‘Universal Horror’--Millions of Europeans Watch Soccer Disaster on Television

Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher said Wednesday night that she shares the “universal horror” after British soccer fans attacked supporters of an Italian team at a European championship game in Brussels, resulting in the death of more than 40 people. She said the incident has brought “shame and disgrace to the country and to football.”

Millions of Britons and other Europeans watched television coverage showing followers of the Liverpool soccer team launching an attack on the backers of the Juventus team from Turin shortly before the start of the European Cup championship match.

David Owen, head of Britain’s Social Democratic Party, said the actions of the Liverpool supporters have caused a “devastating blow to British standing in Europe.”

Labor Party leader Neil Kinnock, reached while on a trip to Hungary, declared that he was “angered and horrified” by the disaster. His deputy, Roy Hattersley, added that “there is no excuse for such barbarism.”

Other commentators suggested that British soccer clubs might be permanently banned from playing international matches on the Continent.

In Italy, thousands of people called special telephone numbers to learn if loved ones had survived the rioting, the Associated Press reported, and Pope John Paul II prayed for the dead and injured.

Italian Prime Minister Bettino Craxi, in Moscow for meetings with Soviet officials, criticized the decision to play the game after the rioting and was reportedly trying to contact soccer federation officials and Belgian Premier Wilfried Martens to protest.

At first, British television commentators indicated that both sides might have been responsible for the fighting. But replays showed that it had been the fans from Liverpool who had attacked those from Turin.

British Sports Minister Neil McFarlane called the disaster a “black cloud” over British football and said he had warned the Belgian authorities about the danger of violence at the match.

British soccer fans have a reputation for rowdyism and violence, especially when they travel abroad to attend international matches. Many of them drink heavily before, during and after matches in continental cities and have often become involved in fights with the supporters of opposition teams.

Several British teams, in fact, had been banned from playing in Europe for various lengths of time after their supporters have caused riots.

British soccer authorities take great pains to keep opposing fans at stadiums in separate sections. Some British commentators complained late Wednesday that the fans from Turin and Liverpool were not properly separated at the match in Brussels.

In Liverpool, supporters who had held block parties before the game, which resulted in a 1-0 victory for Juventus, were dismayed by the riot and one man interviewed on television called it a “disgrace to the sport.”

It was a bizarre evening for the television audience across Europe. Scenes of the bitter pre-game rioting and of bodies lying in the grandstand were shown repeatedly.

According to television commentators, the match was played, after a 90-minute delay, only because the organizers feared that cancellation would have ignited more deadly rioting.

At the end, thousands upon thousands of Italian fans lit flares, waved flags, and cheered lustily for their team’s victory, almost as if it had been an ordinary game. The Juventus team, carrying its championship cup, raced around the stadium, jumping joyously as if they, too, were celebrating an ordinary victory. Ironically, most of those killed before the game were Italian fans.

The televised program, as seen in Paris, began at 8:10 p.m., with the game scheduled to start about 20 minutes later. But viewers were told that the game had been delayed and might be canceled because of a pre-game tragedy.

Belgian television, which telecast the program throughout Europe, then showed taped scenes of the British fans storming into the Italian sections of the stands, throwing rocks, wielding batons, smashing down barriers and chasing the Italians.

The Liverpool fans broke down a flimsy metal barricade and pushed the retreating Italians up against a concrete wall, which collapsed, increasing the panic.

Screaming fans were shown seemingly caught under fallen barriers, and clusters of piled-up bodies could be seen lying in the stands. The pictures were repeatedly shown throughout the evening.

The French television commentators were unanimous in blaming the British fans for starting the melee and in criticizing Belgian authorities for having only a handful of police on duty.

Although helicopters could be heard transporting dead and wounded from a makeshift emergency center behind the stadium and the site of the carnage in the stands could be seen spattered with blood and strewn with loose clothing, many British fans could be seen on television acting as if nothing had occurred. They even grinned and waved when they realized that the cameras were aimed at them.

Perhaps naturally, the Italian fans seemed most disturbed at this point, several of them throwing rocks at police and at the British fans, waving sticks and tearing metal fences down to make weapons. Some of the Juventus players came into the stands to try to calm their supporters, but police still had to charge the Italian fans and fire tear gas canisters at them.

British fans bombarded the police with rocks, beer cans and flaming objects, forcing the officers to hold their shields high to ward off the projectiles.

After a delay of nearly an hour and a half, enough police arrived to rim the stands. Most were in riot gear with helmets, shields and truncheons. Some had leashed dogs. It was then that the organizers decided the game could be played.

The players came out on the field and posed for group pictures as if nothing untoward had taken place. As soon as the game started, the fans became calmer, showing excitement only when events on the field warranted it. They began to cheer and wave flags just like any other ordinary crowd at any ordinary soccer game.

But, because of the terrible flashbacks, it was hard for the television audience to feel that the game was ordinary.

And late Wednesday, Britain’s leading soccer commentator, Jimmy Hill, a former player, said on the BBC network, “This was the night that Juventus won, but football lost.”

William Tuohy reported from London and Stanley Meisler from Paris.