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Bradford City FC



Publius Ovidius

Well-known member
Jul 5, 2003
45,896
at home
Thirty-two years ago today 56 football fans went to a match and didn't come home following the Bradford City stadium fire. Gone but not forgotten. RIP.
 

BRIGHT ON Q

Well-known member
Jul 5, 2003
9,085
Be fitting if they win at Wembley.
 

wellquickwoody

Many More Voting Years
NSC Licker Extraordinaire
Aug 10, 2007
13,577
Melbourne
Usually the forgotten disaster (thank you P.O.), RIP to them all.
 

Gritt23

New member
Jul 7, 2003
14,902
Meopham, Kent.
This is still one of the most shocking and horrifying events of my lifetime. It was the sheer speed with which that fire spread, and the fact that there were so many stands up and down the country where that exact same thing could have happened. Add to that the joyous celebration they were having that day, and it really is truly gut wrenching to think about.

RIP one and all.
 

Gritt23

New member
Jul 7, 2003
14,902
Meopham, Kent.
It only takes a moment to look and see the names and ages to start to conjure up the horrific devastation that created. Elderly husbands and wives, a dad with his twin sons, or 3 generations of one family. Genuinely brings tears to my eyes every year when I stop to think about Valley Parade.

Bradford.jpg
 


peterward

Well-known member
NSC Licker Extraordinaire
Nov 11, 2009
11,166
Haunting scenes, that poor fella stumbling across the pitch on fire and the police/fans trying to beat his burning back to put it out. A harrowing day for any football fan. RIP
 


lawros left foot

Glory hunting since 1969
Jun 11, 2011
13,664
Worthing
Haunting scenes, that poor fella stumbling across the pitch on fire and the police/fans trying to beat his burning back to put it out. A harrowing day for any football fan. RIP

This, my enduring memory of the day, and the "commentary" "That poor man, someone help him "



And like Hillsboro, it could have been any of us.
 

Sussexscots

Fed up with trains. Sick of the rain.
This, my enduring memory of the day, and the "commentary" "That poor man, someone help him "



And like Hillsboro, it could have been any of us.

Agree. Confess I now look back at Bradford, Hillsborough, Ibrox and think 'there but for the grace of God'.

Horrifying really how little consideration was given to spectator safety at football games even as little as thirty years ago. Some of the dead were found upright in their seats covered in molten asphalt and bitumen from the roof.

RIP
 


Marshy

Well-known member
Jul 6, 2003
19,698
FRUIT OF THE BLOOM
This is still one of the most shocking and horrifying events of my lifetime. It was the sheer speed with which that fire spread, and the fact that there were so many stands up and down the country where that exact same thing could have happened. Add to that the joyous celebration they were having that day, and it really is truly gut wrenching to think about.

RIP one and all.

I attended a Fire Officer training course at work recently and footage of this fire is still used today by the Brigades to show how quickly fire spreads given the right circumstances.

The amount of times i have seen it and you still cant believe how fast it went from a little bit of smoke to an inferno of the whole stand is staggering.

Good to know that many lives since the disaster have been saved from the lessons learnt.
 

DavidRyder

Well-known member
Jul 23, 2013
2,884
I've done fire marshal training for different companies, and the tutors always refer to Bradford, and what went wrong. Always shocking to watch.

I would love to see Bradford go up to the Championship.
 


Easy 10

Brain dead MUG SHEEP
Jul 5, 2003
61,647
Location Location
It only takes a moment to look and see the names and ages to start to conjure up the horrific devastation that created. Elderly husbands and wives, a dad with his twin sons, or 3 generations of one family. Genuinely brings tears to my eyes every year when I stop to think about Valley Parade.

View attachment 85218

A name that stands out to me there is the 3 Ormondroyds.

I can remember a beanpole striker called Ian Ormondroyd who played for Bradford City (and went on to play for Villa, amongst others). He would've been 20 at the time of the disaster, although I'm not sure if he was at BCFC that season. Anyone know if they were related at all ? Its an unusual surname so I'd be quite surprised if they weren't.
 

Knocky's Nose

Mon nez est en Valenciennes..
May 7, 2017
4,133
Eastbourne
Craig Stockman was in my year at school, and his sister (Ashley) also died in the fire. They'd gone to see City with their Father. I can remember some of my schoolmates crying in lesson who knew Craig really well and being sent home.

I also have friends and family who were at the game and what they saw still haunts them to this day.

I can only sum up the mood in Bradford at the time as "stunned". A terrible day which I hope is never repeated, in any form, in any country.

I have a few friends who died in their teens - and now, as a parent of two teenagers I love with all my heart, I couldn't imagine what it must be like to lose a child.

RIP everyone who perished, in this disaster and all the others.
 
Last edited:

crookie

Well-known member
Jun 14, 2013
3,303
Back in Sussex
It was truly horrific. If memory serves, I was out shopping, and walking past a shop with loads of TV's, could've been Radio Rentals or Dixons, and all the TV's were tuned to the same channel, so you could literally see the disaster unfolding in front of you. Terrible scenes. RIP
 


Knocky's Nose

Mon nez est en Valenciennes..
May 7, 2017
4,133
Eastbourne
I used to go and watch Bradford City now and again when I was a small child in the late 1970's. I remember thinking even then that the ground was like some kind of old museum..

I moan about health and safety rules (which have now swung too far the other way) - but if we'd have been a quarter of the way to where we are now, this wouldn't have happened.

Hindsight. Brilliant, isn't it.
 

rocker959

Well-known member
Jan 22, 2011
2,802
Plovdiv Bulgaria
RIP to all who lost their lives on a sickening day for football and more so for Bradford . I remember some survivors were introduced to the crowd at the Goldstone the next season .
 

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