Football’s Darkest Days – Part One – Bradford City Fire

Posted by Rob Shepherd on Friday, May 12, 2017

This week, 32 years ago, football suffered one of the worst disasters to happen at an English football ground. On the 11th May 1985, Bradford City were playing Lincoln City. It was a day that was supposed to be about celebration but it was a day that would see 54 Bradford City fans and 2 Lincoln fans never return home.

Bradford City were riding the crest of a wave, excellent performances in the league meant they were champions of Division Three. They had been the leaders of the league since way back in November 1984 and among the fans it was a carnival atmosphere.

Lincoln’s season was a story of the other extreme, they had flirted dangerously with relegation for most of the season but they were now safe. Whole families from both sets of fans turned up and it was a Valley Parade packed with 11,076 supporters that were looking forward to a memorable afternoon of football.

Ingredients for the Perfect Storm

Valley Parade was a typical old English football ground, years of underachievement on the pitch was reflected in the condition of the stadium. The last time major construction was done at the ground was in 1911 and 73 years later it was in generally poor condition.

The main stand was a wooden affair with gaps between the seats that allowed waste to build up underneath the stand. A sad part of this story was this was going to be the last ever game with that stand in pace. The club had already purchased a new roof and the wooden stand was going to be replaced with concrete after this game.

In July 1984, the club was warned by a council engineer about the unsafe condition and the local council even sent Bradford City a letter which stated “A carelessly discarded cigarette could give rise to a fire risk”.

Bradford is an extremely hilly location and Valley Parade itself was slightly unusual in the fact that the way to enter the ground was located to the rear and at a higher elevation to the rest of the stadium. This led to wind tunnelling into the stadium, this would later prove to be catastrophic.

Another consideration is smoking. In the early 80’s, the smoking rate for the British population was about 40%. Not only was smoking acceptable, it was expected. You could smoke on planes, trains, in cinemas, in fact I’m struggling to think of many situations when you couldn’t.

I even remember visiting a doctor’s surgery as a kid and the waiting room had ashtrays and a woman was smoking whilst waiting for her name to be called. How times have changed.

Live Coverage as Disaster Strikes

I was 12 years old when the horror at Bradford happened. The match was televised live on Yorkshire Television and it is important to remember is that unlike today, back then, it was quite rare to see live games. Especially featuring a team that is local to you (Living in Grimsby, Lincoln is just 37 miles away). So, I, like many in the country sat down to be entertained.

The match itself was quite a dull game in the first half but as mentioned earlier, with nothing at stake, it was all about the day out and enjoying the end of the season. The crowd was in high spirits and I remember thinking at home that I wished I was there to experience the atmosphere.

Just before half-time the commentator in the game (John Helm) said in the commentary “We’ve actually got a fire here in the far side of the ground” the TV camera then spun round to show flames starting to build in the stands. Except the people trapped inside, very few in the ground were aware of the seriousness of the fire. TV footage shows supporters jumping up and down, laughing and joking and watching the game just 20 foot away from the growing flames.

At 15:44 the commentator says, half joking, “One hopes the stand doesn’t burn down”.

If the television cameras had not have been there, I doubt anyone would have believed how quickly the fire spread. At 15:45 John Helm stated “One can feel the heat”, on the TV you could see rivers of people throwing themselves over a wall and onto the pitch.

By 15:46 you could clearly see people smouldering as they tried to escape the intense heat that the fire was producing.

Barely three minutes after the first mention of fire, the main stand was totally engulfed. The TV pictures showed a policeman trying to help a man escape and his hair caught on fire. By now the smoke was hundreds of feet in the air and it was a toxic, acrid smoke that was impossible to breath in.

At 15:48, a distraught John Helm said “And look at that, oh the poor man! Oh this is awful”, “The police desperately trying to save the life of a supporter”, TV pictures showed a man walking, totally engulfed in fire with people trying to put out the flames.

By now it was evident that anyone left in the stand was dead.

This film shows the true extent of the disaster, I must warn you it contains footage that is upsetting and of a graphic nature. This video is not suitable for children.

It Could Have Been So Much Worse

In the 1980’s, England had a very serious problem with football hooliganism and rather than the cosy relationship that the government has with football now, back then it was a fractious situation.

TV news would often contain video footage of fans fighting each other and the attitude of many police and politicians was that football fans were nothing but animals and needed to be contained.

This led to cages being erected at many football grounds in England. If these cages had been installed at Bradford, the death toll could have been in the hundreds, if not thousands. A chilling thought.

A good thing that did come out of this tragedy was the tightening up of safety regulations at public places. However, history shows that these regulations did not go far enough and they were not enough to prevent future tragedies.

BT sport showed a documentary entitled “One Day in May” and I would certainly recommend you watch it as it shows the human costs of the tragedy. It does however show the heroism that was displayed by the police and the supporters. These were the same supporters branded as the enemy by many, but they repeatedly risked their own lives to save others.

One part of the documentary that brought tears to my eyes was the story of how they found the corpses of an elderly couple still sat in their seats in the stand. That image still haunted my mind the next day.

My words, no matter how heartfelt could never express the sadness I feel for those who died that day. It was supposed to be a day of joy, a day for family, a day to forget about your troubles. May they rest in peace.

ACKROYD, John Douglas 32 Baildon, ANDERTON, Edmund 68 Bingley, BAINES, Alexander Shaw 70 Bradford, BAMFORD, Herbert 72 Bradford, BULMER, Christopher James 11 Burley-in-Wharfedale, COXON, Jack Leo 76 Bradford, COXON, Leo Anthony 44 Halifax, CRABTREE, David James 30 Bradford, CRABTREE, Harry 76 Bradford, DEMPSEY, Derek 46 Morley, FIRTH, Muriel 56 Baildon, FIRTH, Samuel 86 Bradford, FLETCHER, Andrew 11 East Bridgford, FLETCHER, Edmond 63 Pudsey, FLETCHER, John 34 East Bridgford, Nottingham,FLETCHER, Peter 32 Gildersome, FORSTER, Nellie 64 Bradford, GREENWOOD, Felix Winspear 13 Denholme, GREENWOOD, Peter 46 Denholme, GREENWOOD, Rupert Benedict 11 Denholme, HALL, Norman 71 Bradford, HALLIDAY, Peter Anthony 34 Bradford, HARTLEY, Arthur 79 Bradford, HINDLE, Edith 79 Bradford, HINDLE, Frederick 76 Bradford, HODGSON, Moira Helen 15 Oakenshaw,HUDSON, Eric 72 Bingley, HUGHES, John 64 Bradford, HUTTON, John 74 Bradford,KERR, Walter 76 Bradford, LOVELL, Peter Charles 43 Bradford, LUDLAM, Jack 55 Bradford, McPHERSON, Gordon Stuart 39 Bradford, McPHERSON, Irene 28 Bradford, MASON, Roy 74 Silsden, MIDDLETON, Frederick Norman 84 Bradford, MITCHELL, Harold 79 Bradford, MUHL, Elizabeth 21 Leeds, NORMINGTON, Ernest 74 Shipley, ORMONDROYD, Gerald Priestley 40 Bingley, ORMONDROYD, Richard John 12 Bingley, ORMONDROYD, Robert Ian 12 Bingley, POLLARD, Sylvia Lund 69 Bradford, PRICE, Herbert 78 Shipley, ROBERTS, Amanda Jayne 20 Bradford, SAMPSON, Jane 18 Leeds ,STACEY, William 72 Sleaford, Lincolnshire, STOCKMAN, Craig Albert 14 Bradford, STOCKMAN, Jane Ashley 16 Bradford, STOCKMAN, Trevor John 38 Brighouse, TURNER, Howard Malcolm 41 Bingley, TURNER, Sarah Elizabeth 16 Bingley, WARD, Simon Neil 18 Shipley, WEDGEWORTH, Robert 72 Guiseley, WEST, William James 78 North Hykeham, Lincoln, WRIGHT, Adrian Mark 11 Bradford.