May 11, 1985: Bradford City Association Football Club, in Bradford, West Yorkshire, hosts their last home game of the season at their stadium, Valley Parade. It turns into a disaster -- and not the kind of disaster their fans would have considered a 4-0 defeat to be.
Unlike America, England didn't have a building boom of new stadiums in the 1960s and 1970s, and so most of their stadiums were ramshackle structures tucked away in old neighborhoods, not really conducive to driving -- just like the American ballparks of the 1910s, except most of their stadiums were even older, in some cases considerably older.
Throw in end sections that were standing terraces instead of seated sections, and the fact that many of them still had wood in their construction, and fans liked to smoke, and drop their cigarettes, and it's a wonder they didn't have more disasters.
On this day, at Valley Parade, which opened in 1886 and had hardly been modernized at all since, Bradford, in England's Football League Division Three, were playing Lincoln City, of Lincolnshire. This game is the most interesting thing that has ever happened to the "Imps."
Bradford, the "Bantams," should be so lucky: They had won Division Three that season, earning promotion to Division Two, and nobody outside Bradford remembers that. And their only major trophy is the 1911 FA Cup, and that's so far back that nobody alive today remembers that, either.
The stand before the fire
The match was covered by British network ITV, so the key moments survive without a film crew arriving in mid-disaster. At 3:40 PM, ITV commentator John Helm remarked upon a small fire in the main stand. In less than 4 minutes, with the windy conditions, the fire had engulfed the whole stand, trapping some people in their seats.
In the panic that ensued, fleeing crowds escaped on to the pitch, but others at the back of the stand tried to break down locked exit doors to escape. Many were burned to death at the turnstile gates, which had also been locked after the match had begun. A total of 56 people died, making it the biggest disaster in the history of English football to that point. (This was topped in Scotland by the 66 who died at Ibrox Stadium in Glasgow in 1971, and would be surpassed by the 97 deaths that have now been attributed to the Hillsborough Disaster in Sheffield in 1989.)
Helm reported that he could feel the heat, from all the way across the stadium. As he put it, "Quite extraordinary scenes at Valley Parade. This was supposed to be a day of utter joy, triumph and celebration. It's turning into a nightmare."
There were many cases of heroism, with more than 50 people later receiving police awards or commendations for bravery.
Nevertheless, a bad year for English soccer -- which had already seen several notorious incidents of hooliganism, including a riot of Millwall fans at Luton Town 2 months earlier -- got even worse. On the same day as the Valley Parade fire, Birmingham City's promotion from the Second Division to the First Division was marred by a riot by Leeds United fans, in which a 14-year-old spectator was crushed to death by a collapsing wall.
Both clubs were then known for their infamous hooligan firms: Leeds had the Leeds Service Crew, while Birmingham City had the Zulu Army, named in tribute to Zulu, the 1964 film that launched Michael Caine to stardom, but also because it was the first widely-known hooligan firm to have been racially integrated.
Bradford City played home games at other grounds in West Yorkshire for 19 months, while Valley Parade was rebuilt, opening on December 14, 1986, just in time to get it in for the 100th Anniversary of the original stadium. Today, it is a modern all-seater stadium, holding 25,136 spectators, with a memorial to the victims at its north end.
The disaster led to rigid new safety standards in British stadiums, including the banning of new wooden grandstands. It was also a catalyst for the substantial redevelopment and modernization of many British football grounds in the years to come. Bradford City continues to support the burn unit at the University of Bradford hospital as its official charity.
Most English stadiums have since been modernized, or replaced completely - in some cases by faceless, atmosphere-less structures in the suburbs. In other words, when it comes to stadiums, England is still about 30 years behind America. Let's hope it doesn't take another Valley Parade or Hillsborough for them to get their own "Camden Yards generation of stadiums."
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May 11, 1985 was a Saturday. Elsewhere in English soccer, North London team Arsenal traveled to the Birmingham area, and played West Bromwich Albion to a 2-2 draw at The Hawthorns.
There were 2 games played in the United States Football League. The Birmingham Stallions beat the Portland Breakers, 14-0 at Legion Field in Birmingham. And the Oakland Invaders beat the Los Angeles Express, 27-6 at the Oakland Coliseum.
The NBA Playoffs were between rounds. The Stanley Cup Playoffs were underway, but no games were scheduled.
And these games were played in Major League Baseball:
* The New York Yankees beat the Kansas City Royals, 11-3 at Royals Stadium (now Kauffman Stadium) in Kansas City. Dennis Rasmussen outpitched Bud Black. Don Baylor went 2-for-4 with a home run, a walk, and 5 RBIs. Dave Winfield went 3-for-5 with an RBI. Don Mattingly went 1-for-5 with an RBI. Rickey Henderson went 1-for-3 with a walk. For the Royals, George Brett went 1-for-4.
* The New York Mets beat the Philadelphia Phillies, 4-0 at Shea Stadium. Sid Fernandez pitched 6 innings, allowing 1 hit, a leadoff single by Von Hayes in the 4th. Roger McDowell went the rest of the way, finishing the 1-hit shutout.
* The Montreal Expos beat the Atlanta Braves, 4-0 at the Olympic Stadium in Montreal. Bill Gullickson pitched a 5-hit shutout.
* The Oakland Athletics beat the Boston Red Sox, 12-1 at Fenway Park in Boston.
* The Baltimore Orioles beat the Minnesota Twins, 4-2 at Memorial Stadium in Baltimore. Eddie Murray went 2-for-4 with an RBI. Cal Ripken went 1-for-4.
* The Toronto Blue Jays beat the Seattle Mariners, 4-2 at Exhibition Stadium in Toronto.
* The Houston Astros beat the Cincinnati Reds, 10-7 at Riverfront Stadium in Cincinnati. Pete Rose, the Reds' player-manager, went 1-for-3 with an RBI.
* The Chicago White Sox beat the Detroit Tigers, 7-4 at Comiskey Park in Chicago.
* The California Angels beat the Milwaukee Brewers, 6-5 at Milwaukee County Stadium. Reggie Jackson hit his 510th career home run. Rod Carew, in his final season as a player, did not play.
* The Cleveland Indians beat the Texas Rangers, 4-1 at Arlington Stadium in the Dallas suburb of Arlington, Texas.
* The San Diego Padres beat the Chicago Cubs, 3-1 at Jack Murphy Stadium in San Diego. Garry Templeton and Steve Garvey hit home runs, and Tony Gwynn went 2-for-4.
* The Pittsburgh Pirates beat the Los Angeles Dodgers, 5-2 at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles. Tony Peña hit a home run in the top of the 13th inning to win it.
* And the St. Louis Cardinals beat the San Francisco Giants, 9-4 at Candlestick Park in San Francisco.
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