Tragedy a blot soccer will never outlive

Press, 31 May 1985, Page 32

Tragedy a blot soccer will never outlive

NZPA-Reuter Brussels To anyone who saw yesterday’s European Cup final, soccer may never be the same again. The fact the match was played at all after at least 39 people were trampled to death as fans of Liverpool and Juventus fought pitched battles on the terraces of the Heysel Stadium, lent a sickening air of unreality to the whole affair. European football’s blackest night ended with Juventus’ coronation, but few felt like celebrating their 10 victory. The thirtieth Champions' Cup final should have been a carnival climax to the season. Instead, it was played against the background wailing of ambulances ferrying the dead, dying and injured to hospital. Inside the pitch, riot police brandishing shields and guns ringed the playing area as some of the world’s greatest footballers tried to go about their business. The players somehow contrived to produce one of the better finals of recent years, but who will re-

member. or even care? Many Italians spent the 90 minutes with their backs to the action. They beseiged the press box tearfully begging to be allowed to borrow telephones to contact their families. But few telephones worked as the local exchange laboured under the flood of incoming calls from anxious people in England and Italy who saw the carnage on television. The Frenchman, Michel Platini, who scored the only goal from the penalty spot in the fifty-seventh minute, said: “We really suffered before the game and after it, we didn’t want to play at all.” There was little doubt the Liverpool supporters sparked off the tragedy and it will now be up to the European Football Union (U.E.F.A.) to decide on the future participation of English clubs in the three major competitions. In its purist form, soccer is, as Pele described it: “The beautiful game.” It will take a long time before it regains that special place in the heart.