Bradford City Fire on BT sport

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IanMcL
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Bradford City Fire on BT sport

Post by IanMcL » Tue Apr 07, 2020 11:27 pm

Gut wrenching. Reliving the memories of those present and outcomes. Feel for them all.

Just ending now.

Remember it at the time, on TV. Horrendous.

Not long after, we played Wolves and smoke billows from a car parked behind their main stand. Scary

elwaclaret
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Re: Bradford City Fire on BT sport

Post by elwaclaret » Tue Apr 07, 2020 11:33 pm

Remember seeing first reports live on World of Sports... seem to remember just as we were about to set off for the turf... but that might be my mind playing tricks after so long.

tim_noone
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Re: Bradford City Fire on BT sport

Post by tim_noone » Tue Apr 07, 2020 11:41 pm

I go up to Bingley cemetery now and again...really nice place considering. But the one sad thing I always notice. The graves of the two young boys and there father...never have Flowers there. Even on the anniversary. Such a tragedy.

Pstotto
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Re: Bradford City Fire on BT sport

Post by Pstotto » Tue Apr 07, 2020 11:43 pm

Humans love a spectacle and then oh no, it's real... It's real people and then the horror of the interest in a spectacle.

I wouldn't watch it. Having said that, I've spent today watching NASCAR crashes on YouTube.

yTib
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Re: Bradford City Fire on BT sport

Post by yTib » Wed Apr 08, 2020 1:01 am

pstotto you never fail to make yourself look like an imbecile.

i was walking past the tribute just the other day at the junction of manningham lane and hamm strasse and took a moment to think of those poor people who went to the footy and perished.

your glib observation of human tragedy disgusts me.

Damo
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Re: Bradford City Fire on BT sport

Post by Damo » Wed Apr 08, 2020 3:25 am

I was too young to remember this happening at the time, but I once had to have a safety induction, and part of it showed footage from the fire.
I couldnt bring myself to watch anything about it again. Truly horrific

jamesisaburyfan
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Re: Bradford City Fire on BT sport

Post by jamesisaburyfan » Wed Apr 08, 2020 9:27 am

Bradford features heavily in The Forgotten Fifteen, what with its subtitle 'How Bury triumphed in British football's worst year'. I spoke to a mate for the book who used to be my department manager in a student job at Asda because he survived it. He gave an incredible insight into the day, the effects of it and the feeling around a few years ago that it was an insurance job.

It's the first football tragedy I remember - probably because of the charity single more than anything - and it's probably the one that resonates the most too. Whilst hooliganism was around in small pockets at Bury - thanks Seasiders - it wasn't so prevalent that I didn't link it with Heysel, and big crowds weren't an issue so I didn't link Hillsborough with me and my dad going to the game either. But Bradford happened because the stand was made of wood, and every enclosure at Gigg was the same. I found out some fascinating and scary stuff when researching the book about how Gigg was almost closed forever in the immediate aftermath.

I've seen the BT Sport doc before and it's a very sensitively-handled piece. It got the approval of my Bradford mate which I felt was the true mark of it.

Bosscat
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Re: Bradford City Fire on BT sport

Post by Bosscat » Wed Apr 08, 2020 9:44 am

Pstotto wrote:
Tue Apr 07, 2020 11:43 pm
Take this post down Pstotto please.... it is in extremely poor taste

Quickenthetempo
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Re: Bradford City Fire on BT sport

Post by Quickenthetempo » Wed Apr 08, 2020 10:11 am

I've seen it before.

The bit that stands out for me is the fans chanting on the pitch towards the fire, it shows how people don't realise the seriousness of the situation until it's too late. The bravado of it can't get me.

Similar signs are being shown at the moment with the virus.
.
Rest in peace Bradford and Lincoln fans.

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Re: Bradford City Fire on BT sport

Post by nil_desperandum » Wed Apr 08, 2020 10:47 am

elwaclaret wrote:
Tue Apr 07, 2020 11:33 pm
Remember seeing first reports live on World of Sports... seem to remember just as we were about to set off for the turf... but that might be my mind playing tricks after so long.
Not that it matters at all in context, but Burnley were playing away that afternoon at Walsall and won 3-2. We actually won our last 2 away games that season which almost kept us up, but were relegated by 1 point. It was a home defeat to Bristol the previous week that did for us.
I remember being in town and listening to Radio Lancashire in the car as news of the fire broke. With promotion and relegation issues at stake it wasn't immediately a big story, but as it unfolded minute by minute it totally took over the sports broadcasts and the results became a sideshow.
(The match, incidentally, had started with the celebration of Bradford receiving the Football League Third Division Champions trophy.)
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ClaretTony
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Re: Bradford City Fire on BT sport

Post by ClaretTony » Wed Apr 08, 2020 10:48 am

elwaclaret wrote:
Tue Apr 07, 2020 11:33 pm
Remember seeing first reports live on World of Sports... seem to remember just as we were about to set off for the turf... but that might be my mind playing tricks after so long.
It happened after kick off and we were already playing at Walsall in our last game of the season.
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Devils_Advocate
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Re: Bradford City Fire on BT sport

Post by Devils_Advocate » Wed Apr 08, 2020 10:55 am

Damo wrote:
Wed Apr 08, 2020 3:25 am
I was too young to remember this happening at the time, but I once had to have a safety induction, and part of it showed footage from the fire.
I couldnt bring myself to watch anything about it again. Truly horrific
It was used as a Safety induction video at an office I worked in Leeds showing the sheer velocity a fire can spread at.

My best mate is a Bradford fan and he was on that game with his Granddad but in a different stand. His mum however was in the stand that caught fire. If I remember rightly only one of the two emergency exits at the back of the stand was opened so everyone who went to that one was ok but the those at the other end of the ground were stuck inside.

Luckily for my mate his mum went to the exit that opened but in a time when you didin't have instant communication it was an horrendous feeling travelling home unsure if your mum will be there.

I believe it was the same day the wall collapsed at Birmingham in the game against Leeds so a truly tragic day for English and in particularly West Yorkshire football

Missed Kickoff
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Re: Bradford City Fire on BT sport

Post by Missed Kickoff » Wed Apr 08, 2020 11:18 am

I went on a fire safety course with work and we had to watch a video of it in real time, I didn't realise how fast the stand went up.

elwaclaret
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Re: Bradford City Fire on BT sport

Post by elwaclaret » Wed Apr 08, 2020 12:09 pm

nil_desperandum wrote:
Wed Apr 08, 2020 10:47 am
Not that it matters at all in context, but Burnley were playing away that afternoon at Walsall and won 3-2. We actually won our last 2 away games that season which almost kept us up, but were relegated by 1 point. It was a home defeat to Bristol the previous week that did for us.
I remember being in town and listening to Radio Lancashire in the car as news of the fire broke. With promotion and relegation issues at stake it wasn't immediately a big story, but as it unfolded minute by minute it totally took over the sports broadcasts and the results became a sideshow.
(The match, incidentally, had started with the celebration of Bradford receiving the Football League Third Division Champions trophy.)

Nil and Ct thanks for that. No, definitely not at Walsall that day.... one of the grounds I have never visited Walsall. Must have been working that Saturday morning. Makes sense therefore seeing it happen.

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Re: Bradford City Fire on BT sport

Post by jamesisaburyfan » Wed Apr 08, 2020 12:15 pm

Missed Kickoff wrote:
Wed Apr 08, 2020 11:18 am
I went on a fire safety course with work and we had to watch a video of it in real time, I didn't realise how fast the stand went up.
There's a very good book by a survivor called Four Minutes To Hell based on the time it was from Dave Felgate booting a clearance into Row Z to the whole stand being in flames. You won't enjoy it as a read but it was necessary and the writer, Paul Firth, did a fantastic job with it.
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cricketfield73
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Re: Bradford City Fire on BT sport

Post by cricketfield73 » Wed Apr 08, 2020 12:38 pm

I've seen the video too and it makes for grim viewing, from a few people hopping over the stand wall to a blazing inferno in about 10 minutes. Hard to forget seeing that.

As for the Walsall match, one memory I have (and this has just been confirmed via text by a friend who came with us) is a well known Burnley hooligan running onto the pitch to confront Walsall's goalkeeper and being really proficiently taken down by a police dog.

Another recollection was of being in The Falcon on the following Friday as news came through that Swansea had got the draw that they needed to stay up and relegate us. I always wondered with that game being against one of the Bristol clubs (can't recall which one) whether there was a bit of collusion.

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Re: Bradford City Fire on BT sport

Post by Top Claret » Wed Apr 08, 2020 12:42 pm

I remember travelling home from our away game at Walsall and listening to the tragedy unfold on the radio, along with the wall collapse at St Andrews.

I think we played at Valley parade a couple of weeks previously, I also attended the game

JohnDearyMe
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Re: Bradford City Fire on BT sport

Post by JohnDearyMe » Wed Apr 08, 2020 12:44 pm

Devils_Advocate wrote:
Wed Apr 08, 2020 10:55 am

I believe it was the same day the wall collapsed at Birmingham in the game against Leeds so a truly tragic day for English and in particularly West Yorkshire football
First time I'd read about that incident. Shocking

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Re: Bradford City Fire on BT sport

Post by jamesisaburyfan » Wed Apr 08, 2020 1:14 pm

JohnDearyMe wrote:
Wed Apr 08, 2020 12:44 pm
First time I'd read about that incident. Shocking
The Video from inside the ground that day is shocking. Wave after wave of people running on the pitch.

https://youtu.be/3F4RPI_Aa9g

British footballs really was in the pits in 1985.

Herts Clarets
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Re: Bradford City Fire on BT sport

Post by Herts Clarets » Wed Apr 08, 2020 1:20 pm

cricketfield73 wrote:
Wed Apr 08, 2020 12:38 pm
Another recollection was of being in The Falcon on the following Friday as news came through that Swansea had got the draw that they needed to stay up and relegate us. I always wondered with that game being against one of the Bristol clubs (can't recall which one) whether there was a bit of collusion.
I thought that at the time. And of course with who was manager of Swansea City in 1985.....

jamesisaburyfan
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Re: Bradford City Fire on BT sport

Post by jamesisaburyfan » Wed Apr 08, 2020 1:58 pm

Herts Clarets wrote:
Wed Apr 08, 2020 1:20 pm
I thought that at the time. And of course with who was manager of Swansea City in 1985.....
Our family dislike that man as much as Clarets do. He sacked my uncle from his job as youth team coach at Shrewsbury.

groove
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Re: Bradford City Fire on BT sport

Post by groove » Wed Apr 08, 2020 1:59 pm

Herts Clarets wrote:
Wed Apr 08, 2020 1:20 pm
I thought that at the time. And of course with who was manager of Swansea City in 1985.....
Was just gonna say it was Bond wasn't it?

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Re: Bradford City Fire on BT sport

Post by JohnDearyMe » Wed Apr 08, 2020 2:04 pm

jamesisaburyfan wrote:
Wed Apr 08, 2020 1:14 pm
The Video from inside the ground that day is shocking. Wave after wave of people running on the pitch.

https://youtu.be/3F4RPI_Aa9g

British footballs really was in the pits in 1985.
Thanks for the link, that footage is really striking
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nighty
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Re: Bradford City Fire on BT sport

Post by nighty » Wed Apr 08, 2020 3:18 pm

my uncle got very badly burned arms lifting a child out of the stand , to be fair i dont think he ever worked again as he was a joiner , very bad times

IanMcL
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Re: Bradford City Fire on BT sport

Post by IanMcL » Wed Apr 08, 2020 3:57 pm

Gaby Yorath (Logan now) was going big chunks of the prog. Interviewed her dad, who was a coach at Bradford City at that time. He cried in the interview. Lots did as they retold and relived what happened to them.

Sad, sad time.

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