Two Hillsborough survivors killed themselves after trauma was ‘retriggered’ by footage of Liverpool fans ‘pressed against each other in a tunnel’ at Champions League final, support group claims
- Hillsborough Survivors Support confirmed two fans had killed themselves since the Paris final
- Sportsmail understands neither fan was at the match at the Stade de France
- The group said they were triggered by the events in the French capital
- Liverpool fans who attended the match have been offered therapy by the group
Two Liverpool fans who survived the Hillsborough disaster have killed themselves after being ‘retriggered’ by the scenes that marred the Champions League final in Paris.
Peter Scarfe from the Hillsborough Survivors Support said at an event on Monday the two supporters had taken their own lives since the game at the Stade de France in May.
Sportsmail understands neither fan, one of who was 52 and the other 63, were in attendance at the final against Real Madrid.
A total of 97 Liverpool fans were killed as a result of the deadly crush at Hillsborough, and the chaos that occurred prior to the Paris final evoked painful memories for Reds fans.
Thousands of supporters in Paris were forced into a dangerous situation as they were cramped into tight tunnels as they tried to gain access to the stadium. Some, including women and children, were pepper-sprayed and tear-gassed by French police.
‘This year alone, we’ve had three suicides,’ Scarfe said, according to the Liverpool Echo. ‘That’s three too many.
‘One was just before the anniversary because he didn’t want to face another anniversary, two of them were retriggers from Stade de France.
Chaotic scenes were on show in the French capital with some younger fans brought to tears
A total of 97 Liverpool fans were killed as a result of the Hillsborough disaster on April 15 1989
‘The memory of 1989 has come back to haunt them because the events at the Stade de France have many points in common with those at Hillsborough.
‘In both cases there were crowd movements complicated by bottlenecks, people pressed against each other under a tunnel, blocked turnstiles preventing entry into the stadium and above all false charges later.’
Scarfe also said the group had ‘put fans through therapy’ in the wake of the events in Paris, which are the subject of an ongoing UEFA investigation.
‘We shouldn’t be doing this, it shouldn’t be happening,’ he added.
Nearly 2,000 Liverpool supporters are suing UEFA for their organisation of the final, claiming they were injured or left with psychological trauma by the incidents.
The game between the Reds and Real Madrid was delayed by 35 minutes after disruption outside the stadium, with UEFA first blaming ‘security issues’ for the hold up.
According to the BBC, law firm Binghams have teamed up with global law company Pogust Goodhead in a lawsuit for 1,450 clients alleging negligence.
Gerard Long from Binghams said: ‘As a life-long Liverpool fan, I was absolutely horrified when I heard how events unfolded at what should have been the highlight of the football season.
The game was delayed for 35 minutes as scenes outside the ground disrupted proceedings
Liverpool fans are suing UEFA over their treatment at the Champions League final in May
Many fans were ‘injured or left with psychological trauma’ outside the Stade de France in Paris
Several Liverpool fans tried to show the police their tickets to get into the ground quickly
‘Not only fellow fans, but my friends, family and clients who were in attendance that day have spoken of the terrifying scenes that surrounded the Stade de France before, and even after, the game.’
Sportsmail revealed earlier this week that the chaos experienced by fans at the final was triggered by a technological meltdown combined with erroneous pre-match messaging and negligent crowd control.
Technology failure, identified by multiple fan witnesses precipitated much of the chaos, but was exacerbated by the crowd control error, which saw 37,000 Liverpool fans directed to an entrance designed for about 10,000 to 12,000 fans.
It occurred during the FA Cup semi-final between Liverpool and Nottingham Forest
At last May’s event, failure of ticket scanners and a tech meltdown caused abnormal queues, overcrowding and a loss of control by the authorities, with aggressive stewards assuming that scanning failures meant they were dealing with multiple forgeries, when in fact tickets were genuine. Indeed, fans with both paper and digital tickets were denied entry and have yet to receive compensation.
The problems also meant some stewards allowed hundreds of fans to crawl in beneath turnstiles, because they judged their tickets legitimate. Though well intentioned, as they recognised the dangerous crush behind them, their actions meant authorities then lost control of how many legitimate ticket holders were in the stadium.
At this point, about 7pm, it should have been clear to authorities they had lost control and would need to delay or postpone the match. Instead an announcement was made at 8.46pm local time, just 14 minutes before kick-off, and then only a 15-minute delay was announced.
The situation was then made worse by outdated policing, based on decades-old prejudices, and this was exploited by local criminals, leading to the indiscriminate tear gassing by police, which ironically added to the breakdown of order.
The accounts given by eyewitnesses describe an anarchic situation where authorities lost their nerve, abandoned controls and used tear gas as a default response to attempt to mitigate earlier mistakes. The lack of control from the authorities continued post match, when criminals attacked Real Madrid and Liverpool fans.
UEFA, run by Aleksander Ceferin, blamed the chaos before the final on late arrival from fans
Among the main issues were the abandoning of initial ticket checks, which meant people arrived at turnstiles with tickets that would not scan.
That made stewards either hostile and aggressive or led to the necessity of letting fans climb over or under turnstiles. It also may account for the incorrect ‘forged tickets’ narrative gaining currency.
The problems scanning tickets was apparent at all gates and is also reported by Real Madrid fans. It became worse at the Liverpool end because of errors in managing the crowd and not adjusting plans drawn up before a rail strike was announced.
The worst problems were on Ave du President Wilson, which had become the main approach to the stadium for almost all Liverpool fans due to messaging prior to the game. Because of a strike by some French train workers, mixed messaging had supporters believing that the RER B, La Plaine Stade de France station would be closed or not fully functioning. It was in fact working but not at full capacity. However, according to the Senate’s initial inquiry, from about 3.30pm, messages on the UEFA App and at stations were telling fans to use RER D and avoid RER B.
Le Monde’s investigations, with access to official transport figures, say 37,000 fans tried to access the stadium from that station, four times more than the usual number.
A statement blaming the late arrival of supporters was shown inside the stadium, but not outside the Stade de France
UEFA maps issued pre-match made clear that Liverpool fans arriving from the Line D Stade De France station should have proceeded along Ave Francois Mitterrand, cross over Ave du President Wilson and keep going east, before turning left into Ave du Stade de France, where there was another ticket check, which according to fans was staffed with more stewards than at Gate X.
But virtually all the 37,000 fans arriving at that station turned left into Ave du President Wilson.
Witness accounts also mentioned the hostility and unhelpfulness of most police, the complete lack of information to fans outside the ground and lack of proactive stewarding. Even when kick-off was delayed, it was only announced to those inside the stadium.
A statement blaming ‘late’ arriving Liverpool fans for the delay to the final was reportedly prepared days before the game even took place.
UEFA produced a statement on the big screens inside France’s national stadium, announcing that a delay to the scheduled 9pm kick-off had been caused by the ‘late arrival of fans’.
The Guardian reported that this statement had been put together in the week up to the final.
It was a statement that incensed Liverpool supporters, thousands of whom were stuck outside the stadium having arrived three or more hours before kick-off.
For confidential support, call the Samaritans on 116123 or visit a local Samaritans branch. See www.samaritans.org for details.
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