THE WEEK THAT WAS Only luck can save you in a crush - Rooster remembers his own Hillsborough nightmare

[webfact]

 

OPINION | by Rooster

 

The horrendous tragedy in the nightlife district of Itaewon, Seoul, claimed 156 lives, mostly young people in their twenties. It was truly a Halloween Horror.

 

 

For Rooster it brought back all the memories of how I thought I was going to die in a football crowd at Hillsborough, Sheffield, in 1981.

 

 

Eight years later in the same caged-in Leppings Lane end, 96 Liverpool fans perished.

 

I’ve been a supporter of Tottenham Hotspur all my life - yes that’s one of the crosses I must bear - and I was in the north of England with my sister and a friend to watch Spurs in the semi-finals of the FA Cup against Wolves. 

 

History says the game ended 2-2. It’s a pity that the authorities didn’t learn lessons that might have saved the Liverpool fans in 1989.

 

Aged nine one of my earliest memories of disaster was the crush at Ibrox, Glasgow in 1971. Sixty six died in a match between Rangers and Celtic. In my naivete I thought that was a one-off though I remember my mother mentioning a tragedy at Bethnal Green tube station during the Blitz.

 

The incident in Seoul, and another crush at an Indonesian football stadium a month ago that claimed 131 lives, are fresh examples of the dangers of putting too many people in too small an area. 

 

Or of hopeless policing causing stampedes.

 

We arrived at Hillsborough early for the big match and very soon our end was filling up as we stood and waited anxiously for the match to begin. We were penned in behind fences due to regulations to stop hooliganism and pitch invasions. 

 

 

But as kick-off approached huge numbers of fans started pouring in and the crowd seemed to take on a life of its own. 

 

I managed to stay close to my sister but our friend was kind of carried away in the throng. He screamed that he had lost his shoes.

 

What was happening? I’d been in huge crowds many times but this was different. It was moving.

 

Alive. I felt as though my feet were no longer in touch with the ground; I had no power to move, I was just being transported against my will. It was terrifying. 

 

People were screaming and trying to clamber over the fence. We were pushed to the front and just when I thought that my life was over at 19 an official heeded anguished cries and a gate was opened. We gasped into the open air.

 

We watched the entire match sitting on the touchline. There are videos on YouTube. There were thirty eight injuries including broken arms and a broken leg. Footage of the Spurs game was shown to the jury at an inquest into the 1989 crush in 2014.

 

You really have no power to do anything in a crowd crush. You go where the crush goes. If people fall, you fall and you die from suffocation in seconds. It doesn’t matter if you’re strong and young.

 

You all go the same way and it’s just luck if you survive. 

 

With every tragedy I remember that day. When the Liverpool fans died I was already in Thailand. I had to phone my sister in England. We remembered our own near death experience and felt grateful to be alive.

 

Many people are standing again at football in the UK and crowd control measures have been improved. But there were many government and police scandals in covering up what happened. 

 

Liverpool supporters were blamed, famously by The Sun newspaper, that to this day cannot be purchased in the city. Their banner headline had been “The Truth” proved decades later as press lies.

 

 

Throughout the world crushes continue. And it won’t be long until the next one. 

 

In Thailand Halloween passed off without such a tragedy. But the Thai media still made as much out of deaths that night as they could.

 

In Chiang Mai a ladyboy - that always seems to add spice - was electrocuted by a fence outside a nightclub.

 

 

Netizens on TikTok got in a tizzy because a teen dressed up as US serial killer Jeffrey Dahmer who killed 17 people between 1978 and 1991.

 

Dahmer, who had a head bubbling on the stove when his place was searched, seemed a perfectly good character to emulate for Halloween shock. Why the outrage? At least it wasn’t Hitler as it usually is in Thailand!

 

 

Best forum comment of the week came from JeffersLos who quipped: “They’ll be dressing up as Prince Andrew soon”. 

 

Now that would be scary, especially for teenage girls.

 

Having sex with teenage girls aged 14 and 15 in Pattaya were two foreigners. Disgraceful and hopefully they will be jailed for a decade on statutory rape charges along with the Thais who provided the girls.

 

 

The forum whoremongers made their excuses about Thais looking young and even took part in victim blaming. Your names have been noted though I’d prefer if other moderators had already banned you.

 

I’m not banning anyone…yet. Though I do make some referrals. 

 

In several stories it felt like pre-pandemic times. Tourists were returning in the proverbial “droves” at long last.

 

There were not enough booths opened at Suwannaphum (my spelling) that had the netwits in a lather and immigration scurrying. 

 

 

Foreigners were also arriving in Ayutthaya to see the ruins after Forbes listed them as a “must see”.

 

Don’t worry - very soon there will be stories about foreigners walking over them or a couple of Brits coupling behind a Buddha. 

 

 

Tourism is back even if that annoys the forum curmudgeons who think everything is a TAT conspiracy and seem to relish the prospect of Thais in the industry continuing to suffer. 

 

One of the weirdest and largely unexplained stories was of a “Big Farang” (he looked 10 months pregnant) who stole a taxi from Krabi airport. 

 

 

The Norwegian heffalump was eventually cornered in a grocer’s toilet after stopping for a soda. Not surprisingly he was incoherent.

 

Quality tourist…..

 

Other quality tourists creating much news in the last couple of weeks are Chinese druggies taking something called “Happy Water”.

 

This has all resulted in crackdowns on Chinese owned establishments in Bangkok and Pattaya that essentially are running “Soon Rian” (zero dollar or zero baht) tours to Thailand.

 

These are tours where all the goods come from China and all the profits go back there.

 

That’s much more important than the drug taking. The Thais can’t stand it when the Chinese - or anyone else come to that - puts one over on them.

 

Big Joke and Big Tor - generals Surachate and Torsak - swung into action with dozens of raids. 

 

 

Chuwit Kamolwisit said “I told you so” as “David” was arrested with 100 million baht’s worth of luxury red plate cars. 

 

Chuwit had put together a dossier that resulted in four Chinese owners being nabbed. Hundreds of patrons had their pee tested. The cops could equally have tested smoke and mirrors.

 

That’s because like gambling dens, everyone knows what is going on and where. And the RTP are ALWAYS involved in the mischief. 

 

They are Thailand’s biggest mafia.

 

I suspect that Big Joke is clean but I wouldn’t be surprised if I’m proved wrong one day!

 

Then he’ll make the ideal candidate for next PM!

 

In international news the two Koreas started setting off missiles with gay abandon. Kim was apparently trying to get Uncle Joe’s attention. 

 

In Brazil Lula won the election and Covid denier Bolsonaro refused to concede defeat. Probably a friend of Drumph who never loses and is never wrong. I long for the day when they’ll both be in Orange Jump Suits.

 

 

The World Cup in Catarrh drew ever closer as the regime there continued to spout lies about the death of 6,500 migrant workers using their official mouthpiece, Al Jiz. 

 

One poster on the forum said that his “moral compass” did not allow him to watch. Mind you he is Scottish (the ignominious exits from the Champions league of Rangers and Celtic showing once again the dire state of football north of Hadrian’s Wall).

 

Rooster had toyed with the idea of not watching the World Cup as I despise Catarrh (not to mention Dubai). But I'm going to be two faced as I love the game too much.

 

I’ll even be writing an ASEAN NOW daily round-up during the tournament with my own spin on the news and results. Look out for it if you’re a lover of The Beautiful Game. It starts two weeks from tomorrow.

 

 

Back in Thailand the law was changed to allow more people to brew beer and wine and make spirits. It was a bit unclear and there were indications larger operators would need licenses and have to undergo quality control measures.

 

At Rooster Central in Ratchayothin I’ve been brewing for a while. As a teen in England I used to make beer and wine financed by my dad. I also rigged up a distillery aged 14. So I have some limited expertise.

 

Home brewing has always felt something of a no-no in Thailand with its bizarre booze laws but there are many sellers of equipment like yeast, sterilizing agents, siphons and airlocks online. I’m not a great drinker but I enjoy the challenge of trying to make something potable from grape juice, passionfruit, Makro strawberries and the like. 

 

 

If it turns out to be horrible I have some ready made Xmas presents for people I don’t like. Column detractors, please note.

 

My father-in-law in Loei has always made something called “sato” from rice mash. Saves on the lao khao I suppose…..

 

Most notable accidents of the week were an old lady who had a seizure and fell into a charcoal burner in Rayong and a mother and father who left their children orphaned when a ten wheel trucker who was drunk plowed into them in the north east.

 

Prayut had tried to stop people traveling in the bed of pick-ups but like most everything he’s done it was a total failure.

 

To be fair to our leader who art in khaki, hollow be thy name, he was always on a loser with that one in Thailand. 

 

Finally kudos to a Thai/Scottish luuk khreung who goes by the name of Psi Scott on Facebook who did a 30 kilometer round trip swim to an island in Krabi.

 

 

Psi is determined to raise awareness about the appalling amount of plastics in our seas and is working on advancing marine ecology.

 

We all need to do our bit to use less single use plastic and press food producers to improve their packaging for the sake of the environment.

 

Microplastics are already poisoning every man, woman and child on earth but it’s never too late to try and make a difference for our children’s future.

 

Well done Psi, even if your name is all Greek to me.

 

Rooster

 

 

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[Tropicalevo]

Thanks for the warning to stop reading your column when the soccer ones hit.

[kingstonkid]

Your nostalgia is yours 

 

Please do us all a favour and place your politics in the famous orifice with no sunshine.

 

Your story about family and things are great your social commentary leaves a great deal to be desired.

 

When it comes to riots and large crowds it is almost impossible to stop them once they start.  These are not groups that show up one or 2 at a time.

The problem is not the police it is the area where these things happen and the fact that organizers using physical buildings have very few egresses,

 

 

[DezLez]

1 hour ago, kingstonkid said:

your social commentary leaves a great deal to be desired.

"your social commentary leaves a great deal to" Commend!

 

Well done Rooster, please just ignore the curmudgeons as I do.

 

 

[DezLez]

1 hour ago, kingstonkid said:

The problem is not the police

The problem, as proven in the SK stampede, and as reported and I believe, admitted by the SK authorities, was the lack of police planning and control!

[RichardColeman]

8 hours ago, webfact said:

Probably a friend of Drumph who never loses and is never wrong.

I'm no lover of Trump, but sheesh guy, that clown in the whitehouse this week said there were 4 more states in the USA than there are and said he met the insulin inventor that died before he was born ! How come you do not mention the biggest liar on the planet ? 

[Mac Mickmanus]

2 minutes ago, RichardColeman said:

I'm no lover of Trump, but sheesh guy, that clown in the whitehouse this week said there were 4 more states in the USA than there are and said he met the insulin inventor that died before he was born ! How come you do not mention the biggest liar on the planet ? 

And so it begins , Trump V Biden, Round 11 

Dems and Republicans fighting it out in every thread 

[kwaussie]

Well done, another great article as usual.

 

[kidneyw]

9 hours ago, webfact said:

Well done Psi, even if your name is all Greek to me.

Good one.

[roger101]

Rooster: Why do you support Spurs? I do because I was born in Edmonton and Spurs v  Norwich (FA Cup) was the first (and only) football match my father ever took me too (we moved out  of London shortly after).

[spidermike007]

True about the crush. At this stage of my life I avoid huge crowds, at all costs. The last time I was in a stadium, it was for a Dodgers game. I arrived early and left in the 8th inning. No thanks, with the huge crowds. 

[BostonRob2]

5 hours ago, roger101 said:

Rooster: Why do you support Spurs? I do because I was born in Edmonton and Spurs v  Norwich (FA Cup) was the first (and only) football match my father ever took me too (we moved out  of London shortly after).

My mum and siblings supported Spurs, I followed suit. Now my kids follow me.

 

Thanks for reading.

 

Rooster

[RedArmy]

8 hours ago, Mac Mickmanus said:

And so it begins , Trump V Biden, Round 11 

Dems and Republicans fighting it out in every thread 

Throw them both in a Septic Tank & be done with it.

[RedArmy]

6 hours ago, roger101 said:

Rooster: Why do you support Spurs? 

Lack of 4skin ????

[VinnieK]

Crowds are for the sheeple.

 

[JeffersLos]

Going live next week, roosternow.com

[LarryB]

 Thanks for another fun and informative column. As usual, I agree with some of your opinions, and disagree with others. But isn't that just one of the many things that keep life interesting? Keep up the good work. 

[Stargeezr]

Thanks again for the news update and the pictures. The USA guy in the orange is a great

thought. Sounds like this Winter will be a good one for tourism, considering that most of us have

not gone anywhere for the last 3 years in some cases. Hope the experience is good for every one.

[DJ54]

13 hours ago, spidermike007 said:

Dodgers game. I arrived early and left in the 8th inning. No thanks, with the huge crowds

Go Blue!

[sandyf]

On 11/5/2022 at 8:35 AM, webfact said:

But as kick-off approached huge numbers of fans started pouring in and the crowd seemed to take on a life of its own. 

And why does anyone wonder why that would come about.

I moved up to Sheffield in 1983, initially lived within a stones throw of "The Lane", moved to Burncross for a couple of years and then out to Deepcar early 1989.

Both Burncross and Deepcar are fairly close to the main road coming into Sheffield from the Manchester side of Sheffield. In those days it was common practice for visiting fans to park up at a pub in that area and then make a mad dash into town for the kick off. On that particular day I heard of many not leaving the pub till gone 14.30, not a hope in hell of getting there on time.

Following the disaster many of the landlords in the area were visited by Liverpool fans and intimidated with most moving away for fear of getting caught up in the enquiry. The police were not entirely blameless but with only half the story coming out at the enquiry they were hung out to dry.

[Freed1948]

Quote,  I'm not banning... yet

Beware, He is making a list and checking twice to find who's naughty or nice......

What a Richard Hadlee.

[DaLa]

On 11/5/2022 at 8:35 AM, webfact said:

We were penned in behind fences due to regulations to stop hooliganism and pitch invasions. 

Webfact makes a good point regarding crushing at UK grounds.

 

Football and its well documented mob following by a minority is one of the problems. Just been to F1 in Singapore , 300,000 spectators over the 3 days and as far as I know there wasn’t any rivalry associated violence.

 

I’ve been to a good number of grounds in the 60’s and the violence was evident then.

[Marpa47]

On 11/5/2022 at 3:27 PM, DezLez said:

The problem, as proven in the SK stampede, and as reported and I believe, admitted by the SK authorities, was the lack of police planning and control!

Somewhere it was noted that the famous ancient forum in Rome had _many_ exits and could allow for the entire (many thousands of), number of patrons to exit within minutes.  Building such a venue would no doubt be prohibitively expensive in the capitalistic setting, notwithstanding the generous funding and tax abatements provided by an overly fond municipality that is usually forthcoming..  it would or at least might save lives however.

[Marpa47]

16 hours ago, LarryB said:

 Thanks for another fun and informative column. As usual, I agree with some of your opinions, and disagree with others. But isn't that just one of the many things that keep life interesting? Keep up the good work. 

I second that emotion.

[spidermike007]

10 hours ago, DJ54 said:

Go Blue!

They need a management shakeup. I was told by a friend that they were dictating lineups and substitutions to Roberts, and that answers the bizarre decisions made in the sad, pathetic, and catastrophic end of this season. Perhaps the most corporate of all baseball franchises right now. 

[DezLez]

7 hours ago, Marpa47 said:

Somewhere it was noted that the famous ancient forum in Rome had _many_ exits and could allow for the entire (many thousands of), number of patrons to exit within minutes.

It is called a vomitorium which is a passage situated below or behind a tier of seats in an amphitheatre or a stadium, through which big crowds can exit rapidly at the end of an event

[Neeranam]

On 11/5/2022 at 8:35 AM, webfact said:

Netizens on TikTok got in a tizzy because a teen dressed up as US serial killer Jeffrey Dahmer who killed 17 people between 1978 and 1991.

How can you dress up s him? Just by wearing glasses and dyed hair?

[Mark mark]

"Best forum comment of the week came from JeffersLos who quipped: “They’ll be dressing up as Prince Andrew soon”. ... Yes Nice One Rooster ! Mateee. 

 

… And Yes, the Photo of the Sleeping Buddha in Ayutthaya is pretty good (Actually supposedly Dying I think ?) ... But about the most reflective Tourist attraction in the Place … I think. ... Though do not leave the 6 Families of Muslims, from the Middle East's Mosque, not far from there, to the North of Town, … like Proving very well that different Religions, CAN get on ? … If there is Cooperation, !!! … and enough good Reason to. I guess.

 

… Like the only group left here, from the 12th C ... and it any one says the two groups, The Muslims and the Buddhists like each other, well just tell them that they are full of <Deleted> … as they do not, and in fact they actually dislike each other ! ?  … My Step Grandson married one and though it did not last long, they got his Jeans, right ? which well, is one of the ways that they have survived here, ..  since the 12th C I guess, without becoming Too in bread ??? … Like Cross marrying their daughters, with suitable biggest and strong Thai men right ??? (I think ?) … And they all Know that they Have to get on !!! …. The Muslims AND the Buddhists ….for every ones Benefit !!! … and they do….. (One of the few Mosques where I have ever been Invited in to have a talk with the Imam I guess ? and the old men ? … Like I asked them if I could take a Photo of Friday Prayers !!! and well !!! “Make a Video” they gladly offered !!! Like people, living in some one else’s country !!! Who KNOW that they have to get on !!! Though well, ALSO keep their own Culture alive also.

 

… Any way I fell in love with my Wife in about 1983 or 4 ? Back over in the Ayutthaya ruins, ... when there, with her and her Family, and well it was cemented in Place by the Sleeping Buddha, like old and run down back then, but in amongst the Tough Ayutthaya thorn trees !!! (Like Elephant Proof  Trees ? Right ??? from back when wild ones lived around here and well Tigers and fresh water crocodiles also ) … And the Sleeping Buddha, really, greatly reflected the town I think ! ?  … Though well .... Now 67 and well starting to Fail !!! … “The dying Buddha” ?  … well it IS a b9it of a frightening thing to be coming to also right. ???

 

… Yes R, I like yes, Trumph, (I must say I guess so I do not get Pulled right ? )... as you put him in his Nice new Cloths !!! Right ??? … Nice one Mate !!! 

 

And Yes I liked Home Brewing along with Making Good Bread once, but well I got the Resepy wrong for the Bread, …. And baked Flat Loaves for some time, though they were pretty good to Eat !!! (Big C now does some pretty good Home balked style Breads you Know) …. But well, my Beer was always Corrupted ... So well I went back to being the Technician, … who always purchased such stuff. (And yes Sunday Arvo, nearly time do get some again now !!! …)

 

… And Yes Mr. Psi, Great and well reported R ... but well you could be Holding a Straw !!! Right ! ??? …. Like have you seen the footage of them taking just <Deleted> loads of them out of the Sea !!! and I STILL <Deleted> Use them !!! ... Well better leave out the Deleted and just stop using them Steptoe !!! ??? Right ???

 

…. Thanks R for another god and new View also ...

 

…. Yes "Round Ball" as we often used to call it as Kids in Australia !!! .... I have never been in to it, BUT it IS quite Obviously a good Game !!! … Like I am waiting for Australia to get in to a World Cup final ??? Though not Holding my Breath, and well Our Woman will probably make it first anyway ??? … If they have not done it already I think ??? ... The Matilders Right ... And their mascot Sam Kerr is it ? … Part Indigenous ? I think ???  … Now playing over there in your League right ???

… Do you remember her Missing that Penalty when she quite obviously had a very bad case of the nerves !!! ??? …  I do and Goodness, it was just so sad !!! … For a very Great player like her !!! I thought !!! And I think that we were put out of the Finals then also … Like about as close as we even had got !!!

 

Yes have a good week Mate, and All.