May 29, 1985: The Heysel Stadium Disaster

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.

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

Heysel Stadium was demolished in 1990. In 1995, the new King Baudouin Stadium was built on the site. It seats a little over 50,000 people.

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.

*

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.

May 29, 1974: The Tottenham Fan Riot In Rotterdam

The 1974 UEFA Cup Final in Rotterdam

May 29, 1974: Having drawn the home leg of the UEFA Cup Final 2-2, North London soccer team Tottenham Hotspur, a.k.a. "Spurs," go to Rotterdam, the Netherlands, home of Feyenoord, who had won the European Cup in 1970, and who had 7 players who would be selected for the Netherlands team that would star at the World Cup in West Germany over the next few weeks.

Just before halftime, Wim Rijsbergen, a right back, put a goal past Pat Jennings, Spurs' fine Northern Irish goalkeeper, putting Feyenoord up, 1-0 on the night and 3-2 on aggregate. At halftime, the angry Spurs fans started tearing up Stadion Feijenoord, nicknamed De Kuip -- "The Bathtub," for its shape. Some were picking fights with the Feyenoord fans. This was a mistake: Feyenoord had the toughest hooligan firm in the country, and one of the toughest in Europe.

The Rotterdam authorities found Sidney Wale, Tottenham's chairman, and gave him the public address microphone. He said, "You are disgracing yourselves as Tottenham supporters. You are disgracing the British people." He told the fans that if they didn't stop, the game might be forfeited to Feyenoord, and that UEFA (the Union of European Football Associations) might fine the club. Things calmed down a bit.

Spurs' defense hung on, while their attackers looked for an equalizer. It didn't come, and Peter Ressel put the game away in the 84th minute. Feyenoord won the game, 2-0, and the tie on aggregate, 4-2.

The Spurs fans left the stadium, and went on the warpath in Rotterdam. The consequences were, by the standards of the time, devastating. UEFA banned Spurs from European competitions indefinitely. In other words:

* If they had won the Football League Division One, they could not compete in the next season's European Cup, the tournament that has been known as the UEFA Champions League since 1992.

* If they had finished 2nd, 3rd, 4th or 5th, they could not compete in the next season's UEFA Cup, the tournament that has been known as the UEFA Europa League since 2010.

* And if they had won the FA Cup, they could not compete in the next season's European Cup Winners' Cup. That tournament was last conducted in 1999. Since then, teams winning their countries' cups have been put into the UEFA Cup/Europa League.

And Spurs had been in Europe regularly. They had competed in the European Cup in 1961-62; the Cup Winners' Cup in 1962-63, 1963-64 and 1967-68; the Texaco Cup in 1970-71; the Anglo-Italian Cup in 1971-72; and the UEFA Cup in 1971-72, 1972-73 and 1973-74. Their win in the 1962-63 Cup Winners' Cup was the 1st European tournament won by a British team. And in 1972, they won both the UEFA Cup and the Anglo-Italian Cup.

This was on top of their domestic trophies: The Football League and the FA Cup, "The Double," in 1961; the FA Cup again in 1962 and 1967; and the Football League Cup in 1971 and 1973.

This was the 1st time any British team had been banned from European competition. Though it was lifted after 2 years, it is a great stain on Spurs' history. Ever since, every fan in every country in Europe, even if they are not fluent in English, knows at least 3 words: "Fuck you, Tottenham!"

But it got more personal: The glory that Spurs had achieved from 1961 onward had been under manager Bill Nicholson, who had been a player on their 1950-51 squad, the only other time that Tottenham has won the League. If any man, to this day, can be called "Mr. Tottenham," it is "Bill Nick." But this game turned out to be the last one he ever managed, as he resigned in disgust. He was only 55 years old, and lived another 30 years. Although he returned to their home ground of White Hart Lane, he was never actively involved with the team again.

Ask any fan of the other team in North London, Arsenal, and they'll tell you that Tottenham are disgusting. Of course, Tottenham fans will say the reverse. But Tottenham fans not only got their team banned from Europe for 2 years, they caused the greatest figure in their history to quit after managing in a cup final. That's something that no other fans in Britain, regardless of how hated their team might be, have to live with.

*

May 29, 1974 was a Wednesday. These Major League Baseball games were played that day:

* The New York Mets lost to the Cincinnati Reds, 3-2 at Riverfront Stadium in Cincinnati. Tony Pérez won the game with a home run off Harry Parker in the bottom of the 10th inning, ruining a good start by Jon Matlack. The Mets' runs came on solo home runs by Cleon Jones and John Milner. Pete Rose went 2-for-4 with a walk and an RBI. Johnny Bench went 0-for-5.

* The Houston Astros beat the Montreal Expos, 5-3 at the Olympic Stadium in Montreal.

* The Minnesota Twins beat the Boston Red Sox, 5-4 at Fenway Park in Boston. The winning run scored in the top of the 13th inning, in unusual fashion. Luis Gómez led off with a single. Rod Carew grounded into a forceout that eliminated Gómez. Larry Hisle singled Carew to 3rd base. Then, with Jerry Terrell at bat, home plate umpire Merle Anthony called a balk on Sox pitcher Diego Seguí, forcing Carew home. The Sox got the tying run to 3rd with 1 out in the bottom of the 13th, but couldn't score.

Carew went 2-for-4 with 3 walks and 2 stolen bases. Harmon Killebrew appeared only as a pinch-hitter, and did not reach base. Carl Yastrzemski went 0-for-4, but had an RBI on a sacrifice fly.

* The Atlanta Braves beat the Philadelphia Phillies, 1-0 at Atlanta Stadium. (The name was changed to Atlanta-Fulton County Stadium the next year.) Vic Correll singled Ralph Garr home in the bottom of the 11, ending a pitcher's duel between Steve Carlton and Carl Morton, with Tom House pitching the 11th inning in relief of Morton, and getting the win. Hank Aaron and Mike Schmidt went 1-for-3 with a walk.

* The Pittsburgh Pirates beat the San Diego Padres, 13-3 at Three Rivers Stadium in Pittsburgh. Bob Robertson hit 2 home runs. Willie Stargell went 2-for-4 with a walk and an RBI. Dave Winfield, in his 1st full season in the major leagues, had a bad day, going 0-for-4 with an error.

* The San Francisco Giants beat the Chicago Cubs, 5-4 at Wrigley Field in Chicago.

* The Los Angeles Dodgers beat the St. Louis Cardinals, 5-2 at Busch Memorial Stadium in St. Louis.

* The Baltimore Orioles beat the Kansas City Royals, 10-3 at Royals Stadium in Kansas City. (It was renamed Kauffman Stadium in 1993.) Brooks Robinson went 2-for-4 with 2 RBIs. Rookie George Brett went 0-for-4.

* The Texas Rangers beat the Cleveland Indians, 3-0 at Arlington Stadium in the Dallas suburb of Arlington, Texas. Jackie Brown pitched a 3-hit shutout, with 8 strikeouts and no walks. This series would be marred by fights, spurred on by Rangers manager Billy Martin. There would be consequences when the teams played again, the next week, in Cleveland, on what would become known as Ten-Cent Beer Night.

* The Milwaukee Brewers beat the California Angels, 7-5 at Anaheim Stadium (which would be renamed Edison International Field in 1998 and Angel Stadium of Anaheim in 2004. The Brewers scored 4 runs in the top of the 9th, including a home run by George Scott, to win it. Robin Yount went 2-for-4. For the Angels, Frank Robinson went 1-for-2 with 2 walks and 2 RBIs.

* The Oakland Athletics beat the Detroit Tigers, 4-1 at the Oakland Coliseum. Reggie Jackson went 2-for-4 with an RBI. Al Kaline went 0-for-4.

* And the New York Yankees and the Chicago White Sox were rained out at Shea Stadium, where the Yankees were groundsharing with the Mets while Yankee Stadium was being renovated. The game was made up as part of a doubleheader on August 16. The Yankees won the opener, 9-8. Dick Allen hit a home run for the Pale Hose off Sparky Lyle in the top of the 13th inning. But in the bottom of the 13th, Bobby Murcer singled, and Thurman Munson hit a home run off Terry Forster to win it. The South Siders won the nightcap, 4-2. Former Yankee Stan Bahnsen outpitched Dick Tidrow.

May 11, 1985: The Bradford City Stadium Fire

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."

*

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.

May 6, 1967: The Modern Age of Football Hooliganism Begins

May 6, 1967: The modern age of "football hooliganism" begins. And it's in celebration of one of the best soccer teams in English history.

Matt Busby managed Manchester United to the Football League Division One title in 1956 and 1957. After the Munich Air Disaster of 1958, he had to rebuild his team almost from scratch. But they managed to finish 2nd in 1959. It was an outlier: The next 4 seasons, they finished 7th, 7th, 15th and 19th, barely avoiding relegation to Division Two in 1963, although they did manage to win the FA Cup.

By that point, the players known as "The Trinity" were in place: English forward Bobby Charlton, Scottish forward Denis Law, and Northern Irish winger George Best. In 1964, they finished 2nd. In 1965, they won the League again. In 1966, they finished 4th. In all 3 seasons, they reached the Semifinals of the FA Cup. In 1966, as his ill-fated "Busby Babes" did in 1957 and 1958, they reached the Semifinal of the European Cup. And in 1967, they went into the final game of the season, on May 6, needing a win or a loss by Nottingham Forest to clinch the title.

All this success, both before and after the Air Disaster, made them a popular team beyond the Manchester area: Television coverage made them nationally popular, especially with Charlton having helped England win the 1966 World Cup; and Best's long hair, skill and personality making him the most popular player in the country.

This success did not necessarily transfer to their national teams: Although Charlton and midfielder Norbert "Nobby" Stiles were members of England's 1966 World Cup winners, Law's Scotland and Best's Northern Ireland did not qualify for that tournament. Scotland, with Law, did famously beat England, with Charlton and Stiles, 3-2 at Wembley Stadium in London on April 15, 1967, but the Scots' claim of being "Unofficial World Champions" was not taken seriously.

By 1967, Man United were probably the most popular team in England. They were also, arguably, the 4th-most popular team within London's M25 motorway (their equivalent of a road "beltway"), behind North London's Tottenham Hotspur (League and FA Cup "Double" winners in 1961, Cup winners again in 1962 and 1967, European Cup Winners' Cup winners in 1963), West London's Chelsea (not very successful, but popular among denizens of the city's nearby theatre district), and East London's West Ham United (1964 FA Cup winners, 1965 Cup Winners' Cup winners, and the darlings of the working class).

By this point, North London team Arsenal, which hadn't won the League since 1953 or the Cup since 1950, and were nearly relegated in 1966, were considered just about irrelevant. Little did anyone know that their rebuilding effort would result in a Double in 1971.

Best certainly enjoyed taking the train down from Manchester to London to enjoy the capital's delights, its "wine, women and song," which would ultimately ruin his health and lead to his death in 2005, not quite 60 years old. His shenanigans are also the best way to deny later United manager Alex Ferguson's statement that, had Paul Gascoigne left Newcastle for him, instead of for Tottenham, he could have kept him on the straight and narrow, in Manchester and out of London. Carousers will always find a way.

There had always been "firms" of "hooligans" following English soccer teams. In the East End, West Ham had already developed one of the most fearsome, which would become the Inter-City Firm (ICF). Manchester United had the Red Army. But their London following was big enough that they had a separate firm of Londoners, "The Cockney Reds."

This infuriated West Ham fans: While pretty much everybody from outside the M25 thinks of everybody from inside it was a "Cockney," the word has a specific definition: A person born "within the sound of Bow Bells," meaning the bells of the Church of St Mary-le-Bow, on the street known as Cheapside, a mile and a half from Central London -- but only a 5-minute walk from the much larger St. Paul's Cathedral. Both churches were rebuilt after the Great Fire of London in 1666, and both were designed by the greatest architect of the age, Sir Christopher Wren.

On May 6, the next-to-last weekend of the League season, Man United needed to win 1 of their last 2 games to clinch the title. The suspense ended early: Charlton scored in the 2nd minute, Pat Crerand in the 7th, and Bill Foulkes in the 10th. Best scored in the 25th, and Law in the 63rd (on a penalty) and the 79th. The Irons' only goal came from John Charles, who, 4 years earlier, became their 1st black player. (He should not be confused with the John Charles who starred for Leeds United, Juventus, Cardiff City, and the Wales national team.)

But after the game, the Cockney Reds began throwing bottles, rocks, and whatever else they could get their hands on, at anything damageable: Windows, cars, people. According to local newspapers, 20 people were hospitalized, and 12 were arrested.

As one member of West Ham's ICF put it in a book about their doings, in particular their relationship with Man United: "Attitudes changed toward them. They had some respect after the Munich air crash, and many an old boy round our way admired the way they had rebuilt after that. After 1967, any respect they had went out the door, and it hasn't changed to this day."

Over the late 1960s, the 1970s, and the early 1980s, things would continually get worse and worse. By the mid-1970s, "perimeter fencing" was put around the fields at many stadiums, to prevent "pitch invasions." The idea was, if the fans were going to act like animals, the authorities were going to put them in cages. But that didn't prevent fighting in the stands, and it certainly didn't prevent it outside the stadiums.

*

May 6, 1967 was a Saturday. It was the day my parents got married in their hometown of Newark, New Jersey. It rained that day, which was said to be a good omen for a marriage. Theirs lasted 47 years. My parents couldn't have cared less about soccer, even though America's 1st top-flight soccer league had just begun play. Their old neighborhood didn't care, despite being mostly Italian-American: People there didn't care much about what was going on in "the old country." The neighborhood sure cares about it now, as it's populated mostly by Central and South Americans.

Elsewhere in English football that day: Arsenal beat Staffordshire team Stoke City, 3-1 at Highbury in North London; Liverpool and the other North London team, Tottenham Hotspur, who would go on to win the FA Cup 2 weeks later, played to a 0-0 draw at Anfield in Liverpool; Everton, also of Liverpool and the defending League Champions, beat Aston Villa, 4-2 at Villa Park in Birmingham; Manchester City and Yorkshire team Sheffield United played to a draw, 1-1 at Maine Road in Manchester; and Midlands team Leicester City beat North-East team Newcastle United, 4-2 at Filbert Street in Leicester.

On the same day, Scotland's league finished its season. The Glasgow derby, "the Old Firm," between Rangers and Celtic, was played to a 2-2 draw. They had a "ruck" (or an "off"), too: Among the fans, 50 were injured, and 39 were arrested. Celtic won the League, and went on to win the Scottish Cup, and the League Cup, and became the 1st British team to win the European Cup: A still-unique "Quadruple": No other team in European soccer has managed that.

American football was out of season. The NHL season had ended 2 days earlier, with the Toronto Maple Leafs beating the Montreal Canadiens for the Stanley Cup. The NBA season had ended on April 24, with the Philadelphia 76ers beating the San Francisco Warriors. Both of those Finals went to 6 games.

These games were played in Major League Baseball:

* The Cincinnati Reds beat the Atlanta Braves, 4-3 at Atlanta Stadium (later Atlanta-Fulton County Stadium). Pete Rose went 3-for-4 with a solo home run. Hank Aaron went 1-for-4 with 2 RBIs. Joe Torre went 1-for-3 with a walk.

* The Pittsburgh Pirates beat the San Francisco Giants, 6-5 at Forbes Field in Pittsburgh. George Spriggs singled home the winning run in the bottom of the 10th inning. Roberto Clemente went 1-for-4. Bill Mazeroski went 3-for-5. Willie Stargell did not play. For the Giants, Willie Mays went 0-for-4 with a walk. Jack Hiatt, starting at 1st base in place of Willie McCovey, went 2-for-4 with a home run and 4 RBIs. McCovey later pinch-hit, and went 0-for-2.

* The Chicago White Sox beat the Cleveland Indians, 2-0 at Cleveland Municipal Stadium. Joe Horlen pitched 7 innings of 3-hit shutout ball, and Bob Locker pitched 2 perfect innings to finish it.

* The Detroit Tigers beat the Baltimore Orioles, 4-1 at Tiger Stadium in Detroit. Al Kaline hit a home run. Frank Robinson went 1-for-3 with a walk. Brooks Robinson went 0-for-4.

* The St. Louis Cardinals beat their arch-rivals, the Chicago Cubs, 5-3 at Wrigley Field in Chicago. Lou Brock went 1-for-5 with a stolen base. Orlando Cepeda hit 2 home runs. Ernie Banks went 2-for-4 with 2 RBIs.

* The Minnesota Twins beat the Boston Red Sox, 4-2 at Metropolitan Stadium in the Minneapolis suburb of Bloomington, Minnesota. Harmon Killebrew went 0-for-4. Rookie of the Year Rod Carew went 2-for-4. Carl Yastrzemski went 1-for-4.

* The Washington Senators beat the California Angels, 2-0 at Anaheim Stadium (now Angel Stadium of Anaheim). Barry Moore had pitched 3 innings of 3-hit shutout ball, but had also walked 4 batters, and was moved in favor of Darold Knowles. He allowed just 2 hits over the last 6 innings, and completed the shutout.

* As I said, it rained in the New York Tri-State Area, so the New York Mets and the Houston Astros were rained out at Shea Stadium. The game was made up on July 20, and the Astros won, 7-0. Don Wilson pitched a 2-hit shutout, allowing only singles by Larry Stahl and Ed Charles, and walks to Stahl and Ed Kranepool.

* The rain that hit the Northeast on May 6 also rained out the Philadelphia Phillies and the Los Angeles Dodgers at Connie Mack Stadium in Philadelphia. The game was made up as part of a doubleheader on July 18. The Phils won the opener, 5-0. Rick Wise pitched a 4-hit shutout. The Dodgers won the nightcap, 2-1.

* And while the New York Yankees were on the road, they, too, got rained out, against the Kansas City Athletics at Kansas City Municipal Stadium. The game was made up as part of a doubleheader on June 27. The A's won the 1st game, 10-2. Future Yankee Jim "Catfish" Hunter outpitched Al Downing. The Yanks won the 2nd game, 2-1. Joe Verbanic outpitched Chuck Dobson. Mickey Mantle went 1-for-3 with a walk in the 1st game, and drew a walk as a pinch-hitter in the 2nd game.

May 1, 1982: Murder In the Highbury Station Tunnel

May 1, 1982: We've all heard the expression, "It's only a game." Or, "It's just a game." Or, "It's not life and death." And no sport, no competition, no individual game should be treated as a life-and-death matter.

On this day, it was.

Two of London's Football League Division One soccer teams played each other. Arsenal, at their Arsenal Stadium, known as Highbury for its North London neighborhood, hosted West Ham United. Despite their name, West Ham play in London's East End -- then at the Boleyn Ground in Upton Park, now at the London Stadium in Stratford.

The two teams have a rivalry, but neither is the other's most hated rival. Arsenal's are Tottenham Hotspur, less than 5 miles to the north. West Ham's are Millwall, 6 miles across the River Thames in South London. So there would seem to be little reason for aggression -- or "aggro," in English slang -- between the fans of Arsenal and West Ham.

But this was the dark age of hooliganism in English football. Hooligans were usually organized into "firms," similar to gangs. And West Ham had the most feared firm in the country, the Inter-City Firm, or the ICF. They took that name because of their travel to away games on inter-city trains. They were known for beating an opponent senseless, and leaving calling cards on their prostrate victims.

They were known for winning fights both inside and outside stadiums, often "taking" the section of a stadium with the most passionate home fans. At Highbury, this was the north end, known as the North Bank. In 1968, the ICF took the North Bank, and, when Highbury closed down after the 2006 season, to make way for the nearby Emirates Stadium, this would go down in history as the only time the North Bank was taken by an opposing firm.

Arsenal were not known for having a hard-fighting firm, although they did have The Herd. The Herd would never start anything, but defended hard, and had earned the ICF's respect for this, unlike such other London groups as Tottenham's Yid Army (using that anti-Semitic slur as a badge of honor, even though Tottenham's Jewish fan base was no bigger than any other London team's), the Chelsea Headhunters in West London, or the Cockney Reds, a group of Londoners who, thanks to the team's success and exposure on television since the 1950s, were fans of Manchester United.

Ask a West Ham fan of a certain age, and they'll tell you that those firms usually only fought when they had the numerical advantage: Given roughly even numbers, those firms were likely to "bottle it" and "do a runner" rather than fight fair. ("Bottle" is slang for "courage," so "bottling it" means showing none.)

Arsenal, known as the Gunners for their cannon badge and their origins in an armaments factory, were in a tough stretch of their history. They had reached 4 cup finals in 3 seasons, 1977-78 to 1979-80, but won only 1 of them, the 1979 FA Cup Final. West Ham had beaten them in the 1980 FA Cup Final, and that still stung for Arsenal fans, known as "Gooners" as a play on "Gunners."

As the 1981-82 season wound down, Arsenal were fighting to finish high enough in Division One to qualify for the 1982-83 edition of the UEFA Cup, Europe's secondary tournament after the European Cup. (Today, those competitions are known as the UEFA Europa League and the UEFA Champions League, respectively.) They were helped by the fact that Tottenham had won the FA Cup, and Swansea City had won the Welsh Cup. This meant that both teams qualified for Europe's tertiary tournament, the European Cup Winners' Cup (which was folded in 1999, and national cup winners now qualify for the Europa League instead). So a Division One team would only need to finish 7th to qualify for the UEFA Cup.

West Ham were not going to qualify for Europe, but they could still finish in the top half of the League, which, by their standards, was an achievement: They have never won the League, or even finished 2nd. Even when they won the FA Cup in 1964 and the European Cup Winners' Cup in 1965, they only finished 14th and 9th, respectively. And their 1980 win remains the last time the FA Cup has been won by a team from outside Division One, although they won Division Two in 1980-81 to get promoted back into Division One for 1981-82.

The game was a good one for Arsenal. Graham Rix and Alan Sunderland scored, and Arsenal won, 2-0. But there was trouble in the stands, well before kickoff. Hammers fans got onto the North Bank early, and there was a lot of fighting, and even a smoke bomb. The Herd protected their ground, the takeover of 1968 was not repeated, and, perhaps for the 1st time, the ICF needed a police escort out of a visiting stadium.

But once out of the stadium, the fighting resumed. Little skirmishes broke out on Highbury Hill, the street behind the West Stand, en route to the Arsenal station on the London Underground. All together, the fighting was as bad as Highbury and its environs had ever seen.

The entrance to the Arsenal station includes a long tunnel to the escalator and the tracks, and if a firm is big enough, it can easily trap opposing fans there.

But it was on the street, on Highbury Hill, that Arsenal fan John Dickinson, 24, was stabbed to death. His killer was never identified, although a rumor got around that he was killed himself, in a later hooligan "off." This may not be provable, but, clearly, it was not in a fight with Arsenal fans: If that had been the case, someone would have said so.

Steve Curry wrote for the Daily Express for 30 years,

covering, among other events, the 1966 World Cup

and the 1989 Hillsborough Disaster. He died in 2019.

This wasn't the first time that an ICF man had killed an opposing fan. In 1976, after a game at The Den at Millwall, Millwall fan Ian Pratt grabbed a scarf off a West Ham fan, then got chased into New Cross station by the ICF. He landed on the tracks, and it became a situation of, "Did he fall, or was he pushed?" Whichever was the truth, he was definitely chased into that position, couldn't get off the tracks in time, and was hit by a train, and died.

Arsenal ended up finishing 5th, and qualified for the 1982-83 UEFA Cup. After Dickinson's death, security was ramped up at Highbury. Word got around Europe that Arsenal fans fought back, and so, as Arsenal played their UEFA Cup matches, home and away, there were few incidents. Violence at Arsenal home games has been rare since.

Hooliganism seemed to bottom out in 1985, with incidents all over England, especially in an FA Cup Quarterfinal match when Millwall went to Luton Town in Bedfordshire; and the European Cup Final, in Brussels, Belgium, where Liverpool fans were seen as having caused the deaths of 39 fans of Turin, Italy team Juventus in an accident.

Eventually, security procedures improved to the point where such fights could be prevented, or at least broken up quickly. It also helped that many of the classic "hoolies" grew out of it, and, as would be said in baseball, the farm system dried up. Some firms hung on for a while, having more luck in recruiting new members and replenishing their ranks than others.

By the dawn of the 21st Century, "hoolie lit" developed, as former hooligans, from firms up and down the island of Great Britain, wrote memoirs of their exploits. Most of the West Ham fans who wrote such books, whether they were at Highbury in 1982 or not, expressed regret for Dickinson's death, but not, due to the rivalry with Millwall, for Pratt's death. But few books mentioned either man's name. Like the Mafia, footie firms had a twisted code of honor, including a code of silence, never ratting out each other, or even their opponents. "Honor among thieves" applied to football hooligans.

On May 1, 2022, 40 years later to the day, Arsenal and West Ham played again, this time at the London Stadium. There were no incidents, inside the stadium or out. But neither was there a moment of silence in memory of John Dickinson. There were, for the victims of the Ukrainian War, and for Black Lives Matter, as there have been for each of those movements since they began. But not in memory of those who suffered as a result of English football hooliganism. Arsenal won the match, 2-1.

*

May 1, 1982 was a Saturday. These games were played in Major League Baseball that day:

* The New York Yankees beat the Seattle Mariners, 5-1 at Yankee Stadium. George Frazier was the winning pitcher, in relief of Mike Morgan. Former Yankee Jim Beattie was the losing pitcher, having given up a grand slam to Roy Smalley.

* The New York Mets lost to the San Francisco Giants, 6-3 at Candlestick Park in San Francisco.

* The Boston Red Sox beat the Texas Rangers, 6-5 at Fenway Park. Bill Stein singled home a run to give the Rangers the lead in the top of the 12th inning. But in the bottom of the 12th, the Red Sox got singles from Dwight Evans, Wade Boggs and Carney Lansford, and when Dave Stapleton grounded into what looked like a game-ending double play, Stein himself dropped the ball at 2nd base, and the tying and winning runs scored.

* The California Angels beat the Baltimore Orioles, 6-4 at Memorial Stadium in Baltimore. Don Baylor hit a 2-run home run in the top of the 13th to win it. Reggie Jackson hit an earlier home run. For the Orioles, Eddie Murphy went 0-for-5, and Cal Ripken Jr. went 0-for-3 before being replaced. His famous consecutive-games-played streak had started the day before.

* The Chicago Cubs beat the Atlanta Braves, 5-1 at Atlanta-Fulton County Stadium.

* The Houston Astros beat the Pittsburgh Pirates, 6-3 at Three Rivers Stadium in Pittsburgh.

* The Oakland Athletics beat the Cleveland Indians, 8-2 at Cleveland Municipal Stadium. Rickey Henderson went 1-for-4 with an RBI.

* The Cincinnati Reds beat the St. Louis Cardinals, 10-1 at Riverfront Stadium in Cincinnati.

* The Detroit Tigers beat the Chicago White Sox, 5-2 at Comiskey Park in Chicago.

* The Milwaukee Brewers beat the Minnesota Twins, 6-5 at the Metrodome in Minneapolis.

* The Kansas City Royals beat the Toronto Blue Jays, 8-7 at Royals Stadium in Kansas City. (It was renamed Kauffman Stadium in 1993.) George Brett went 0-for-4, but his teammates picked him up, including Cesar Geronimo, who hit a home run.

* The San Diego Padres beat the Philadelphia Phillies, 9-6 at Jack Murphy Stadium in San Diego. The Padres achieved this without rookie Tony Gwynn, who did not play. For the Phils, Mike Schmidt went 0-for-3. Pete Rose went 0-for-4, but got a run home on a groundout.

* And the Los Angeles Dodgers beat the Montreal Expos, 2-1 at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles.

The NBA Playoffs were in the Conference Semifinals. The Milwaukee Bucks beat the Philadelphia 76ers, 91-92 at the Milwaukee Exposition and Convention Center Arena, a.k.a. The MECCA, on a buzzer-beater by Sidney Moncrief. But the Sixers would win the series.

The Boston Celtics beat the Washington Bullets, 92-83 at the Capital Centre in the Washington suburb of Landover, Maryland.

The Stanley Cup Playoffs were in the Conference Finals. The New York Islanders beat the Quebec Nordiques, 5-4 at the Colisée de Québec. Wayne Merrick scored the winning goal, 16:52 into overtime. Three days later, the Isles completed the sweep. And the Vancouver Canucks beat the Chicago Black Hawks, 4-3 at the Pacific Coliseum in Vancouver. The Isles would beat the Canucks in the Finals.