Episode three of Not Just About Football takes a (relatively) quick look through English football’s darkest year: 1985. This annus horribilis included numerous notable acts of hooliganism, bore witness to two awful stadium tragedies, and culminated with a TV blackout.
Do you agree or disagree with our title? Were you present at any of the events covered and want to share your experience? Watch the video and let’s get a conversation started in the comments.
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Credits [Please let us know about any credits we have missed so we can keep updating this list]
Match and in-stadium footage sourced from the match broadcasters at the time, including BBC and ITV.
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Reading List
– Four Minutes to Hell: The Story of the Bradford City Fire, by Paul Frith
– 56: The Story of the Bradford Fire, by Martin Fletcher
– The Game of Our Lives, by David Goldblatt
– From Where I Was Standing: A Liverpool Supporter’s View of the Heysel Stadium Tragedy
00:00 Disclaimer
00:46 1985 Introduction
04:33 Burton vs. Leicester
07:23 End of the Miners’ Strike
14:15 Luton vs. Millwall
20:55 Downing Street Summit
23:23 Tragedies at Birmingham & Bradford
30:36 Heysel Stadium Disaster
40:24 TV Blackout
50 Comments
Thanks for this documentary. Deserves a million views.
Very good documentary, waiting for more. Just goes to show the State (govt) has never ever liked or wanted Working class's to be able to have a voice, They Hate US.
Where's all the punch ups and Harry the dog then?
Bbc and Itv did broadcast the 84 Euros "live". Not sure where you got that info' from. Also, Luton v Millwall wasn't shown live on TV.
No mention of Dennis Thatcher setting up a company in 1985 with FA supreme Sir Bert Millichip making sport stadium plastic seating? Company name is/was PEL.
I love how you manage to blame the tories for everything. Very clever.
What a fu cking brilliant video. Did not expect so much depth and (welcomed) shitting on Neo Liberalism. Subbed!
You should do a video on the shady side of man United in the 70s-90s
Platini celebrating scoring that penalty told you all you needed to know about him as a person
A very interesting well told documentary I remember reading in my orbis football collection on flashback 1984-85 it said this " the sparkling performances of Howard Kendall's Everton were the highlights of a season tainted by tragedy"
This told you just how bad things were at the time in a way football then was a reflection of where the UK as a whole was at the time it badly needed to reform
Today I think all the changes made in football overall have massively been for the better I can go to watch football safe in the knowledge there's going to be nothing dangerous and nasty occurring before during and after the match it has become more family orientated and the stadiums today are in complete contrast to what they were then yes it's more expensive but you get what you pay for.
I think given the hooliganism caused by the English fans in particular year after that something like Heysel was on the cards at some point and I think the ban was right and fair given how bad things had got
I think English fans at the time in general needed to be taught a lesson in that this kind of behaviour must stop
Excellent documentary
South Yorkshire Police also covered up abuse in Rotherham. A truly evil outfit.
Quit quoting fools like Owen Jones and alienating half your potential subscribers
Great video, thank you mate.
Only 1985 ?
In essence , 85 could be one of the cornerstones of the beginning of the surveillance state. I was at Utd V Liverpool [ Goodison ] . It was lively to say the least , we were ordered off trains at Edge Hill & put on buses . Mayhem ensued .
Fantastic video – I love content like this. Looking forward to seeing more!
Late nineties football was about right
This was the first year I really went to watch football at Upton Park as a 12 year old. I remember all these things happening, but didn't know it all happened in the same year. Admittedly it was the 85/86 season so that that could be the reason I didn't know.
Thanks for changing my mind about paying at the gate. It has always been something I've moaned about not being able to do. Then I remember going to go to the games and getting in the home end when it was sold out.
No stupid away ticket priorities. Just be there early, join the queue.
Really enjoyed this, thank you.
I wrote a book ostensibly about Bury’s promotion from Division Four in 1984/85 but which included eyewitness accounts of Luton, Birmingham, Bradford and Heysel. I also spoke to an Everton fan about their glorious season and the effect of the Heysel ban.
Bury got promoted using only 15 players all season including ex-England international player-manager Martin Dobson but to me, growing up as a fan who went to his first game aged seven in 1988, it always felt like the promotion was never really commemorated in the club’s history. I felt this may have been because of all the extraneous events of the season.
I called it ‘The Forgotten Fifteen: How Bury triumphed in British football’s worst year’ and the print run sold out (copies occasionally pop up on World of Books or Amazon) and it’s a couple of quid on Kindle.
Everton must fucked. Classic Everton.
Liverpool fans still brush their atrocities they caused at heysel under the carpet to this day. We’ll never forget the poor Italians they muddered. JFT39
This was excellent. The hooliganism was truly frightening back then, and things didn't change significantly until Hillsborough: ironically, an event not caused by hooligans.
A very uncomfortable TRUTH about British football hooliganism during this period. I watched a documentary about hooliganism during this period. The documentary went on to reveal that during the early 1970's (so when hooliganism STARTED to become prevalent & could be no longer ignored….) the FA carried out an study to try & find out what was behind a surge in crowd trouble, in British football grounds. This is what the FA concluded:
The FA concluded that it was between (& around for example) 1968-1972 was the FIRST time in the history of the British game, that kids/young lads, STOPPED regularly attending football matches with their Dads. Straight up, that's what the FA concluded & put it down to. Some say football is only a reflection of life in general. Once again, the FA concluded that (& around) 1968-1972 was the FIRST time in the history of the game, that kids/young lads STOPPED regularly attending football matches with their Dads.
THINK about it!!!! That EXACT period was the beginning of the culture/liberalisation of sex without responsibility, drugs (mainly barbiturates, amphetamines & hash/rocky) & whereby divorce was NO longer shame or to be frowned upon. It was during this exact period that there was a massive cultural shift within the home & family. Fine. But be brave NOW & look at the society TODAY.
Sleep on it……PS: very interesting documentary & well narrated. Keep it up pal. -A.F.C. fan.
Superbly written. Great work
I hate modern stadiums. Loved our old Den!!
Quoting that well known and completely unbiased football expert Owen Jones 🙄
I'm still finking about Heysel… For me was provocation.
The 1985 Norwich played Sunderland in the league cup final and the Metropolitan Police dubbed it the friendly final with fans playing football in the car parks and the fans showing great respect.
Absolutely insane that you are trying to paint this charge by Liverpool fans as being non hostile.
wonderful film, very informative for this (relatively) new football fan from the US. keep up the good work, i can't wait to see what other things you post…
as a Forest fan, i would love to see you delve deeper into the complexity that was Brian Clough…
Superb upload.
Opening day for West Ham 85/6 was Birmingham away 11.30am Kick off.First ever day of a police 'Hoolivan'.
West Ham had scrapped Irons Travel Club trains and coaches to discourage travelling fans so we went by Inter City,on arrival at New Street the West Midlands police must have outnumbered us 2 to 1!!
For the first 6 months of that season our average crowd was under 16,000 but as the McAvennie/Cottee partnership grew we were getting over 30,000 by May as we finished in our highest ever league position.
I was at Hillsborough the day of the Bradford fire,West Ham lost 2-1, standing in the pen where the majority of Liverpool fans were crushed.News filtered through on crackly radios on the football special home.Different times.
Is this about football or just a political ramble?? The miners strike had nothing to do with football or Hillsboro. Thatcher is to blame for football hooliganism!! LMAO really!!! I was there and no she wasnt
So it was all Thatcher's fault. What drivel.
This documentary is a disgrace and should be thrown into the dustpin of History with the author never to be seen or heard again.
Its everyones fault politicians police etc but the hooligans
Although I despise how expensive football is in places like England and Europe, I think the making of all seater stadiums, banning smoking and drinking in seats was the best thing English football has done. Football should be an enjoyable experience for anyone who goes, not just young hooligans. I think it's important for people to feel safe when they go to a sporting event, don't really care what people such as German fans think about what is necessary for atmosphere. I just wish English fans could enjoy ticket prices like we have in Australia, can easily go to a football game for $27 AUD, and $18 AUD for Aussie rules football, and I am definitely considered on the lowest end of the income scale and struggling with disability and mental health issues. Thanks for the history lesson on English football was a sad topic but educative video
1985 when we could afford to buy a ticket for a game now you need to get a mortgage to go to one.
Also with Heysel, both Barcelona and Real Madrid offered their stadiums to play the final in as it was available. UEFA said no.
1985 to 1992 English football and English football on TV was in s state of flux. Along with the points raised in this video you had the following…
* Introduction of promotion and relegation between the Football League and the GM Vauxhall Conference.
* The stop gap 86-88 tv deal but with far less coverage than before.
* the introduction of the play offs, which when through a couple of formats before settling on the one we have today in 89-90
* Div 1 when from 22 > 21 > 20 then back up to 22 clubs (the leagues below would have fluctuated in numbers also)
* The exclusive ITV deal of 88-92. Prioritising the big 5 and live matches only starting in Oct. They couldn’t be arsed with a networked highlights show during this era also.
* Hillsborough
* Liverpool vs Arsenal, May 1989. A scenario that only occurred because of Hillsborough.
* The hooligan scene mostly fizzling out around 89-90
* Italia 90 and all that.
* Offside law tweaked for 1990/91
* Div 1 clubs resigning from the league in 91/92 to form the new breakaway league.
* Sky “blow them out the water” for the new Premier League rights
* Introduction of the back pass law for 92/93. Rendering tactics and positions obsolete overnight.
24:25 That does it! Monsters!
Well… that depressed the hell out of me. Excellent stuff though.
Thanks for putting together this terrific video. I was 13 at the beginning of 1985 and went to a SW London comprehensive school about three miles away from Stamford Bridge. The rumour around school – inspiring real dread/awe – was that 'The Chelsea Smiler' gang would drive around in a white van and cut up anyone they didn't like the look of…
If Burton played Leicester in the FA Cup now, they'd be able to hold in someone's back garden !
I'm Italian in love with both english and italian football. In my country we had the same problems during those years but in a weird kind of a way football was still romantic and I miss those days.no man buns, no tattoos, less $$$ , still football. PL and Serie A ❤
what a banger of a video mate, amazing work. keep it up!
A very interesting video. Although my stomach turned every time that photo of Tory Pervert Saville appeared.
1:25 that cod and chips looks good tho ngl 😂
In short, the good old days.