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When violence was the norm: Britain in the 1980s

Football hooliganism led to a shocking number of deaths, as did the many infrastructure disasters caused by negligence, while riots and street fighting were endemic

27 May 2023

9:00 AM

27 May 2023

9:00 AM

Everybody Wants to Rule the World: Britain, Sport & the 1980s Roger Domeneghetti

Yellow Jersey, pp.336, 20

In middle age you’re supposed to feel nostalgia for your youth, but I finished this book marvelling at how dreadful the 1980s were. The decade hit rock bottom in May 1985 when, within 18 days, 56 football fans died in a fire at Bradford City and 39 in crushes before the Liverpool-Juventus match at the Heysel Stadium.

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