Irishman recalls Heysel horror 40 years on: "A time that will stay with me"

Irish Daily Mirror

29-05-2025

An Irishman caught up in the Heysel Stadium tragedy has recalled the horror of his experience on the 40th anniversary.
Michael Hamell was working in Brussels at the time and attended the European Cup final between Liverpool and Juventus, which saw 39 people killed after a wall collapsed. Belfast man Patrick Radcliffe was among those who sadly died.
Mr Hamell recalled how a "small cohort" of Liverpool fans began throwing "harmless stuff" like apples, bananas, and tomatoes before rocks and bottles began to rain down.
After a number of Liverpool fans got over the wire meshing, the crowd began to panic and it became "every man for himself" as supporters began to move down towards the pitch.
He recalled on RTE's Morning Ireland how it was "literally like an avalanche. A small slow avalanche".
"I squirmed my way under a crowd barrier. When I fell, five, six, seven people fell on top of me, but I did get my hands and my arms up and held my ground underneath the barrier and that's certainly what saved me."
After a few minutes, Mr Hamell managed to get up after the pressure eased.
He explained: "When the pressure eased, I was able eventually to get up. I was pretty well bruised and damaged but not badly damaged.
"I could stand up but the guys beside me on either side of me who were on my arms never got up and that's a moment, that's a time that will stay with me.
"Then the Red Cross came, they took me down onto the pitch and I walked to the far end just to take a rest. When I got to the far end, I looked back and the pitch was actually cleared at that stage and the two teams came out and played the match."
Incredibly the game was played despite the tragedy in the stands, with Juventus winning 1-0. As a result of the tragedy, English clubs were banned from playing European football for five years.
"I just got sick and fed up and got a metro and went back to Schuman, to where my friends were," said Mr Hamell. "We had a terrible night of waiting and 39 people died, most of them Italians or Italians with Belgian connections, four French people, some Belgians and a man from Belfast and my whole memory is of the stupidity of this nonsense, attacked at a football match and so much damage to so many people."