[thechat] politics, guitars, etc...

Martin Burns martin at easyweb.co.uk
Tue Jun 25 13:26:00 CDT 2002


On Tuesday, June 25, 2002, at 07:15  pm, Erika Meyer wrote:

>> But then there was this soccer game, and there were English and
>> Italians... and a riot, and people were crushed....
>
> It was this event, fyi:
> http://212.187.153.33/1980-1989/Story/0,6051,108274,00.html

Yep, and a contextual analysis of Heysel shows that this was actually a
tragic cross-cultural misunderstanding.

The culture in English football at the time was to make mock attacks,
running up to opposing fans with an aggressive demeanour, but not
actually attacking them. It's a challenge - can you stand there and jeer
back, or do you panic and run?

But the Italian fans didn't have this understanding, so took it as a
genuine attack, ran, and the stadium collapsed around them.

All well documented in Nick Hornby's Fever Pitch (the book is
autobiography, although the film is fiction based on certain events in
the book)

Cheers
Martin
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