30 years since the Heysel disaster

[brummie]

There is no doubt though that there were also the usual hooligan element that didn't even support Liverpool with the Liverpool hooligans that night. Chelsea and Millwall fans for whom European football was a definite no go were involved plus other hooligans who followed England at that point of time.

 

 

I don't know about this match in particular, but I do know that it was actually reasonably common in the 80s when English clubs played abroad, for there to be a lot of English fans there, who didn't support the team, but were after trouble.

 

Also, at the time, we had tens of thousands of soldiers stationed in Germany, and it was quite well known for a lot of them to go to matches when English teams played nearby.

 

We played at Anderlecht in the European Cup semi final in 1982, and there was s*** loads of trouble. So much we were worried about getting kicked out for a while.

 

It is pretty much an accepted truth amongst our fans that, although yes, of course it was our idiots causing most of the trouble, there were a lot of p*ssed up squaddies there who were up for it. When the Anderlecht fans started chanting "Argentina" (this was while the Falklands war was going on), it got particularly nasty.

 

Not saying that there were a lot of non Liverpool fans involved at Heysel, as I don't know, just saying that back in the day it was quite common for outsiders to get involved.

 

Culturally it was a completely different time as well. When English teams played in Europe, no matter who they were the bulk of the country were behind them. These hooligans saw it a a case for national pride, and attached themselves to any English club competing in Europe.

 

Yes.

 

I think that's partly because there wasn't this top four versus the rest wankathon that we have now based around CL qualification.

 

I remember always wanting the English team (of course, worth remembering, the teams were almost all English or Scottish players then too) to win back then. Liverpool (who I otherwise hated), Everton, Spurs, all teams I remember everyone get behind.

 

I also think up until Heysel, hooliganism wasn't really taken that seriously.

 

I was 17 when Heysel happened, and went to a lot of away games, and my overriding memory of them is of shitting myself a lot, and narrowly avoiding getting my head kicked in - and I used to go out of my way to avoid it. You see away fans these days wandering around the ground before the match in their replica shirts, not a care in the world, and it is totally different.

 

It was terrible back in the day, but really, it wasn't until Heysel that anyone gave a shit about it. The change that went on in the late 1990s was incredible.

 

Try explaining to kids these days that back then, politicians would go out of their way to disassociate themselves from football rather than feeling they have to claim an allegiance as they do now.

 

Football was for people used to being treated like shit, and who often thought that meant they could act like animals, too. A fair assumption, to be honest.

[newsted]

 

Football was for people used to being treated like shit.

 

Now, this is the crux of the matter for me. I know that we just put up with it, because that was how it was. I can remember being herded by violent policemen for no reason at all, from an early age, just because I was going to the match. We were cannon fodder.

 

I've probably twatted on before about how ridiculously dangerous it was even trying to get into the ground back in the 70s, getting crushed against walls and whatnot by fellow fans, never mind the police with their stomping horses shitting in your face. Stepson 2 was a gloryhunting Liverpool fan back when the Heysel and Hillsborough atrocities happened, so I watched them unfold with deepening gloom.

 

That shit fucks you up forever. Those and Bradford, I always know where the exits are now when I take the grandbairn.

[Noodles]

To be fair, they were to blame.

 

Cant remember the article I read or who it was by but it was a scouse Journo basically saying it was Liverpool's fans fault. Basically they were at it all day...

 

That'll be Tony Evans from the Times I think. He's always been fairly honest about Heysel although he does tend to fall short in terms of the clubs reaction over the years.

 

That half arsed memorial display they put on was nothing short of a f***ing disgrace. They want the world to stop for 24 hours when the time comes to honour the dead at hillsborough.

 

Here's the article in question though - http://www.lfchistory.net/Articles/Article/3228

 

Really good, honest account. Dispels the myth that the far right were involved too, as Evans says at the time they just wouldn't have been welcome.

[Guest firetotheworks]

I don't dispute that but they certainly did not have a reputation for a hooligan element in Europe, like the national team certainly had and they played in Europe much more than anyone else back then.

 

Anyway the point I was making was that they went from a perceived (whether that was self only is open to debate) good reputation, to being the epitome of an era of shame for English football and they didn't like that one bit, so naturally have attempted to push it under the carpet for so long. 

 

Their fans gave it Billy Big Bollocks because their team was so good and they didn't like anyone saying otherwise or challenging their best fans tag. I had trouble at Anfield in the KK cup game and even up here in his Farewell game. Great side they had, they were followed by some right toe rags. They've been trying to rewrite large parts of their history. Not met a single good humoured Lpool fan, met some who've given it the jolly scouser routine as a prelude to bother. Had a car load of them trying to flag us down on the A69 looking for a fight. s*** Houses.

 

I've met loads and can honestly say that I have never had a problem with Liverpool fans anywhere.  I've had some great times with them both when we've played them and when we've both been playing in London.

 

Everton fans, that's a totally different story and I can't stand them.

And yet others on here are saying they've had nothing but bother with Liverpool fans and I've personally never had any bother with Everton fans.

 

It's almost like you can't really judge a group of people by the team they support. Every set of fans has its utter cunts.

[Mick]

 

And yet others on here are saying they've had nothing but bother with Liverpool fans and I've personally never had any bother with Everton fans.

 

It's almost like you can't really judge a group of people by the team they support. Every set of fans has its utter c***s.

 

 

I've also personally never had any bother with Everton fans, my son has and I've seen some of our fans at Everton who were slashes with Stanley knives, oddly enough next to Stanley Park after the game.  As recently as the last away game this happened http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/kings-cross-football-hooligans-arrests-5710085

 

I agree most club has a bad element amongst the good fans.