May 29, 1985: The European Cup Final is held at the Heysel Stadium, the national stadium of Belgium in Brussels. It should not have been played there. And, while pregame ceremonies were already underway, it should have been canceled.
In the 1983-84 season, Liverpool F.C., a power in English football for the preceding 20 years, won the Football League, and also the European Cup -- the competitions now known as the Premier League and the UEFA Champions League, respectively. Winning either one would have qualified them for the 1984-85 European Cup.
But the 1984 Final was tainted. The Finals are set for neutral sites, much like American football's Super Bowls, but that year's final was set for the Stadio Olimpico in Rome -- and one of that stadium's teams, A.S. Roma, advanced to the Final.
Liverpool beat them, but not before their fans were attacked by Roma thugs, many of them doing not drive-by shootings, but drive-by slashings, riding those little Italian motor scooters past anyone who looked English, and reaching out with switchblade knives.
So when the 1985 European Cup Final turned out to be Liverpool against another Italian team, Turin-based Juventus F.C., the Scouse fans were ready for it.
The game was played at Heysel Stadium in Brussels, which was in bad shape and unfit to host such an important event. I've talked to Arsenal F.C. fans who were there for the 1980 European Cup Winners' Cup Final, where they lost to Spanish club Valencia CF, and they said it was in bad shape then.
Instead, they ran, and many of them crashed into a wall, which collapsed. People and chunks of concrete fell onto people below, and 39 people died, and over 600 others were hurt.
The game was played at Heysel Stadium in Brussels, which was in bad shape and unfit to host such an important event. I've talked to Arsenal F.C. fans who were there for the 1980 European Cup Winners' Cup Final, where they lost to Spanish club Valencia CF, and they said it was in bad shape then.
Each team, at the time, was the most hated in the country. Sure, they were the most successful, and that attracted gloryhunters ("frontrunners," as we would say in America), as with American sports teams like the New York Yankees and the football team at the University of Notre Dame; but also many people who were sick of these teams' successes.
A common saying in Italy is, "Amo il calcio, quindi odio Il Juve" -- "I love football, therefore I hate Juventus." Fans of the Rome teams, A.S. Roma and S.S. Lazio -- and fans of the Milan teams, A.C. Milan and Internazionale Milano -- will even support their arch-rivals against Juventus. It's called gufare, meaning "to support against": A Milan fan won't support Inter, but he will support against Juve.
Likewise, many English fans' "second team" became Everton F.C., the blue club in Liverpool, or Manchester United, Liverpool's most frequent challenger for national honors. When United finally surpassed Liverpool's record total of League titles, with their 19th in 2011, many celebrated the fact that United had, as their manager Sir Alex Ferguson had said he would do, "knocked Liverpool off their fucking perch." ("Perch" because Liverpool's symbol is a bird, a "Liverbird.")
So, for the 1985 European Cup Final, there were millions of people in the British Isles rooting for Liverpool, but also millions of others rooting for Juventus. Likewise, there were millions in Italy rooting for Juventus, but also millions rooting for Liverpool. And the memory of the fan clashes prior to the previous year's Final was still fresh in everyone's memories.
It's worth noting that 1985 was the depth of England's issue with soccer hooligans. This included the Millwall-Luton riot in an FA Cup Quarterfinal on March 13.
Normally, before a football match, to avoid something like that, barriers are put up to keep each teams' fans in their own separate sections. This time, however, there was a neutral zone, ostensibly set aside for locals and neutrals, and there was no barrier between them and the Juventus fans, and no barrier between them and the Liverpool fans. As it turned out, it was mostly Juventus fans who occupied it.
At around 7:00 PM local time, a group of Liverpool fans ran toward them. Had the Juve fans stood their ground and fought, many of them might have gotten hurt, but it wouldn't have been as bad as what actually happened.
Instead, they ran, and many of them crashed into a wall, which collapsed. People and chunks of concrete fell onto people below, and 39 people died, and over 600 others were hurt.
At the other end of the stadium, Juventus fans began to riot in retaliation for the events in section Z. They stormed the pitch towards the Liverpool fans, and were stopped by the police. It took 2 hours to clear the field, meaning the game started over an hour late.
Officials from UEFA, the Union of European Football Associations, went into each team's locker room, and informed them of the disaster. Officials from both teams recommended that the game be canceled, as playing would be considered disrespectful to the dead. The Royal Belgian Football Association, responsible for staging the event, won the argument by saying that things might get worse between the sets of fans if the game were called off.
The respective team Captains, Liverpool right back Phil Neal and Juventus sweeper Gaetano Scirea, were given microphones to talk to their fans, and plead for calm. Over the years, Neal stuck by his belief that the game should have been called off.
The field was cleared, and the game kicked off at 8:15 PM, Central European Time -- 7:15 PM in Liverpool and the rest of the British Isles, 2:15 on the U.S. East Coast.Each team was in its traditional uniform: Liverpool in all red, Juventus in their black and white stripes, the Mersey Reds vs. the Bianconeri. Both teams were a bit subdued, not really wanting to play, and there were few highlights in the 1st half.
In the 56th minute, Juve's Polish striker, Zbigniew Boniek, was brought down on the edge of the penalty area by centreback Gary Gillespie, who wasn't even supposed to play, but came on as a substitute when Mark Lawrenson was hurt early in the game. Liverpool protested that the foul was outside the penalty area. André Daina, the Swiss referee, awarded the penalty anyway. It was taken by midfielder Michel Platini (despite his Italian roots, he was born and raised in France), and Juve were up 1-0.
In the 74th minute, Liverpool midfielder Ronnie Whelan was brought down in the penalty area by midfielder Massimo Bonini. This time, Daina did not award a penalty. Questionable decisions like these gave rise to the belief, already long present in Italy and maintained to this day, that Juventus cheat, that they buy off referees. They are known as I Ladri: The Thieves.
There were chances for Liverpool the rest of the way, but nothing came of them. Juventus won. Platini took the European Cup. Fans all over Italy declared to it be a Coppa de Sangue: Cup of Blood, won practically on the dead bodies of their own fans.
Michel Platini and the Cup of Blood
Liverpool had previously won it in 1977, 1978, 1981 and 1984, but this was Juve's 1st. They would win another in 1996, without the tragic circumstances, but have generally had bad luck in the tournament: Despite a record 36 Serie A titles, they are 2-7 in European Cup/Champions League Finals, including including 0-5 since the 1996 win. And this includes the 2003 Final, when they became the 1st team ever to lose the Final to a team from their own country, A.C. Milan. (That game was not played in Italy: It was played at Old Trafford, home of Manchester United.) No team has lost more CL Finals.
UEFA had previously banned individual English clubs from playing in their various competitions, at first indefinitely, and then limiting it. This had happened to North London team Tottenham Hotspur after the 1974 UEFA Cup Final in Rotterdam, the Netherlands against Rotterdam club Feyenoord. It had also happened to Leeds United after the 1975 European Cup Final in Paris against Bayern Munich.
Both English clubs lost the games in question, and both had their bans lifted after 2 years. This time, instead of just sanctioning the team involved, UEFA banned all English clubs for 5 years, and tacked on an additional year for Liverpool.
This was punishment far beyond the offense: What did any other English club have to do with this? Were they blaming all English clubs for what one club did -- which it didn't actually do?
What did the British government do about this insult? Led by Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, they actually supported the decision. The Iron Lady (more like the Iron Bitch) hated sports, and particularly viewed football club supporters as undereducated, manners-lacking scum -- and likely to vote for her opponents in the Labour Party, rather than her own Conservative Party, anyway.
For this reason, football-mad areas such as Merseyside (home to Liverpool and Everton), Manchester, Birmingham (home to Birmingham City and Aston Villa), the North-East (home to Newcastle United, Sunderland and Middlesbrough), and the cities of Scotland and Wales still tend to vote Labour: Because of a backlash against Thatcher that has lasted nearly 40 years, and has not abated since her death.
By this point, even English liberals were angry at Liverpool, blaming them for their clubs not being able to compete in the European Cup (then a tournament for the defending champions of the various countries' national leagues), or the UEFA Cup (for other high-placing teams), or the European Cup Winners' Cup (competed by the winners of the previous season's various national cups like the FA Cup).
The overreaction was staggering. True, 39 fans had died, but not one died as a result of a direct attack by one person on another. Contrary to what fans of teams that hate Liverpool still claim, the Liverpool fans were not, as opposing fans, especially of Manchester United, claim, "murderers."
An unexpected side effect was that Glasgow-based Rangers FC realized that the ban applied only to English clubs, not to British clubs or to English players. They signed several English players by offering them a chance to keep playing in Europe, and hoped that this would allow them to dominate the Scottish League over the next few years, and to win European tournaments.
They signed Ipswich Town centreback Terry Butcher, Tottenham centreback Graham Roberts, Everton's right back Gary Stevens and midfielder Trevor Steven, and former Nottingham Forest forward Trevor Francis and former Chelsea and Man United midfielder Ray Wilkins. (The latter two had gone to Italy in the interim, to keep playing in Europe.)
Results: They won the Scottish League in 1987, 1989 and 1990; and the League Cup in 1988 and 1989. However, they did not win the Scottish Cup. More to the point, they didn't win a European trophy during the Heysel ban. The closest they came was the Quarterfinals of the 1988 European Cup.
Between the Heysel ban (which wasn't entirely Liverpool fans' fault) and Liverpool's perennial success (in 1986 they won the Double), pretty much anybody who wasn't already a Liverpool fan hated Liverpool's guts. (In other words, they were then what Manchester United would become.) When the Hillsborough Stadium Disaster occurred in 1989, causing the deaths of 97 Liverpool fans, some fans finally found sympathy with them -- but some doubled down on their hatred of the Mersey Reds, saying they got what they deserved, especially after Heysel.
Relations between Liverpool and Juventus have been cordial since, and the teams have played both European tournament games and friendlies (exhibition games), with some of the proceeds being donated to the families of the victims of Heysel and Hillsborough. This included a Champions League Quarterfinal on April 5, 2005, at Liverpool's home of Anfield, when a plaque was dedicated. Liverpool went on to win the European Cup that time, and in 2019, they made it 6 wins, more than any other British team.
Left to right: Phil Neal, Michel Platini, Ian Rush
It hosts matches for the Belgium national team, and hosted 5 games in the Euro 2000 tournament. As yet, however, it has not hosted the Final of any European tournament.
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May 29, 1985 was a Wednesday. It was a day off in the Stanley Cup Finals. The next day, the Edmonton Oilers would win the Cup, defeating the Philadelphia Flyers 8-3 in Game 5 of the Finals at the Northlands Coliseum in Edmonton.
It was also a day off in the NBA Finals. Two nights before, Game 1 was played at the Boston Garden, and it became known as the Memorial Day Massacre -- by people who had no idea of what would happen in Brussels 2 days later, and many of them may still not know that it ever occurred. The Boston Celtics beat the Los Angeles Lakers, 148-114. But it's not margin of victory that matters, only victory: On May 30, the Lakers won Game 2, 109-102. On June 9, in Game 6, the Lakers won, 111-100, becoming the 1st team other than the Celtics to clinch the NBA Championship at the Boston Garden.
Ordinarily, football would have been out of season. However, this was the 3rd and, as it turned out, final season of the United States Football League. Nevertheless, it was a Wednesday, and no games were played. But a full slate of Major League Baseball games was played:
* The New York Yankees beat the California Angels, 7-2 at Yankee Stadium. Phil Niekro knuckleballed his way to 8 shutout innings, before the Halos got 2 runs off reliever Rich Bordi in the 9th. Reggie Jackson appeared as a pinch-hitter in that inning, and grounded into a double play to end the game. Rod Carew did not play.
The Yankees got home runs from Mike Pagliarulo and Omar Moreno. Dave Winfield went 1-for-4, and Don Mattingly went 1-for-5. Rickey Henderson went 1-for-3 with 2 walks, but was caught in his only stolen base attempt.
* The New York Mets beat the San Francisco Giants, 4-3 at Candlestick Park in San Francisco.
* The Boston Red Sox beat the Minnesota Twins, 7-0 at Fenway Park in Boston. Dennis "Oil Can" Boyd pitched a 5-hit shutout. Wade Boggs went 3-for-5 with 3 RBIs.
* The Seattle Mariners beat the Baltimore Orioles, 5-4 at Memorial Stadium in Baltimore. Cal Ripken went 2-for-6 with a 2-run homer, and Eddie Murray went 1-for-5. But Darnell Coles won the game for the M's with a sacrifice fly in the top of the 11th inning.
* The Atlanta Braves beat the St. Louis Cardinals, 5-3 at Atlanta-Fulton County Stadium.
* The Cincinnati Reds beat the Chicago Cubs, 1-0 at Riverfront Stadium in Cincinnati. Mario Soto pitched a 2-hit shutout. Reds manager Pete Rose did not put washed-up player Pete Rose in the game.
* The Oakland Athletics beat the Detroit Tigers, 4-2 at Tiger Stadium in Detroit.
* The Chicago White Sox beat the Toronto Blue Jays, 8-5 at Comiskey Park in Chicago.
* The Milwaukee Brewers beat the Cleveland Indians, 7-2 at Milwaukee County Stadium. Robin Yount went 2-for-4, Paul Molitor went 1-for-5 with an RBI, and Ernie Riles and Jim Gantner hit home runs.
* The Kansas City Royals beat the Texas Rangers, 6-2 at Royals Stadium in Kansas City. (It was renamed Kauffman Stadium in 1993.) George Brett hit a home run.
* The Houston Astros beat the Pittsburgh Pirates, 8-3 at the Astrodome in Houston. Nolan Ryan was the winning pitcher.
* The Montreal Expos beat the San Diego Padres, 2-1 at Jack Murphy Stadium in San Diego. (It was renamed Qualcomm Stadium in 1997.) Tony Gwynn went 1-for-4.
* And the Los Angeles Dodgers beat the Philadelphia Phillies, 6-1 at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles. Mike Schmidt went 1-for-4.
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