in the stands^[32] and the massive invasion of the pitch by journalists and fans at the end of the match generated the collective hysteria.^[33] 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.^[34]

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.^[21] The police allowed Liverpool's bus to drive directly onto the tarmac at Brussels Airport to prevent potential disturbances at the terminal.^[19]

Of the 39 people killed, 32 were Italian (including two minors), four Belgian, two French, and one from Northern Ireland.^[35][36]

The investigation focused 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 Liverpool fans bore responsibility.

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 with manslaughter—the only extraditable 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.^[42] One man who was acquitted was Ronnie Jepson, who would go on to make 414 appearances over a thirteen-year career in the English Football League.^[43]

In 1985, a memorial was presented to the victims at the Juventus headquarters in Piazza Crimea, Turin. The monument includes an epitaph written by Torinese journalist Giovanni Arpino. Since 2001 to 2017 it has been situated in front of the club's headquarters in Corso Galileo Ferraris and since then in Juventus Headquarter.^[62]

In 1991, another memorial monument for the 39 victims of the disaster, was inaugurated in Reggio Emilia, the hometown of the victim Claudio Zavaroni, in front of Stadio 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.^[63] During Euro 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 a sundial designed by French artist Patrick Rimoux and includes Italian and Belgian stone and the poem "Funeral Blues" by Englishman W. H. Auden to symbolise the sorrow of the three countries. Thirty-nine lights shine, one for each who died that night.^[64]

On Wednesday 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 the J-Museum at Turin. There is also a tribute to the disaster's victims in the club's Walk of Fame in front of the Juventus 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 and Superga 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.^[65]

On 12 November 2015, the Italian 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.^[66] The following day, FIGC president Carlo Tavecchio announced the retirement of Squadra Azzurra's number 39 shirt prior to the friendly match between Italy and Belgium.^[67]

At games

A memorial service for those killed in the disaster was held before Liverpool's match with Arsenal at Anfield on 18 August 1985, their first fixture after the disaster. However, according to The Sydney Morning Herald, it was "drowned out" by chanting.^[68]

Juventus and Liverpool were drawn together in the quarter-finals of the 2004–05 Champions League, their first meeting since Heysel. Before the first leg at Anfield, Liverpool fans held up placards to form a banner saying "amicizia" ("friendship" in Italian). Most Juventus fans chose to turn their backs on it.^[69] 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 the Hillsborough disaster, in which 97 Liverpool fans were killed in a crush. A number of Liverpool fans were attacked in the city by Juventus ultras.^[70]

In May 2015, during a Serie 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.^[71]

In an interview with Planet Football, Liverpool footballer Mark 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."^[72]

• Crowd control
• Crowd control barrier
• Crowd manipulation
• Hillsborough disaster
• English football clubs in international competitions
• Football hooliganism in the United Kingdom
• Juventus F.C. in international football
• Liverpool F.C. in international football
• 2017 Turin stampede
• Kanjuruhan Stadium disaster