Brum,St Andrews,Terror on the Terraces - RIP Ian Hambridge

[MrsORichSenior]

RIP - Ian Hambridge

Always a sad occasion returning to St Andrews after all the years ........

Ian's brave parents blamed no-one for the death of the 15-year-old, crushed when a wall collapsed during the sickening horrors that unfolded that day and night.The whole day was awful even on the train down from Leeds to New Street station you could sense it was going to kick off.

I still have copy of a Police witness report I gave which is a dire read.

Riotous coach loads from Leeds arrived early too that day and the route down was littered with reported pub chaos in Nottinghamshire,Leicestershire and Staffordshire - in fact the pub at Brum station when we arrived had all its windows kicked in via earlier brawls with waiting Brum hooligans.Our train was covered in anti Police graffiti as the Striking miners had points to prove that day.Arriving at the ground walls were being scaled turnstiles rushed and total anarchy reigned.Bottles,bricks,concrete was hurled at us (10,000) as we crammed into fenced pens followed by coins which resulted in the Leeds end rushing the pitch fence and pulling it down,Eddie Gray came over to 'cool' matters down and got the lot thrown at him from Brum fans too including a kettle.Police horse got hit by smoke bombs and then after getting us off the pitch by baton charges some Leeds fans started smashing the executive box up lining along the terrace sides.

Then the wall came down as a result of the pen being over crowded,idiots climbing over it didn't help as the Police kept us in and kept baton charging us up against it and sadly it eventually gave way toppling on top of others outside the ground killing Ian who was attending his first football match.

500 injured,60 in hospital and 21 Police injured with 125 arrests and £85000 of damage done.

Lessons learned ? Yep,many and even today lessons still to be learned .........

MOT

[whitestomper45]

Same day as the Valley Parade disaster, 56 dead, mad, sad times..

[MrsORichSenior]

Agree Stomp -

Crazy times indeed but as Justice Popplewell concluded in his reasoned Government debated interim report other factors combined in the horror events of that day including a strong NF presence along side other anti establishment groups looking for trouble on the back of football - no excuse I know but feelings in Yorkshire were high 'cos of the miners strike and the Midlands NUM lack of support of it so 'scores' were being settled there that day too,in fact I wore a Yorkshire Republic badge adding my support to end Thatcherism as a token gesture I recall but I didn't consider that to be in anyway inflammatory to the Police which it obviously was as from their point of view I was classed that day as an activist stereotyped Leeds hooligan.Admittedly I've had my 'moments' but never as a hooligan but was treated as one as soon as I stepped off the train at New Street which thus inflamed an already simmering atmosphere.So yes,many lessons learned.

MOT

[spaldy]

Must have been an incredible life experience. sounds like the football match was secondary to the strike protest.

Anytime people stand up for their rights against our rulers they are deemed "activists". Not as obvious today with cameras everywhere, media propaganda and "politically correct' brainwashing that schools and social media are masters at. Some of the most common sense things such as protecting your family, your job or country are deemed radical behavior.

[hopelesslyoptimistic]

RIP all those who died too young or in tragic circumstances.

Different times, different era hard to judge those times by today’s standards.

Fighting (whether physically or metaphorically) was was much more part of every day life back then not just at football but everywhere. The Westgate run in Wakefield at 2am on a Friday and Saturday night was a sight to behold.

One of the good things imho is that much of what is tolerated or accepted as being the right side of the line when I grew up is no longer which is the sign of progress in a civil society which is not to say it was all bad - I loved growing up in Leeds when I did - but racism, ***ism etc are now seen as being the wrong side of the line can’t be bad .......

but I still loved the belligerence and stubbornness of those times and more of a sense of knowing where you stood.