The fire at Sheffield's Hillsborough
stadium still reaches the news but two other stadium disasters don’t: one at
Bradford’s Valley Parade stadium in 1985 and the one at Glasgow's Ibrox Stadium in 1971. Here I am at the first one. I'd been
visiting cemeteries in Bradford and drove home via the stadium to have a stroll
around. As it was Sunday teatime the area was quiet and almost deserted. I
expected to find a huge car park acting as a moat around the stadium but it was
mostly terraced houses and light industry. I looped the stadium and found a
place where I could shove the camera through a gauze fence and get a photograph
of the pitch itself.
It was here on Saturday 11th May 1985 that
Bradford City were playing Lincoln City. Edging the turf was a stand built in
1911 with a wooden roof (it was going to be replaced after the football season.)
There had been warnings about the banks of built-up litter in the cavity below
the seats but this was nothing new. You never think anything tragic will happen
do you?
One small flame ruined the stand and lives. The
match was being recorded by Yorkshire Television for their football show The Big Match so the inferno was caught
on film. How did it start? Sometime in the first half a man tossed a spent
cigarette on the floor and scuffed it out with this foot. It hadn’t gone out
though and it slipped through a hole in the floorboard. The man noticed a plume
of smoke at his feet and poured his coffee through the hole, as did his son.
When a thicker plumb of smoke appeared he went to get a steward. It was too
late and by the time he returned the fire had taken hold of the thick carpet of
litter below.
TV commentator John Helm remarked on a small glow
of a fire at 3:40pm but thought little of it - fans often set off firecrackers.
Spectators above the fire felt their feet getting oddly warm. One saw flames
and went to fetch a fire extinguisher but found none. Flames appeared and orange
fire below the seats seemed to be sprinting. Spectators began to cascade over
the wall separating the stand from the pitch and the linesman informed the
referee to stop the game. The stand's wooden roof was covered in flammable
bituminous felt and was soon aflame. Timbers and molten materials fell into the
crowd and the fire spread under a seemingly conspiring wind. In four minutes
the entire stand was aflame with fire and screams. The fire brigade were called
and police started to evacuate the building. A mass panic like something from a
horror film erupted. Lucky spectators ran down onto the pitch and unlucky ones
ran up to the back of the stand. They found themselves trapped and tried to
break down locked exit doors. Many were burnt to death at the turnstiles gates
which were always locked once a game had started. Some people searched for fire
extinguishers in the stand's passageway but found nothing (they'd been removed due
to a fear of them being vandalised) and they died of smoke inhalation.
Even though the fire brigade arrived quickly they
couldn't tackle the fire immediately. Fire and smoke had trapped spectators and
they needed rescuing before the fire could be doused. Those who escaped were
taken out of the ground to neighbouring homes and a pub. They were surprised to
see World of Sport transmitting live
pictures from the stadium. People joined a queue for a telephone to ring their
families.
In total 56 spectators died mostly from smoke
inhalation including 3 who tried to escape through the toilets, 27 by “K” exit
and 6 to 9 at the rear centre of the stand. Some had tried to crawl under the
turnstiles but had been crushed in the mayhem. One man ran onto the pitch on
fire from head to foot but died in hospital. About 265 supporters were injured.
The fire brigade found many people had died still sitting upright in their
seats covered by a tarpaulin that had fallen from the roof. Police worked until
4am the next day clearing the bodies.
In 1985 the fire was the worst sporting tragedy
of its kind in England but the death toll could have been higher. Thankfully
there was no perimeter fence which meant people could run onto the pitch. There
many acts of bravery and later on 50 people received police awards or
commendations for individual heroics. Even today Bradford City continues to
fund the Burns Unit charity at the University of Bradford. The fire made global
news and an appeal brought in £3.5 million (about £10.5 million today). Afterwards
there was a banning of new wooden grandstands at all UK sports grounds, closure
of many existing wooden stands deemed unsafe and the banning of smoking in
other wooden stands.
As I walked around I thought, “All those deaths
from a casually thrown fag end." When you go to a football match you
expect to come home don't you? I used up the last of the hot water in the flask
having a coffee and a Wispa bar, did a salute and got
on the M62 for home.