Football stadia disaster in the United Kingdom : Learning from tragedy?

ABSTRACT

The purpose of this paper is to examine a number of sports stadia disaster involving British fans since 1971. While each of the four incidents described (Ibrox 1971, Bradford 1985, Heysel 1985, Hillsborough 1989) can be described as crises in their own right (and led to the deaths of about 250 people in total) it is argued here that they are the effect of a wider crisis of management within the football industry, rooted in poor and inadequate management of sports stadia and the crowds that use them. It should be noted from the outset, however, that this is not simply a British phenomena, as the tragedies in Mexico City (1985) and Bastia (1992) indicate and that findings from this research should be use to all involved in the management of sporting events (AU)