1985
This year stays in memory marked by one thing: the Heysel Stadium Disaster. Tons of pages are written on it, so there is little need of recounting.
When, why, who is to blame – debates continue to this very day. Football as a culture showed its ugliest on May 29, 1985, when the fight between opposing fans and Belgian Police too started a good hour before the European Champions Cup final between Liverpool and Juventus started.
One thing was sure: football gradually evolved into war. Belonging to a club became identity and border line, it was us and them clearly marked by colours. Winning a game was a war on the pitch, already stated by Breitner. Winning at the terraces was the war between the fans. A city was battle field, no hostages, no mercy – a game of football was really invasion of armies, pillaging, destroying, and leaving after the battles wasteland. Football was dead – now it was something else, no longer a game and entertainment. There were no more fans either – now they were ‘ultras’, their ringleaders actually not even looking at the pitch and what was going on there, but turning their backs to the game to organize and command their increasingly murderous armies. It was nothing new, coming out of the blue, but slowly developing since the early 1970s – yet, nobody took any measures to address the increasing problems.
Thus, the simmering problems finally culminated in Heysel, at the biggest day of European football of the year.
A war, casualties, wasteland, but the show must go on – the show, the money, the pretense, a vicious circle, which nobody can break. The decision the game to be played in the midst of disaster was taken on high – on the highest! – political level. For the Belgians – the Prime Minister, the Brussels Mayor, and Chief of Police – it was largely concern for the city itself. If the game was cancelled, then the hordes of English and Italian fans will simply move the war to the city itself.
The match was played. 39 were dead, 600 injured. English clubs were banned from playing in the European club tournaments for 5 years. Investigation, charges and trials went on for years – at the end 14 fans, some officials and one Police captain were convicted of manslaughter. Football died and curiously nobody felt real guilt – with time, almost everybody accused everybody else and felt wronged by others. It was easy to feel innocent… so many thing were wrong, from crumbling old stadiums to unprepared Police, to increasing greed of clubs and governing bodies, which required exactly this new type of fans to gather and wave their flags. The ultras never feel guilt, just like soldiers in war – it was simple: us here and the enemy there. We are right, they are wrong. Attack. It was war on the pitch, it was war on the stands – ugly, bloody war. No more beautiful game. But there was no way to stop it either – after all, the Heysel Disaster was just an extraordinary moment. The same people self-righteously accusing left, right, and center, everything and everyone, for the unspeakable event would be ready in the next breath to points out that football was not juts the ugliness – just look around! Look at the whole picture, not just at one detail. And here it is, the whole picture.