And so it has been that while Liverpool supporters' refusal to accept the received narrative of Hillsborough the stadium disaster 40 miles north across Yorkshire in which 96 died has made it a source of anger and liberation at the heart of the national consciousness, Bradford became the forgotten tragedy. Coach Terry Yorath described the events as "the worst day in my life. Whether they don't feel welcome, for instance. On 23 February 1987, Sir Joseph Cantley found the club two thirds responsible and the county council (which by this time had been abolished) one third responsible. by tim_noone Fri May 11, 2018 9:25 am, Post by Colburn_Claret Fri May 11, 2018 5:38 am, Post 10th Apr, 2021. ", ""This is more about the fans, the people and the ground - even the people who don't come to the ground."". Our mission is to provide a safe, fun and inclusive environment to inspire, educate and enable the people of Bradford to achieve their goals to their fullest potential. Forest Green new stadium going to be made out of wood. The fire destroyed the main stand completely and left only burned seats, lamps and metal fences remaining. The Bradford Township Volunteer Fire Department recently announced a raffle to win a 2022 Ford F-150 XLT SuperCrew. by Imploding Turtle Fri May 11, 2018 8:35 am, Post [citation needed] Spectators later spoke of initially feeling their feet becoming warmer; one of them ran to the back of the stand for a fire extinguisher but found none. "Why is it coming out now? The Bradford Disaster Appeal fund, set up within 48hours of the disaster, eventually raised over 3.5million (11.3million today). It occurred during a league match, on Saturday, 11 May 1985, killing 56 and injuring at least 265. There were many cases of heroism, with more than 50 people later receiving police awards or commendations for bravery. "[37], Fletcher subsequently published a book in 2015, Fifty-Six: The Story of the Bradford Fire which revealed a history of fires at businesses owned by the Bradford City chairman Stafford Heginbotham. It's right to know why it happened." Used to go there regularly in the 70's as a student and it was just the same. The CNN sports correspondent Alex Thomas was a school friend and he always asked Fletcher why he didn't have the ambition to make a go of it in that world. At the time of the disaster, many stadiums had perimeter fencing between the stands and the pitch to prevent incidents of football hooliganism particularly pitch invasions which were rife during the 1980s. She was Hazel Greenwood the mother whose children, 13-year-old Felix and 11-year-old Rupert, had been ushered away from the flames of the stadium fire all those years ago by a traffic warden, seeking to shelter them under his tunic. Scott Richard Advertisement The fire broke out around 10:30 a.m. at the site. Bradford City Community Foundations Unheard Voices project is producing a book and 15-minute film on the residents experiences on that fateful day. The Weekly Gab: Lower league sides to watch in the FA Cup. The list of victims reveals the impact the disaster had on families as fathers, sons, mothers, daughters, husbands and wives went to a football game that day never to come home again. The stand had been officially condemned and was due to be replaced with a steel structure after the season ended. The stand had no perimeter fencing to keep fans from accessing the pitch, thus averting an instance of crush asphyxia as in the 1989 Hillsborough disaster. Since 1903, when the club was formed, Bradford City Association Football Club had played their home games at the ground. The timber construction of St. Andrew's Stand, Main Stand and the roof of its popular Railway End terrace were immediately condemned as fire hazards, which saw seating capacity briefly cut to nil. The files show how the possibility of arson was not even touched upon or tested. 18+. That duty was not a duty to the Club but a duty to the spectators and other persons in the stand. ", Bantamspast For a better experience, please enable JavaScript in your browser before proceeding. I walked past a public telephone outside the ground and there were queues of people waiting to ring home. The next day work began on clearing the burnt out shell of the stand, and Justice Popplewell released his findings into the disaster. Beat the energy price rises in Ormondroyd Avenue, Bradford BD6 Yearly saving up to: 553 Detached house 415 Semi-detached house 393 End terrace house Compare energy deals Robert Wedgeworth (72) Arsenal fanzine lives to fight another season, Donation to Islington Boxing Club proves to be a real knockout. Eric Hudson (72) Norman Hall (71) Edmond Fletcher (63) It will stay in my memory for ever. Picture date: Thursday August 25, 2022. IN MEMORIAM. John Hughes (64) contact IPSO here, 2001-2023. ";s:4:"text";s:3462:" Visit us for exclusive Galen Center Special Events throughout the year! "[33], Central to the test case were two letters sent to Bradford City's Club Secretary by the West Yorkshire Fire Brigade; the second letter dated 18 July 1984 specifically highlighted in full the improvements needed to be actioned at the ground as well as the fire risk at the main stand. by bfcmik Fri May 11, 2018 11:05 am, Post One man clambered over burning seats to help a fan,[18] as did player John Hawley,[15] and one officer led fans to an exit, only to find it shut and had to turn around. Thats when I thought this is time to get out of here. Sarah Elizabeth Turner (16) 28 years today; the Bradford City fire disaster. It's certainly how Mumtaz Ibrahim feels about the day when, as a newly married 20-year-old, she thought her young husband had been killed in the flames. "Sometimes, it's more of a social thing than a football thing.". [3], At the age of 33, Ormondroyd retired from football due to arthritis in his left ankle.[4]. "A football club's an integral part of the city you're in. Part of the Appeal funds were raised by a recording of "You'll Never Walk Alone"[42] from Rodgers and Hammerstein's musical Carousel by The Crowd (including Gerry Marsden of Gerry and the Pacemakers, who had recorded the 1963 version that led to Liverpool adopting it as their motto and team song), which reached number one in the UK Singles chart. Herbert Bamford (72) I've never seen anything like it. New legislation was introduced with the immediate closure of all wooden stands deemed unsafe, the banning of smoking within other wooden stands and the banning of any new wooden stands being built at all sports grounds. We stayed in the pub for hours. "[59], Raymond Falconer's reliability had previously been questioned by Daniel Taylor in The Guardian who stated that: "The Bradford Telegraph and Argus described him as a 'top detective'. The fact the inquiry also embraced the investigation into another incident which happened on the same day, a riot in which a young boy died at Birmingham City, makes it seem more frivolous. "I wept with joy," she says. He became famous for his height and build, in a similar manner to that of Peter Crouch . "A football club's an integral part of the city you're in. by Longside4evr Fri May 11, 2018 11:58 am, Post Didn't realise gabby Logan was doing a documentary now on BT To Add there were some nice floral tributes there today. Of all the Fletcher family who attended the game that day, 12-year old Martin was the only survivor. As Bantams Community Manager, Ian hopes it will reveal what people living around the ground really think. Some repair work was carried out, but in July 1984 the club was warned again, this time by a county council engineer, because of the club's plans to claim for ground improvements from the Football Trust. Head of Sports Science: Greg Stebbings. David James Crabtree (30) Many were burnt to death at the turnstiles gates, which had also been locked after the match had begun. [26], In July 1985, an inquest was held into the deaths; at the hearings the coroner James Turnbull recommended a death by misadventure outcome, with which the jury agreed. With Bantamspast having been awarded a 50,000 grant from the Heritage Lottery Fund, Ian says it's now just a matter of people coming forward with their Valley Parade memories. So do the sounds of some of those 150 people present, packing the little theatre's benches to capacity, needing to leave the dark space and take a moment to recover themselves. This biographical article related to association football in England, about a forward born in the 1960s, is a stub. However, the responsibility of the Club is, in my view, very much the greater and I apportion responsibility between the two defendants as to two-thirds on the first defendant and one-third on the third (sic) defendant. As the blaze spread, the wooden stands and roofcovered with layers of highly flammable bituminous roofing feltquickly went ablaze. Fletcher's appearance on BBC regional news programme Look North looked like an inquisition, with playback in his headphones as he spoke from a London studio contributing to the difficulty. There are . May 11, 2019 #12 Erebus Full Member. ER 2005 . Club coach Terry Yorath incurred minor injuries while taking part in the rescue. Want to bookmark your favourite articles and stories to read or reference later? It's hard to avoid the sense that Fletcher might have done, had it not been for that fateful May afternoon, which took away so many of the buttresses of his life. Within minutes the fire had spread through the stand due to the windy conditions with some fans claiming that they could feel their feet getting warmer as debris began to burn below them. Valley Parade still marks the names of the 56 supporters whose lives were claimed in the fire: John Douglas Ackroyd (32) The referee blew his whistle to stop the game and told us to get back to the dressing room, recalled City midfielder John Hendrie some years later. I go to the football with my two children (both adults now) and have done for many,many years. On the pitch, referee Norman Glover had no option but to stop the game as the horror unfolded in front of both sets of players who could feel the heat from the flames even from the other side of the ground. The project, which began in February this year, is now. And Bradford seemed happy with it: five days of testimony, a 27-page report and everyone moved on. But it is Bradford, so they are just lying there, dormant, on the file, along with the question of the nine Heginbotham fires. The school hall, like the theatre, was still and noiseless as the children listened to this passionate and indefatigable woman, whose family home should be full of the sound of many grandchildren, by now, but who is instead still seeking what meagre consolations she can find from the wreckage of Bradford's forgotten tragedy. The tender that was won by the University of Bradford to create a LOD3 digital twin of the city will see the area shown within the following map captured. ", Ian says he's hoping the Bantamspast project will look at a side of the club which hasn't been revealed before: "This is more about the fans, the people and the ground - even the people who don't come to the ground.". [citation needed] Mathew Wildman, aged 17 at the time of the fire, commented that "I must have had five different experiments carried out on me with all sorts of new techniques for skin grafts and I had potions injected into me that helped my face repair naturally over time. This website and associated newspapers adhere to the Independent Press Standards Organisation's To take part in the project, email paula.helliwell@gmail.com by December 16. 1 . A total of 56 fans died in the fire on May 11, 1985, in a match between Bradford City and Lincoln City, with around 265 more injured. Eight fires in the 18 years before the Bradford City fire were identified, many catastrophic and leading to large insurance payouts. "Take care if you are in the area and allow space for the crews . "But I'd never heard of the Bradford disaster until I auditioned for this," she says. But the scene became progressively horrendous, grotesque, and I was having to describe things you couldnt possibly imagine.. Crowds on the pitch at the Valley Parade stadium after a stand caught fire Getty Images. There were a lot of wooden stands in those days, PNE Bury to name but two. It's with that in mind that Ian's Bantamspast project is underway in Bradford. We talk in the anonymous surroundings of his publisher's, in Bloomsbury's Bedford Square. Performance Analyst: Scott Dyer. His son, Jack, plays rugby league for the Salford Red Devils in the Super League.[5][6][7]. Fletcher said that "The club at the time took no actual responsibility for its actions and nobody has ever really been held accountable for the level of negligence which took place. [5] However, he also warned the club of a build-up of litter beneath the stand because of a gap between the seats. [36], In 2010, Susan Fletcher's son and survivor of the Bradford City fire (and witness to the Hillsborough disaster), Martin Fletcher, openly criticised the club's hierarchy at the time of the fire and the subsequent investigation. The match was recorded by Yorkshire Television for their regional edition of the ITV Sunday afternoon football show The Big Match. As a subscriber, you are shown 80% less display advertising when reading our articles. "When I read the Popplewell transcripts I could see they were processing 10-15 witnesses a day. [4], Although there had been some changes to other parts of the ground, the main stand remained unaltered by 1985. Following his own 15 year investigation Into the fire, which killed four of his family members while he escaped, former tax accountant Martin Fletcher released 56: The Story of the Bradford Fire (2015). Forty-year-old Gerald Ormondroyd also died that day, along with his 12-year old twin sons Richard and Robert, just two of ten families to lose more than one member at Valley Parade.. Simon Neil Ward (18) "[16] As spectators began to cascade over the wall separating the stand from the pitch, the linesman on that side of the pitch informed referee Norman Glover, who stopped the game with three minutes remaining before half-time. Most of the exits at the back were locked or shut and there were no stewards present to open them, but seven were forced open or found open. by NottsClaret Fri May 11, 2018 2:00 pm, Post Ian says that Bantamspast is about much more than just the football: "It's where people come socially. [16] Messages of condolence were also received from Helmut Kohl, Chedli Klibi and Felipe Gonzlez. CONTRA COSTA COUNTY, Calif. -- A brush fire burning Monday morning on the peat wetlands of Bradford Island in the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta has charred 212 acres and prompted some . Supporters searched for fire extinguishers while the Police began to evacuate the stand withflames soon spreading to the roof and across the wooden steps as timber and other materials began to fall onto the crowd. It was appalling that public money was given to the club while it was still owned by the same shareholders under whose direction the fire had happened. The most horrific scenes ever on tv. 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