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Post by Deleted on May 12, 2021 11:54:16 GMT 1
I always feel saddened that the Bradford fire disaster isn't remembered and commemorated in the way that other football tragedies are.
And it was only by looking at the Bradford website (to check out their retained list) that I saw the 36th anniversary was yesterday (May 11).
Unless I missed it, I didn't see anything on here yesterday - which is a pity.
So this is a belated thread on a topic that deserves to be recognised.
RIP the 56
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Post by terriersyndrome on May 12, 2021 11:57:55 GMT 1
I always feel saddened that the Bradford fire disaster isn't remembered and commemorated in the way that other football tragedies are. And it was only by looking at the Bradford website (to check out their retained list) that I saw the 36th anniversary was yesterday (May 11). Unless I missed it, I didn't see anything on here yesterday - which is a pity. So this is a belated thread on a topic that deserves to be recognised. RIP the 56 I noticed the club sent out a tweet yesterday remembering the 56 |
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goodbet
Jimmy Glazzard Terrier
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Post by goodbet on May 12, 2021 12:10:17 GMT 1
If they were in the Premier league we all know it would have been there for all to see.
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Post by Chips Longhorn on May 12, 2021 12:13:34 GMT 1
"Unless I missed it, I didn't see anything on here yesterday -"
Probably because people know that the usual suspects turn it into a tirade against Liverpool FC ..
RIP to the 56
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Post by Christ in Shades (art) on May 12, 2021 12:29:29 GMT 1
It was a pretty shit few weeks for football was May 1985, the same day as the fire a young 15 year old lad was crushed to death by a falling wall whilst the Leeds fan rampaged at St Andrews. Heysel soon followed a few weeks later.
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Post by Deleted on May 12, 2021 12:35:57 GMT 1
It was a pretty shit few weeks for football was May 1985, the same day as the fire a young 15 year old lad was crushed to death by a falling wall whilst the Leeds fan rampaged at St Andrews. Heysel soon followed a few weeks later. And the common thread in all of them was decaying stadia, as football fans in the 80s were treated with contempt. So let's not derail this by finger-pointing. |
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Post by ACW on May 12, 2021 12:42:31 GMT 1
I remember watching the stand go up in flames. Still upsets me to this day. As do all football tragedies. No one should go to a football match and not come home.
RIP the 56.
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Post by Porrohman on May 12, 2021 12:44:52 GMT 1
"Unless I missed it, I didn't see anything on here yesterday -" Probably because people know that the usual suspects turn it into a tirade against Liverpool FC .. RIP to the 56 What's the fire at VP got to do with bin dippers ? |
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Post by Chips Longhorn on May 12, 2021 12:45:48 GMT 1
"Unless I missed it, I didn't see anything on here yesterday -" Probably because people know that the usual suspects turn it into a tirade against Liverpool FC .. RIP to the 56 What's the fire at VP got to do with bin dippers ? Absolutely nothing |
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Post by Lard Buttie on May 12, 2021 12:48:53 GMT 1
Went to a charity game & Valley Parade after the fire - All star England v All Star Bradford.
The charred remains on that stand in the background. Awful, awful time.
I was in Bradford that afternoon as was getting a train up to Thirsk to start a new job - Saw the smoke from The Interchange as I departed and thought no more of it until I saw the tele later that night
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Post by savilerowtownfan on May 12, 2021 12:49:39 GMT 1
Never forgotten. Remember it all unfolding on the TV. John Helm commentating. Small fire then so very quickly mayhem, tragedy and despair. It should never have happened. May they Rest in Peace 💙
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Post by Porrohman on May 12, 2021 12:55:45 GMT 1
Remember laughing about it at first as I was at Leeds Road and had no idea it was serious. We were at home on the Tuesday night too cos there was a bucket collection. In the summer there was a fundraiser at Fartown, a mixed Town, City and Leeds XI v Diddy David Hamilton's Showbiz XI. Worthy and John Charles played. Best memory of that was being stood next to Jilly Johnson, she was helping with the bucket collections.
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Post by 28901 on May 12, 2021 12:59:14 GMT 1
RIP the 56
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Post by Deleted on May 12, 2021 13:00:23 GMT 1
Remember laughing about it at first as I was at Leeds Road and had no idea it was serious. We were at home on the Tuesday night too cos there was a bucket collection. In the summer there was a fundraiser at Fartown, a mixed Town, City and Leeds XI v Diddy David Hamilton's Showbiz XI. Worthy and John Charles played. Best memory of that was being stood next to Jilly Johnson, she was helping with the bucket collections. My dad says the same. Somebody with a radio says "Bradford stand has burnt down" and a few people had a chuckle without, of course, realising the implications. He didn't know the magnitude until he got home. Bradford played a few games down at Leeds Road at the beginning of the next season, didn't they? |
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Post by Bassingham Terrier on May 12, 2021 13:02:57 GMT 1
Remember laughing about it at first as I was at Leeds Road and had no idea it was serious. We were at home on the Tuesday night too cos there was a bucket collection. In the summer there was a fundraiser at Fartown, a mixed Town, City and Leeds XI v Diddy David Hamilton's Showbiz XI. Worthy and John Charles played. Best memory of that was being stood next to Jilly Johnson, she was helping with the bucket collections. Rick Wakeman's wife. |
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Post by Bassingham Terrier on May 12, 2021 13:03:33 GMT 1
Remember laughing about it at first as I was at Leeds Road and had no idea it was serious. We were at home on the Tuesday night too cos there was a bucket collection. In the summer there was a fundraiser at Fartown, a mixed Town, City and Leeds XI v Diddy David Hamilton's Showbiz XI. Worthy and John Charles played. Best memory of that was being stood next to Jilly Johnson, she was helping with the bucket collections. My dad says the same. Somebody with a radio says "Bradford stand has burnt down" and a few people had a chuckle without, of course, realising the implications. He didn't know the magnitude until he got home. Bradford played a few games down at Leeds Road at the beginning of the next season, didn't they? Yes. |
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Post by Chips Longhorn on May 12, 2021 13:10:56 GMT 1
I remember being in the players lounge as it unfolded.. was it the day wimbledon got promoted ? Maybe maybe not . Went to a game featuring man utd at Leeds Road that was something to do with the disaster fund. I also remember us getting schooled by them at odsal
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Post by Deleted on May 12, 2021 13:22:23 GMT 1
As a 15 year old, I watched this unfold on a TV in Rumbelows window on the Piazza.
I remember just me and maybe one other looking through the window as it broke (it was common to stare in their window to get updated scores in passing, they always had a TV with Teletext on)...20mins later there was a crowd - with no sound it took a while to work out what was going on and where...and whilst it was shocking and unusual enough to keep a teenage me mesmerised for half an hour or more...I don't think the reality of it struck home until reading the Sunday papers the next day.
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Champers
Andy Booth Terrier
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Post by Champers on May 12, 2021 13:28:14 GMT 1
I was a bit young when it happened but the footage of the tragedy is uncensored on YouTube. Watched it a few years ago and won't ever revisit it. All happened so fast and many never stood a chance. RIP to the 54 Bantams and 2 Imps fans who perished on that awful afternoon.
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Post by Walton-on-the-Hill Terrier on May 12, 2021 13:37:09 GMT 1
Coincidentally the first time I ever went to Valley Parade in 1966 was against Lincoln City, their opponents in 1985. My dad and I sat in the stand that burned down, the only time I ever sat in there, though I saw many games from the paddock at the front. I can remember it very clearly. It was certainly a bit of a rabbit warren at the back of the stand, but honestly it was no worse than it is now at QPR (admittedly QPR isn’t built of wood and bitumen roof felt).
RIP the 56.
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Post by Mecha Corte on May 12, 2021 13:55:15 GMT 1
It was a pretty shit few weeks for football was May 1985, the same day as the fire a young 15 year old lad was crushed to death by a falling wall whilst the Leeds fan rampaged at St Andrews. Heysel soon followed a few weeks later. It’s often forgotten that two Lincoln City fans also died in the Bradford Fire, no more or less important obviously but I feel it’s worth adding, as you said there was also St Andrew’s and Heysel around the time and another incident which seems to go unnoticed in 1980 two Boro fans died in a crush accident at Ayresome Park in a game vs Man United, the ground did NOT have a safety certificate at the time, dismissed as a technicality because all standards were met, yet a brick gate post collapsed and two innocent fans died. You wonder what the legal implications would be nowadays. The reason I remember it, my older brother attended the fixture, as a Man U fan, I got home from Towns game (ironically a 3-2 vs Lincoln) and heard the news, naturally you worry, is he OK ? Of course no mobile phones etc, I didn’t know if I should say anything or not but happily he showed up a couple of hours later, unaware of what happened. |
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Post by Mecha Corte on May 12, 2021 14:06:37 GMT 1
Coincidentally the first time I ever went to Valley Parade in 1966 was against Lincoln City, their opponents in 1985. My dad and I sat in the stand that burned down, the only time I ever sat in there, though I saw many games from the paddock at the front. I can remember it very clearly. It was certainly a bit of a rabbit warren at the back of the stand, but honestly it was no worse than it is now at QPR (admittedly QPR isn’t built of wood and bitumen roof felt). RIP the 56. I’d been to Valley Parade a few times before the fire, but always in the open end, often greeted with a few “friendly” half bricks lobbed over into our half as a greeting from the locals, however in 79/80 after sealing the title a couple of us went for a Testimonial game, City vsTown for Peter Downsborough the long serving City goalie, we sat in the stand that would be the scene of the fire, it was wooden, old and a state, I was a smoker back then and can remember the gaps under the floor were stuffed with decades worth of litter, old newspapers, cig packets, paper cups etc etc, I just dismissed it as an old shit tip, but despite stubbing out a few finished ciggies under foot the idea that a fire could start never entered my thoughts. |
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Post by Walton-on-the-Hill Terrier on May 12, 2021 14:17:46 GMT 1
Coincidentally the first time I ever went to Valley Parade in 1966 was against Lincoln City, their opponents in 1985. My dad and I sat in the stand that burned down, the only time I ever sat in there, though I saw many games from the paddock at the front. I can remember it very clearly. It was certainly a bit of a rabbit warren at the back of the stand, but honestly it was no worse than it is now at QPR (admittedly QPR isn’t built of wood and bitumen roof felt). RIP the 56. I’d been to Valley Parade a few times before the fire, but always in the open end, often greeted with a few “friendly” half bricks lobbed over into our half as a greeting from the locals, however in 79/80 after sealing the title a couple of us went for a Testimonial game, City vsTown for Peter Downsborough the long serving City goalie, we sat in the stand that would be the scene of the fire, it was wooden, old and a state, I was a smoker back then and can remember the gaps under the floor were stuffed with decades worth of litter, old newspapers, cig packets, paper cups etc etc, I just dismissed it as an old shit tip, but despite stubbing out a few finished ciggies under foot the idea that a fire could start never entered my thoughts. The other thing I remember from the old stand is that the front sections of seating were separated by fairly high walls/barriers from sections behind, and you had to go through narrow gates to get to the front sections. The exits were all at the top of the stand at the back. Back in those days half the crowd was probably smoking, my dad included. From the paddock terrace you exited via a terrace that ran up to the back of the old stand right in the corner by the open Kop end. |
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Post by Porrohman on May 12, 2021 14:33:27 GMT 1
Remember laughing about it at first as I was at Leeds Road and had no idea it was serious. We were at home on the Tuesday night too cos there was a bucket collection. In the summer there was a fundraiser at Fartown, a mixed Town, City and Leeds XI v Diddy David Hamilton's Showbiz XI. Worthy and John Charles played. Best memory of that was being stood next to Jilly Johnson, she was helping with the bucket collections. Rick Wakeman's wife. No, that's Nina Carter. JJ is her best mate. |
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Post by Porrohman on May 12, 2021 14:36:17 GMT 1
I remember being in the players lounge as it unfolded.. was it the day wimbledon got promoted ? Maybe maybe not . Went to a game featuring man utd at Leeds Road that was something to do with the disaster fund. I also remember us getting schooled by them at odsal Wimbledon was the year after, I think. We were in the players lounge too, that's when we found out how serious it was. City played Man U in a friendly at Leeds Road and won. I remember seeing us lose a couple of times at Odsal, Cork was sent off in one of them. |
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Post by Porrohman on May 12, 2021 14:40:00 GMT 1
My dad played table tennis and it was the Huddersfield league presentation night that night. A woman sat at dads table worked in the VP players bar under the stand and was working. The first she knew anything was wrong was when firemen in breathing apparatus broke the door down.
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Post by Mecha Corte on May 12, 2021 15:27:53 GMT 1
I remember being in the players lounge as it unfolded.. was it the day wimbledon got promoted ? Maybe maybe not . Went to a game featuring man utd at Leeds Road that was something to do with the disaster fund. I also remember us getting schooled by them at odsal City played a few League and League Cup fixtures at Town, I think a couple at Elland Road as well, while their ground was rebuilt, there was a Tuesday night friendly, a fund raiser for the disaster appeal, City v Man U at Leeds Road which I went to, the crowd was nothing to write home about, 5,000 or so. I also went to a re run of the 1966 World Cup Final, again a fund raiser, played at Elland Road, plenty of the original players from both teams on show including Ray Wilson who did 5 minutes before his plastic knee gave up ! A better crowd of around 20,000 for this one. |
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Post by Bassingham Terrier on May 12, 2021 15:37:22 GMT 1
No, that's Nina Carter. JJ is her best mate. You're absolutely right. Knew it was a blonde Page Three girl though...  |
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Post by sabailand on May 12, 2021 15:44:16 GMT 1
I remember being in the players lounge as it unfolded.. was it the day wimbledon got promoted ? Maybe maybe not . Went to a game featuring man utd at Leeds Road that was something to do with the disaster fund. I also remember us getting schooled by them at odsal Wimbledon was the year after, I think. We were in the players lounge too, that's when we found out how serious it was. City played Man U in a friendly at Leeds Road and won. I remember seeing us lose a couple of times at Odsal, Cork was sent off in one of them. We were playing Portsmouth that day, Portsmouth won 2-0. |
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Post by Mecha Corte on May 12, 2021 15:51:05 GMT 1
I remember being in the players lounge as it unfolded.. was it the day wimbledon got promoted ? Maybe maybe not . Went to a game featuring man utd at Leeds Road that was something to do with the disaster fund. I also remember us getting schooled by them at odsal Wimbledon was the year after, I think. We were in the players lounge too, that's when we found out how serious it was. City played Man U in a friendly at Leeds Road and won. I remember seeing us lose a couple of times at Odsal, Cork was sent off in one of them. A 4-3 defeat at Odsal sums up Town, it was mid November, we had two away points from a goalless draw at Bramall Lane and a 1-1 at St Andrew’s, Julian Dicks obliged with a 92nd minute own goal equaliser, our only goal away from home in the first 7 games, so let’s get three in a local derby and still lose ! Only Town eh, |
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