Home>News Center>Sports
         
 

Heysel dead finally honoured 20 years on
(Agencies)
Updated: 2005-04-01 09:43

Twenty years on, the 39 victims of the Heysel Stadium disaster are finally to be commemorated with a fitting monument at the site of the tragedy where they died.

The dilapidated Heysel Stadium, the venue for the 1985 European Cup final between Juventus and Liverpool, has long since been torn down and replaced by the King Baudouin Stadium, venue for Belgium's matches in Euro 2000.

Until now, however, the only memorial to those who died has been a small plaque near the section that collapsed.

That will change when the memorial is unveiled on May 29, the 20th anniversary of the disaster, bringing to a close another sorry chapter in one of soccer's darkest histories.

The monument will be a 60-metre square sundial sculpture incorporating a light inset for each of the 39 fans who died.

The sculpture's designer, Frenchman Patrick Rimoux, said the stainless steel monument outside the stadium would incorporate Italian and Belgian stone and an English poem to mark the sorrow of the three nations.

"It's to commemorate the tragedy and to say, 'don't forget'," Rimoux told Reuters.

COLLAPSED WALL

The 39 victims, mostly Italians and including French and Belgian fans and one Briton, died after a wall collapsed following a charge by Liverpool supporters before the match.

English clubs were subsequently barred from European club competition for five years and Liverpool for a further year.

The quarter-final draw for this season's Champions League, pitting Liverpool against Juventus for the first time since Heysel, has stirred up memories of the tragedy.

The detailed design for the monument would be revealed at a news conference this month, Rimoux said. It will be engraved with English poet W.H. Auden's "Funeral Blues", which was used in the film "Four Weddings and a Funeral".

A spokeswoman for the Brussels mayor's office confirmed a newspaper report that the sculpture would cost close to 200,000 euros ($263,600) but gave no further details.

The memorial will not only be a lasting reminder of the victims of the tragedy but will also acknowledge the old stadium, which for many years until it began to decline in the 1970s was the pride and joy of the city.

Opened in 1930 in Heysel, a district of north-west Brussels, it celebrated 100 years of Belgian independence from the Dutch.

Originally known as the Stade du Centenaire, it was set in a glorious Parc des Expositions and in its early years staged many soccer games - as well as gymnastic displays, Roman Games, hot air ballooning and athletics championships - and more European Cup finals than any other stadium.

WALL REBUILT

The stadium gradually fell into disrepair, however, despite a modernisation programme in the 1970s, because of plans to replace it.

That eventually happened, but not in circumstances the Belgian authorities had ever dreamed of.

The wall that collapsed was rebuilt soon afterwards and, to the distaste of many, the dilapidated Heysel continued to host sporting events until August 1994, with nothing to mark the tragedy.

After the 1994 Ivo Van Damme Memorial athletics meeting, the bulldozers moved in to transform Heysel into King Baudouin Stadium. It was inaugurated 12 months later with a friendly soccer match between Belgium and Germany.

In his book "The Football Grounds of Europe", published in 1990, author and architect Simon Inglis wrote how surprising it was that the wall that collapsed on the night of the disaster was rebuilt in its original form soon afterwards.

"Just as surprising," he wrote, "there was not a single memorial or reminder of the tragedy, not even the smallest of plaques, to honour the 39 victims.

"If the rest of the world remembers May 29 1985, it was as if the authorities at Heysel had determined to wipe it from their memory.

"As a consequence visiting that corner of the stadium where the deaths occurred was an eerie experience. It was all so, so ordinary."



Lakers defeat Knicks 117-107
Sharapova beat Henin
Guess who? Diego Maradona!
 
  Today's Top News     Top Sports News
 

Beijing invites KMT chairman to visit mainland

 

   
 

FM: History distortion no small beer

 

   
 

Sponsors in starting blocks for 2008 Games

 

   
 

Inspections find more Sudan I food

 

   
 

Pope in sharp turn for worse with fever

 

   
 

Terri Schiavo dies, but debate lives on

 

   
  England beat stubborn Azerbaijan 2-0
   
  Film on Yao's rookie season set for US debut next week
   
  Rockets sweep Blazers series 100-84
   
  Serbia & Montenegro grind out 0-0 Spain draw
   
  Israel hold France 1-1
   
  Police drop Rooney investigation
   
 
  Go to Another Section  
 
 
  Story Tools  
   
Advertisement
         
主站蜘蛛池模板: 一本色道久久综合亚洲精品高清| 亚洲欧美成人一区二区三区| 黑人巨鞭大战丰满老妇| 国内精自视频品线六区免费| 中国国产成人精品久久| 日本韩国三级在线| 国产又大又长又粗又硬的免费视频 | 再深点灬舒服灬太大了网站| 野外做受又硬又粗又大视频| 国产日韩欧美综合| 窝窝影院午夜看片| 性xxxx18免费观看视频| 久久午夜福利无码1000合集| 特级毛片a级毛片在线播放www| 国亚洲欧美日韩精品| 青青青国产精品一区二区| 国产成人精品午夜二三区波多野| 搡女人免费免费视频观看| 国内自拍视频一区二区三区| jjzz亚洲亚洲女人| 日本直播在线观看www.| 亚洲av永久无码精品| 欧美国产亚洲一区| 亚洲日本一区二区三区在线 | 美女一级一级毛片| 国产aⅴ无码专区亚洲av麻豆| 青草热在线精品视频99app| 国产成人亚洲毛片| 欧美人xxxx| 奇米影视中文字幕| 丁香花高清在线观看完整版 | 亚洲视频天天射| 看一级毛片女人洗澡| 国产在线视精品麻豆| 欧美色图你懂的| 国产男女性潮高清免费网站| 18女人水真多免费高清毛片| 尤物193yw在线看| 中文字幕亚洲欧美专区| 无码一区二区三区在线观看 | 电车痴汉在线观看|