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It was the 40th anniversary of the fire at Valley Parade over the weekend.
There was a good documentary about it on BBC2 on Sunday night, worth catching it if you can.
One interesting point, during the Popplewell inquiry after the fire, it was made clear its purpose was to make things better in sports stadia, rather than apportion blame. And while the fire was tragic, it's clear that decades of mismanagement by the football authorities and owners of the football club led to the events of that day, something that could have been avoided. But back then, football supporters were very much second class citizens. So while the documentary was good, it did seem to skirt around that topic.
What I didn't realise is that in years prior to Bradford other football stadiums had had fires (thankfully not fatal), one of them at Griffin Park in 1983.
The fire quickly spread through the timber used in the construction of the stand.[6] Groundsman Alec Banks, who lived under the stand, was rescued by then-Brentford player Stan Bowles and his wife Jane.
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RIP to the Bradford 56 on 09:33 - May 13 with 1480 views
Man, I can't even imagine how awful that was for everyone there.
I know these things all become about enquiries and blame and all that but the human factor shouldn't be forgotten.
Stefan Moore, Stefan Moore running down the wing. Stefan Moore, Stefan Moore running down the wing. He runs like a cheetah, his crosses couldn't be sweeter. Stefan Moore. Stefan Moore. Stefan Moore.
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RIP to the Bradford 56 on 09:57 - May 13 with 1385 views
Has much changed in some places?Imagine a fire breaking out in the away end at Portsmouth,or our own school end?I know we haven’t got the wooden stands that Bradford had,but how many of us walk into a ground and think about how we would get out in an emergency situation? RIP to the poor souls who lost their lives that day.
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RIP to the Bradford 56 on 10:08 - May 13 with 1329 views
Has much changed in some places?Imagine a fire breaking out in the away end at Portsmouth,or our own school end?I know we haven’t got the wooden stands that Bradford had,but how many of us walk into a ground and think about how we would get out in an emergency situation? RIP to the poor souls who lost their lives that day.
I suppose the main thing is that fire exits should be manned and not blocked or locked like they were at Bradford. And for the most part accessing the pitch is a lot easier these days.
At the time i was working at a bookies in Leicester, when word came through of the fire, and the next 5 minutes was gut wrenching, listening to the reports coming in.
Some truly awful images of the day which i still find disturbing.
RIP to the Bradford 56 on 09:36 - May 13 by izlingtonhoop
Was once shown a real time video as part of fire training. Have rarely been in a room so quiet.
Same
I was on my IOSHH course that was actually a residential one held in the outskirts of Bradford. Course tutor was an ex fireman who had attended that day.
He said before he put the video on. "If anyone needs to leave or be emotional during or after this video please do. If anyone says anything untoward about someone doing so or takes this lightly then I'll throw you out the window. And I mean it" 14 blokes working in building site management and I swear to God I've never seen blokes so shocked and shaken.... couple of us did get a touch wobbly as we were regular football fans and it resonated with us.
Respect fire - it's not to be messed with
Cherish and enjoy life.... this ain't no dress rehearsal
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RIP to the Bradford 56 on 11:44 - May 13 with 1082 views
RIP to the Bradford 56 on 10:49 - May 13 by kingsburyR
I was 10 when this awful incident happened.
I can't work out how many people lost their lives when it started as a small fire before turning into the inferno it became.
Were people trapped?
I cannot imagine the suffering. May god bless them all.
Ive sat in a few non league stands recently. St Albans City (my local team) main stand is still mainly a wooden structure with wooden seats.
A lot of people died because they tried to escape the fire by going to the rear exits of the stand,which were locked.The people who got out went towards the pitch rather than the back of the stand.A 50/50 choice which was the wrong one in so many cases.
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RIP to the Bradford 56 on 11:51 - May 13 with 1069 views
RIP to the Bradford 56 on 13:08 - May 13 by BrianMcCarthy
I'm another who saw it on a building safety course.
Horrific.
Always felt it was the forgotten tragedy, overshadowed at the time by Heysel and later by Hillsborough.
Heysel 40th anniversary coming up.
Also there was the death of a young fan following fighting between Birmingham and Leeds fans which was the same day as Bradford. Awful scenes inside the ground.
1985 was a really dreadful year for football. And yet, watching the Big Match Revisited on ITV 4 recently (which covers 1984-85 season) the football itself is great and there is hardly anything to suggest issues around hooliganism or dilapidated stadia. They showed the Cup semi final between Liverpool and ManU at Goodison Park and by all accounts that game saw terrible violence before during and after (somehow no one died as far as I know).
What contributed to the rapid spread of the fire was that (combustible) litter had been allowed to build up underneath the seating in the old wooden stand, despite the club (apparently) having been warned about it.
While the timing was especially fateful, because it was the last home game of the season, with that old wooden stand due to be replaced with a steel structure during the summer.
While because it broke out towards the end of the first half, the entry/exit gates were still locked, so people had to try to break then down to try to escape. Plus it was a windy day, meaning the fire spread quicker.
As is almost always the case with this sort of catastrophe, it was a whole combination of factors which combined to produce this result.
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RIP to the Bradford 56 on 13:39 - May 13 with 845 views
RIP to the Bradford 56 on 13:29 - May 13 by NewBee
What contributed to the rapid spread of the fire was that (combustible) litter had been allowed to build up underneath the seating in the old wooden stand, despite the club (apparently) having been warned about it.
While the timing was especially fateful, because it was the last home game of the season, with that old wooden stand due to be replaced with a steel structure during the summer.
While because it broke out towards the end of the first half, the entry/exit gates were still locked, so people had to try to break then down to try to escape. Plus it was a windy day, meaning the fire spread quicker.
As is almost always the case with this sort of catastrophe, it was a whole combination of factors which combined to produce this result.
As an indicator of the amount of rubbish that had built up, they found a newspaper from 1968 and food wrapping that was pre decimalisation.
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RIP to the Bradford 56 on 13:40 - May 13 with 840 views
A lot of people died because they tried to escape the fire by going to the rear exits of the stand,which were locked.The people who got out went towards the pitch rather than the back of the stand.A 50/50 choice which was the wrong one in so many cases.
We still go in away ends now where you see the main rear exit door chained and padlocked up, relying on somebody in an emergency to do their job properly and get it opened lively - Palace away last time we were there was like that.
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RIP to the Bradford 56 on 13:57 - May 13 with 769 views
RIP to the Bradford 56 on 13:22 - May 13 by TheChef
Heysel 40th anniversary coming up.
Also there was the death of a young fan following fighting between Birmingham and Leeds fans which was the same day as Bradford. Awful scenes inside the ground.
1985 was a really dreadful year for football. And yet, watching the Big Match Revisited on ITV 4 recently (which covers 1984-85 season) the football itself is great and there is hardly anything to suggest issues around hooliganism or dilapidated stadia. They showed the Cup semi final between Liverpool and ManU at Goodison Park and by all accounts that game saw terrible violence before during and after (somehow no one died as far as I know).
1985 was also the year that Millwall went on the rampage at Kenilworth Road and did thousands of pounds worth of improvements.
RIP to the Bradford 56 on 13:51 - May 13 by Northernr
We still go in away ends now where you see the main rear exit door chained and padlocked up, relying on somebody in an emergency to do their job properly and get it opened lively - Palace away last time we were there was like that.
I'm sure that it wasn't that long ago the Palace away stand was still wood? Or at least the seats were.
RIP to the Bradford 56 on 13:51 - May 13 by Northernr
We still go in away ends now where you see the main rear exit door chained and padlocked up, relying on somebody in an emergency to do their job properly and get it opened lively - Palace away last time we were there was like that.
The back/concourse at Portsmouth I think might struggle in an emergency.
Away fans will most likely say the same about the School End concourse.
Probably better if I don't think too much about these things...
RIP to the Bradford 56 on 13:51 - May 13 by Northernr
We still go in away ends now where you see the main rear exit door chained and padlocked up, relying on somebody in an emergency to do their job properly and get it opened lively - Palace away last time we were there was like that.
Absolutely - and I thought Luton away this year had the potential to be an absolute death trap. Shambles - and this is 2025.
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RIP to the Bradford 56 (n/t) on 14:22 - May 13 with 630 views
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