20 years ago today...

[Sodboy13]

Just saw a piece on this on BBC World News - when fandom turns too rabid, and proper security and emergency staffing are not in place, the result is inevitably tragic. In this case, 96 fans lost their lives at a soccer match.

Obviously, in North America, stadium configurations, and security setups are different than what was then the standard across the pond. The only tragedy in a similar vein that comes to my mind is The Who concert at Riverfront Stadium in Cincinnati in the late '70s. Have there been others?

[NEW.ERA]

Tragic story that was Steven Gerrard's 10 Year old cousin was killed in the collapse thankfully most big name stadiums today are all seater.

[heernumurr]

I never know quite what to say about this, I just feel for those who lost people in the disaster, and am glad that our new stadia here should prevent something like this from happening again.

As a Liverpool fan I can feel how much it affects the club, and I feel certain we've never been the same team since. Here's to a great tribute today, and I hope those who died get the justice they deserve.

[DelayedPenalty]

The most tragic thing, reading through that list of names, is the number of 14 year olds that are on the list. Kids! Innocent little kids crushed to death

Fans were packed so tightly in the pens that many died standing up of compressive asphyxia.

That has got to be the most horrifying feeling. I can't even imagine...

[heernumurr]

If anyone would like to find out any more about the disaster, there is a pretty good documentary on the Liverpool website.

Hillsborough

[kewp80]

R.I.P to the 96.

You'll Never Walk Alone.

[kewp80]

Obviously, in North America, stadium configurations, and security setups are different than what was then the standard across the pond. The only tragedy in a similar vein that comes to my mind is The Who concert at Riverfront Stadium in Cincinnati in the late '70s. Have there been others?

I remember when some girls were crushed to death at a Hanson concert, I don't ever recall something like this happening at a sporting event though.

[WJMorris3]

Obviously, in North America, stadium configurations, and security setups are different than what was then the standard across the pond. The only tragedy in a similar vein that comes to my mind is The Who concert at Riverfront Stadium in Cincinnati in the late '70s. Have there been others?

I can't think of any others, though that was at US Bank Arena back in '79. That's probably what resulted in the ban of festival "seating" or first-come, first-sit, in the majority of the US for concerts.

This would explain why Liverpool specifically asked to play yesterday, though.

[OnWis97]

Just saw a piece on this on BBC World News - when fandom turns too rabid, and proper security and emergency staffing are not in place, the result is inevitably tragic. In this case, 96 fans lost their lives at a soccer match.

Obviously, in North America, stadium configurations, and security setups are different than what was then the standard across the pond. The only tragedy in a similar vein that comes to my mind is The Who concert at Riverfront Stadium in Cincinnati in the late '70s. Have there been others?

I was at one that turned near-tragic. October, 1993, my freshman year at Wisconsin, the Badgers beat Michigan to go into the driver's seat for the Big Ten title and Rose Bowl (ended up in the Rose Bowl with a share of the title). The student section attempted to storm the field. Cops tried to stop it and people were crushed against the railing. A couple of players probably literally saved lives by pulling people over the rail. A few ended up in the hospital and I think one person was in question for a while as to whether or not she'd survive.

Wisconsin was not prepared. They are more so now. The cops took a lot of heat for rigidly trying to stop the fans (and not using common sense and just letting them go). We knew it was coming if we won (Tyrone Wheatly of MICH was injured and there was even an add in the student paper asking what 12,000 students would be doing on Saturday that Tyrone Wheatly would not...rushing the field). But there seemed to be no preparation.

I was fairly high up in the student section, but still went down a couple of rows with my feet barely touching the bleachers--I don't even know if I could have avoided going down. Eventually I ended up on the field, oblivious to what had happened until I returned to the dorm. A friend of mine, with at least one life still in question, was beside himself with guilt/grief after seeing himself climbing the goalpost on SportsCenter when this was all going on. But, fortunately, everyone survived and lessons were learned.

[Saintsfan]

Just saw a piece on this on BBC World News - when fandom turns too rabid, and proper security and emergency staffing are not in place, the result is inevitably tragic. In this case, 96 fans lost their lives at a soccer match.

Obviously, in North America, stadium configurations, and security setups are different than what was then the standard across the pond. The only tragedy in a similar vein that comes to my mind is The Who concert at Riverfront Stadium in Cincinnati in the late '70s. Have there been others?

I think that many Liverpudlians would disagree with your phrasing of 'fandom turns too rabid'. It was a tragic event, but it was not at all down to hooliganism as much as poor organisation, inadequate policing, and those awful awful fences, oh and fans turning up without tickets. (There was plenty of policing at the event, but how do you have enough ambulance services available for upwards of 96 people?)

The Sun newspaper printed a front page days after basically blaming the Liverpool fans for the tragedy. The paper still doesn't sell on Merseyside. Former Liverpool manager Graeme Souness was drummed out of town after selling a story about a heart attack to the Sun. Basically Liverpool fans were not to blame for the tragedy, and you wouldn't be welcome in the city for suggesting they may have been!

[rams80]

Just saw a piece on this on BBC World News - when fandom turns too rabid, and proper security and emergency staffing are not in place, the result is inevitably tragic. In this case, 96 fans lost their lives at a soccer match.

Obviously, in North America, stadium configurations, and security setups are different than what was then the standard across the pond. The only tragedy in a similar vein that comes to my mind is The Who concert at Riverfront Stadium in Cincinnati in the late '70s. Have there been others?

I think that many Liverpudlians would disagree with your phrasing of 'fandom turns too rabid'. It was a tragic event, but it was not at all down to hooliganism as much as poor organisation, inadequate policing, and those awful awful fences, oh and fans turning up without tickets. (There was plenty of policing at the event, but how do you have enough ambulance services available for upwards of 96 people?)

The Sun newspaper printed a front page days after basically blaming the Liverpool fans for the tragedy. The paper still doesn't sell on Merseyside. Former Liverpool manager Graeme Souness was drummed out of town after selling a story about a heart attack to the Sun. Basically Liverpool fans were not to blame for the tragedy, and you wouldn't be welcome in the city for suggesting they may have been!

Do they take the same stance about Heysel Stadium?

[Saintsfan]

Just saw a piece on this on BBC World News - when fandom turns too rabid, and proper security and emergency staffing are not in place, the result is inevitably tragic. In this case, 96 fans lost their lives at a soccer match.

Obviously, in North America, stadium configurations, and security setups are different than what was then the standard across the pond. The only tragedy in a similar vein that comes to my mind is The Who concert at Riverfront Stadium in Cincinnati in the late '70s. Have there been others?

I think that many Liverpudlians would disagree with your phrasing of 'fandom turns too rabid'. It was a tragic event, but it was not at all down to hooliganism as much as poor organisation, inadequate policing, and those awful awful fences, oh and fans turning up without tickets. (There was plenty of policing at the event, but how do you have enough ambulance services available for upwards of 96 people?)

The Sun newspaper printed a front page days after basically blaming the Liverpool fans for the tragedy. The paper still doesn't sell on Merseyside. Former Liverpool manager Graeme Souness was drummed out of town after selling a story about a heart attack to the Sun. Basically Liverpool fans were not to blame for the tragedy, and you wouldn't be welcome in the city for suggesting they may have been!

Do they take the same stance about Heysel Stadium?

I think Liverpool fans would say that the trigger for the violence was not necesarily there fans fault, but clearly there was thuggery and violence to follow from Liverpool fans. The two tragedies are not really comparable. Hillsborough had nothing to do with violence and hooliganism, Heysel obviously had a lot to do with that and English clubs were all banned from European competitions for the following 5 seasons. Both very sad and very tragic, but both very different.

[Sodboy13]

Just saw a piece on this on BBC World News - when fandom turns too rabid, and proper security and emergency staffing are not in place, the result is inevitably tragic. In this case, 96 fans lost their lives at a soccer match.

Obviously, in North America, stadium configurations, and security setups are different than what was then the standard across the pond. The only tragedy in a similar vein that comes to my mind is The Who concert at Riverfront Stadium in Cincinnati in the late '70s. Have there been others?

I think that many Liverpudlians would disagree with your phrasing of 'fandom turns too rabid'. It was a tragic event, but it was not at all down to hooliganism as much as poor organisation, inadequate policing, and those awful awful fences, oh and fans turning up without tickets. (There was plenty of policing at the event, but how do you have enough ambulance services available for upwards of 96 people?)

The Sun newspaper printed a front page days after basically blaming the Liverpool fans for the tragedy. The paper still doesn't sell on Merseyside. Former Liverpool manager Graeme Souness was drummed out of town after selling a story about a heart attack to the Sun. Basically Liverpool fans were not to blame for the tragedy, and you wouldn't be welcome in the city for suggesting they may have been!

I apologize if my words suggested I was placing blame on the fans for this episode. This, quite obviously, was not an instance where people were brawling and rioting. It was a case of those in charge of crowd control deciding the best way to control the crowd woud be to let 3,000 of them shove themselves into a space for 1,600.

Having read abount the Sun piece, and considering myself a person with a few shreds of journalistic integrity, I wish Kelvin Mackenzie would experience asphyxia via crushing, and don't understand why he hasn't been sued into a state of abject poverty.

[heernumurr]

Having read abount the Sun piece, and considering myself a person with a few shreds of journalistic integrity, I wish Kelvin Mackenzie would experience asphyxia via crushing, and don't understand why he hasn't been sued into a state of abject poverty.

The worst part about that is, that while he's admitted he was wrong to have run that story, as of yet I think he has flat out refused to apologise for it.

[John in KY]

Obviously, in North America, stadium configurations, and security setups are different than what was then the standard across the pond. The only tragedy in a similar vein that comes to my mind is The Who concert at Riverfront Stadium in Cincinnati in the late '70s. Have there been others?

I can't think of any others, though that was at US Bank Arena back in '79. That's probably what resulted in the ban of festival "seating" or first-come, first-sit, in the majority of the US for concerts.

I can see where Sodboy's confusion came from on the Who concert - back then US Bank Arena was called "Riverfront Coloseum" since it was next to Riverfront Stadium (back before every stadium and/or arena had a naming deal). I almost made the run up for that one with some high school classmates; those who went were at a different entrance and didn't find out anything about what happened until they heard it on the radio on the way back to Louisville.

As willmorris said that ended festival seating immediately in Cincinnati and Louisville, and it spread from there (if I'm remembering correctly Lexington was always reserved seating in Rupp and only a few events were festival seating).