northstandnorth
THE GOLDSTONE
any one who had experienced english football hooligans in the 70's and 80's either as a spectator or a participant would realise the last thing that the hoolie's wanted was an actual fight,we ran at them-they ran at us.unless you were unlucky enough to be on your own and caught by at least 10 of them all that happened was a stand off. and if you stood your ground on the terraces whilst your lot were being chased you got ignored.
what happened at hysel was no worse than happened all over england at the time.the end result was a true tragedy but just like hillsborough the same lack of regard for the fans and pure greed of the football associations involved played a heavy part in that.
hysel,an ancient CYCLE track.a relic of the days when cycle racing was a great spectator sport in belgium was a crumbling disgrace and totally unfit to hold any major sporting event.(pictures shown on t.v.of the italian fans rioting after the disturbance showed them kicking and stomping on the crumbling terraces and throwing lumps of concrete at the belgium police)
segregation was a joke with a section next to liverpool fans being sold to locals and then sold on by touts mostly but not exclusively to italians.liverpool fans in this section came under attack from juventus hooligans and liverpool fans in the section allocated to them came under fire from bottles and more bits of the crumbling ground.
the only thing keeping the fans apart was a single chain link fence in a very poor state,the liverpool fans reacted to this provocation and the fence was no real barrier.the belgian police's attempts to subdue liverpool fans with batons rather than stop juventus fans attacking liverpool fans(either the ones in the mixed area or those being attacked with missiles) only enraged the liverpool fans.they got through gates and ripped the fencing down and DID WHAT ENGLISH FANS DO(AND YES AT THE TIME WE BRIGHTON FANS.ME INCLUDED DID)they rushed the juve fans.
i clearly remember seeing a typical english fans rush and you could see juve fans just standing still while liverpool fans ignored them and carried on running the mass moving away.
the weight of fans trapped in the last bit of the end caused the breeze block end wall to give way and fans unwittingly tramplled others to death. just like hillsborough,just like ibrox,just like bolton just like bradford Just like KINGS CROSS
just like the crush that nearly happened at highbury leaving the ground after our semi final.
a crap derelect ground should never have been chosen for a game of that importance but,just like hillsborough money was the main driving force in ground selection and uefa politics(and allegedly backhanders) gave the game to the belgium F.A. to fund the redevelopment of hysel(this game was planned to be the last ever at that stadium)
effective segregation was given up to sell the maximum number of tickets.with no regard to who got them.
what the liverpool fans did was to react to provocation in the same way english fans always reacted, the end result from that rush resulted in so many deaths BUT make no mistake given the same situation brighton fans could have created the same result.
what happened at hysel was no worse than happened all over england at the time.the end result was a true tragedy but just like hillsborough the same lack of regard for the fans and pure greed of the football associations involved played a heavy part in that.
hysel,an ancient CYCLE track.a relic of the days when cycle racing was a great spectator sport in belgium was a crumbling disgrace and totally unfit to hold any major sporting event.(pictures shown on t.v.of the italian fans rioting after the disturbance showed them kicking and stomping on the crumbling terraces and throwing lumps of concrete at the belgium police)
segregation was a joke with a section next to liverpool fans being sold to locals and then sold on by touts mostly but not exclusively to italians.liverpool fans in this section came under attack from juventus hooligans and liverpool fans in the section allocated to them came under fire from bottles and more bits of the crumbling ground.
the only thing keeping the fans apart was a single chain link fence in a very poor state,the liverpool fans reacted to this provocation and the fence was no real barrier.the belgian police's attempts to subdue liverpool fans with batons rather than stop juventus fans attacking liverpool fans(either the ones in the mixed area or those being attacked with missiles) only enraged the liverpool fans.they got through gates and ripped the fencing down and DID WHAT ENGLISH FANS DO(AND YES AT THE TIME WE BRIGHTON FANS.ME INCLUDED DID)they rushed the juve fans.
i clearly remember seeing a typical english fans rush and you could see juve fans just standing still while liverpool fans ignored them and carried on running the mass moving away.
the weight of fans trapped in the last bit of the end caused the breeze block end wall to give way and fans unwittingly tramplled others to death. just like hillsborough,just like ibrox,just like bolton just like bradford Just like KINGS CROSS
just like the crush that nearly happened at highbury leaving the ground after our semi final.
a crap derelect ground should never have been chosen for a game of that importance but,just like hillsborough money was the main driving force in ground selection and uefa politics(and allegedly backhanders) gave the game to the belgium F.A. to fund the redevelopment of hysel(this game was planned to be the last ever at that stadium)
effective segregation was given up to sell the maximum number of tickets.with no regard to who got them.
what the liverpool fans did was to react to provocation in the same way english fans always reacted, the end result from that rush resulted in so many deaths BUT make no mistake given the same situation brighton fans could have created the same result.
