By John Dewhirst

The attendance at Valley Parade on Monday of 22,576 was remarkable and it may come as a surprise to many readers that when City played Lincoln on 11th May, 1985 the attendance was just 11,076. Nonetheless, even that was considered a bumper gate with averages around that time having been less than half of that figure. Football was then unfashionable with a reputation of crowd violence and antiquated stadia.

Valley Parade itself was known for being a slum, lacking any female toilets and with rudimentary facilities for males. The terraces were crumbling and loose concrete was invariably used as ammunition to throw at rival fans. The main stand had a roof that leaked and at best offered an impeded view (described as akin to looking from the cockpit of a Sopwith Camel). A lot of people simply stayed away because Valley Parade was decrepit and considered an unpleasant place to visit. On the other hand, it had its charm and was quaint and homely in its own way.

The subsequent recovery in attendances in the rebuilt stadium was driven by the modernisation of facilities which in turn attracted families. Above all it was a safe place to watch football. A general improvement in stadia across Great Britain helped make football fashionable once more.

Commemoration of the anniversary of the Valley Parade Fire Disaster has latterly been overshadowed by the conspiracy claims of arson that were effectively dismantled in the excellent feature written by Steve Dennis on this site a couple of weeks ago. In the immediate aftermath of the fire there was speculation that it had been caused by a smoke bomb thrown into the stand from the adjacent covered terrace. That allegation was never substantiated but in theory at least it was a plausible explanation for how the fire could have started.

By their nature, smoke bombs and flares burn at extremely high temperatures and the thought of a flare being thrown into a wooden stand with combustible material underneath is terrifying – think of a hand grenade equivalent of Russian phosphorous bombs in Ukraine.

To my knowledge there had never previously been any instances of smoke bombs at Valley Parade (even in the 1980s) and until quite recently they were unheard of. The Fire Disaster gave City supporters in particular an acute awareness of the horror of burns injuries and for that reason there is a genuine shock among older fans that flares are becoming thrown at games seemingly as a matter of routine. Ironically the danger of flares is now all the greater because we have bigger crowds, all-seater accommodation and packed grounds which gives innocent spectators even less chance to dodge them.

Memory of the Fire Disaster has assumed an almost religious dimension with the mystic significance of the number ’56’ yet what has tended to be overlooked is the number of people who suffered burns injuries in the Valley Parade fire, as well as those scarred by mental trauma. There were far more than 56 people impacted by what happened.

Sadly, in March this year we marked the passing of Professor David Sharpe and he was the best qualified of anyone to speak about the tragedy of burns injuries. It was the Bradford University Plastic Surgery & Burns Research Unit that became established as a consequence of the Disaster and which remains a focus of the annual commemoration of 11th May and our fund-raising. If the Disaster has come to stand for anything it has been about advances in the treatment of burns.

In August last year we had the instance of a flare landing close to a five year old girl at Valley Parade after being thrown from the upper tier of the Kop. Statistics for accidents involving fireworks and pyrotechnics are sufficient to highlight the inevitability of a serious event occurring. Whilst flares are unlikely to cause another stadium fire, there remains every chance of personal injury and for that to happen at a Bradford City match is unspeakable. For those of us who have seen for ourselves the horror of burns it is a nightmare prospect. Neither is the danger necessarily confined to a football ground. Take for example the incident last month of a flare being let off pre-match in a Rochdale pub which could potentially have had fatal consequences.

The whole issue with flares feels like going back in time and abandoning the gains of the last thirty-odd years. Arguably it’s not that far removed from effectively sticking two fingers up at the fund-raising efforts in support of the Burns Unit to help people overcome suffering as a consequence of burns. Either way it makes a mockery of ‘remembering the Disaster’ and reflects badly on Bradford City when we expect supporters of other clubs to respect the memory of 11th May, 1985.

From just about every perspective, the phenomenon is bad news. For instance the financial cost for Bradford City as a consequence of flares being thrown and the need for more money to be spent on stewarding and policing. The payment of FA fines is another potential cost, all of which comes at the expense of funds being available for team strengthening. And at Crewe last week the disruption to the game as a result of flares was likely a factor in losing the match. The actions of so few have such major consequences.

Back in 1985 we said that no-one should expect to go to a football match and become entrapped in a disaster. By the same token, in 2023 neither should people be exposed to the possibility – however slim – of suffering burns at a football match or of being exposed to others in their midst being injured as a result of flares being thrown. As we discovered in 1985, sometimes the worst outcome can happen.

The atmosphere at the game with Orient was something special, all the more enjoyable without the spectre of a smoke bomb / flare being thrown – which is exactly how it should be.

Categories: Opinion

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