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TIME: Almanac 1990
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1990 Time Magazine Compact Almanac, The (1991)(Time).iso
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time
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042489
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04248900.023
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1990-09-17
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WORLD, Page 40World NotesBRITAINBedlam in the Bleachers
A capacity crowd had turned out for the Football Association
Cup semifinal last week at the 54,000-seat Hillsborough stadium in
Sheffield, South Yorkshire. As Liverpool and Nottingham Forest
faced off on the field, throngs of fans without tickets poured
through a gate that had been opened by police. Seven minutes into
the game, a surge of spectators pushed into the packed standing
room, crushing those in front against metal barriers. One of the
barriers gave way, and at least 93 people were killed.
Dead and injured fans lay strewn across the field. After calm
had been restored, Football Association officials promised a "full
investigation" into the tragedy. Among the questions: Why did
police fail to control the overflow crowd? And who authorized the
opening of the gate? Said British Sport Minister Colin Moynihan:
"This is a tragic day for sport, football and the country as a
whole."
British soccer has been plagued by a series of fatal mishaps.
During a 1985 soccer game in Bradford, England, fire engulfed the
grandstand, killing 56 fans. The same year, 39 people died at
Heysel Stadium in Brussels after Liverpool hooligans attacked
supporters of the rival Italian team, touching off a lethal
stampede. As a result, the Union of European Football Associations
banned English clubs indefinitely and barred Liverpool from playing
in Europe for an additional three seasons.
For British soccer fans, last week's tragedy could not have
come at a more inopportune time. Only four days earlier the
U.E.F.A. had decided to re-admit English clubs in the 1990-91
season, subject to British government approval.