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Anthony Burke's avatar

This is a difficult read, albeit an unusually stark and honest appraisal of what happened that day. I have attended many away games in the champions league where things have gotten a little naughty. But of course nothing I’ve seen, or heard of elsewhere, comes close to what happened in Heysel. You accept a lot of responsibility here, Tony. It’s admirable. But it isn’t everything. I mean, nobody forced Liverpool fans to drink to excess. Nobody forced them to steal beer, or the hats of young men who couldn’t protect themselves. Nobody made the guy on the coach carry an iron bar with him or attack people with it once he was off the coach. And nobody forced Liverpool fans to charge at Juventus fans, smashing the wall, and murdering 39 people. So not all of the causal links you mentioned are justifiable in my opinion as excuses, though perhaps you’re not offering them as that? I’m very interested to wonder why this happened to Liverpool fans particularly, when it hasn’t happened to the fans of other clubs. Perhaps this is something you’re going to touch upon in your second piece? Because it does seem to an outsider that the Liverpool fans on that day were in a kind of mood to make something like this happen. You seem to mention that as an undercurrent in your piece? And that’s the part that’s really interesting, I think.

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Charlie Fawell's avatar

Really brave piece of writing, holding one’s hand up to the alcoholic excesses and misjudgements of youth is a tough one to front up but you paint a very frank and brutal portrayal of how it was to be a football fan abroad.

Really glad I stumbled across your Substack.

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