26 years ago today thousands of Juventus supporters travelled to Heysel to watch their side play in the biggest match in club football, the European Cup final.
Tragically, 39 never returned.
A variety of causes, including the inaction of the police, unwise ticketing policy and, most importantly, the fragile nature of a stadium that was obviously not fit enough to stage such a massive occasion, led to 32 Italians, 4 Belgians, 2 French people and a Northern Irish man being crushed to death after a surge by a small minority of Liverpool fans caused a wall to collapse.
Contrary to popular opinion Liverpool supporters were not solely to blame for the disaster, however our role in the tragedy is inescapable.
This is a list of the 39 who died:
Rocco Acerra (29)
Bruno Bali (50)
Alfons Bos
Giancarlo Bruschera (21)
Andrea Casula (11)
Giovanni Casula (44)
Nino Cerullo (24)
Willy Chielens
Giuseppina Conto (17)
Dirk Daenecky
Dionisio Fabbro (51)
Jacques Francois
Eugenio Gagliano (35)
Francesco Galli (25)
Giancarlo Gonnelli (20)
Alberto Guarini (21)
Giovacchino Landini (50)
Roberto Lorentini (31)
Barbara Lusci (58)
Franco Martelli (22)
Loris Messore (28)
Gianni Mastroiaco (20)
Sergio Bastino Mazzino (38)
Luciano Rocco Papaluca (38)
Luigi Pidone (31)
Benito Pistolato (50)
Patrick Radcliffe
Domenico Ragazzi (44)
Antonio Ragnanese (49)
Claude Robert
Mario Ronchi (43)
Domenico Russo (28)
Tarcisio Salvi (49)
Gianfranco Sarto (47)
Amedeo Giuseppe Spolaore (55)
Mario Spanu (41)
Tarcisio Venturin (23)
Jean Michel Walla
Claudio Zavaroni (28)
On behalf of all Liverpool supporters I would like to offer my condolences to the families of the 39 people who lost their lives. We truly know how you feel. We are so sorry. You'll Never Walk Alone
Very kind from you to remind us about them.
ReplyDeleteI wish Reds the best for next season. Nowadays Juventus, the team I'm supporting, and Liverpool are living similar situations.
Let's hope they will turn to be the important teams they've been in the history. ;)