By Rafael Behr / Sport 12:06pm
It was 20 years ago - May 1985. The collapse of a wall in the Heysel Stadium in Brussels, the death of 39 people. It has been described as Football's 'JFK moment'. Fans who are old enough remember where they were when they heard.
The latest edition of Observer Sport Monthly - out this Sunday - commemorates. The OSM team spoke to some of the players who were on the pitch that day. This is what they said:
Paolo Rossi (Juventus)
I was lucky enough to feature in three World Cups for Italy, including the victorious 1982 team when I won the golden boot as top scorer. And, with Juventus, I won the Scudetto [Italian league], the Italian Cup and the European Cup-Winners’ Cup. But I don’t feel as if I won the European Cup, not that night against Liverpool. When you talk about the death of people at a sporting event, the sport itself passes into the background. And sure, you always ask yourself why such things happen. But there are no easy answers. How difficult was it to play in the game? Well, the players were not aware of the true dimensions of the disaster. Some people said there was only one person dead and, really, we did not have any comprehensive information. It was only after the game that we were told the awful truth. We had been forced to play. We had no choice. But I repeat, we had not been informed. If we had known the exact situation we, the players, maybe could have said something but we did not have the facts.
When the game had finished and we had won, we were left to celebrate on the pitch and raise the Cup and that could have been avoided. In truth, there was total confusion and chaos.
There is no proper memorial at Juventus to the dead. No plaque, nothing. This is very strange. I have met many of the parents and relatives of the victims; I try to keep them close to my heart and I have been to many memorial ceremonies. Now, again and again, my memory goes back to these 39 people who lost their lives. This is what I remember about that evening, certainly not playing the match. The Cup should be given back. Juventus should do that in respect to those who died.
Bruce Grobbelaar ( Liverpool)
The players knew about all of the events that night, including that people had died. We should never have played the game. Uefa insisted because they believed that the violence could have continued in the streets. But I certainly said I did not want to play. After the match, I went on to the Juventus bus and said: ‘I am sorry for what happened.’ I was not, though, saying sorry because it was our fault.
I also wished them the very best in the future because they had beaten us one-nil. The players received it very well and though [I believe] every football game matters, maybe it was fitting that Juventus won that match. As for the trophy itself, it should be donated, as a memorial to the dead.
I have since returned to Heysel and there is a stone plaque outside, on the wall. It has 39 gouges and says something to the effect that ‘we will never forget’. But that is all. Inside there is not a single picture or anything to remember that evening, even though there is a history of the stadium there. The events have been swept under the carpet. [The Heysel ground was completely rebuilt as the King Baudouin stadium, though the name remains in use because it is in the Brussels suburb of Heysel.] I do not know why that is. Someone should ask the Belgians. The whole thing stinks. And, if they caught people who were [alleged to be] responsible for the deaths [but did not pursue the prosecutions, allowing them home on bail having already once extradited them] well, that is wrong.
Another trophy could be made. It would be played for each year by Liverpool and Juventus to commemorate that evening. And the proceeds of the match could then go to the families of the bereaved.
Marco Tardelli (Juventus)
Of all the honours I won at club and international level, I am not proud of the victory over Liverpool in the European Cup final in Brussels. That was a very bad evening. Really, it is a match to forget, although it is not easy to forget what happened. The game should not have been played, but that was not the players’ decision. And once the match started, it was not easy to take part in it.
On the night, I did not comprehend events fully because I was in the dressing room. The players did know that there had been trouble in the stadium but not that so many people had died. Looking back, I believe it was a big mistake of the Belgian police not to open the fences [in Sector Z] and let people escape the crush.
After the match I did not return to Italy but went with the national team to Mexico. It was only there on television that I saw what had actually happened and I was shocked.
After the final, Bruce Grobbelaar came on to the Juventus team coach and apologised for the hooligans. But, really, it was not the fault of either Liverpool or Juventus.
Could this kind of incident ever happen again? Well, when terrible events occur it only seems to be later that we decide they could have been avoided. So really you cannot know. But I hope they do not.
Alan Kennedy (Liverpool)
I am sure what happened was, in some way, related to events in Rome the previous year. Our supporters then were pelted with stones, bricks and bottles by Roma fans [and so there may have been tension between Liverpool supporters and the fans of Juventus, another Italian team].
When the team arrived at Heysel, we noticed a lack of police presence. I felt then that the lack of segregation could be a problem. But the players were in good spirits. We walked over to the Liverpool fans, a ball was thrown over the fence and we kicked it back and forth with them.
Our changing room was next to sector Z. I wasn’t fit at the time, and so at the first inclination of trouble the players asked me to investigate. Outside it was pandemonium. The wall had crumbled and people were struggling to get out. You can never forget the death of people. And my overriding memory is still of that horrific scene of people dying.
A Uefa official came into the dressing room to inform us that the kick-off would be delayed, and that four or five people had died. The more experienced players simply blocked it out. They said: ‘Listen, we’ve got to concentrate on the game.’ Others said that the match should not go ahead. In those circumstances playing the match must have been difficult for everyone.
People talk about the penalty that settled the game. Whether Gary Gillespie’s foul on [Zbigniew] Boniek was inside or outside the penalty box. But we could not win that match. Juventus fans had died and we were conscious that everyone would blame the club.
In the aftermath, Uefa seemed to take their lead from Margaret Thatcher. She considered Heysel to be solely the fault of Liverpool. This made it easier for Uefa to ban English clubs for five years, without even investigating why Heysel happened. Everyone at the club felt the aftermath. It affected Joe Fagan [Liverpool’s manager] in many ways. Bruce Grobbelaar considered retiring from football and nearly 20 years on many players will still not discuss it.
Liverpool had more experience of big European matches than any other team. Ahead of the game, the club’s secretary, Peter Robinson, had expressed concerns about policing, security, and the stadium. You wonder why Uefa and the Belgian authorities did not listen to him. Why, for example, pick a stadium that was in a state of disrepair?
I believe many people have not accepted responsibility for what happened. And Juventus and Liverpool were forced to play the game for the sake of 50,000 people in the stadium. The authorities did not consider the people who died. That, too, was a tragedy.
OSM lives here.
http://blogs.guardian.co.uk/observer/archives/2005/04/01/remember_heysel.html
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