Page 138 - Once a copper 10 03 2020

Writing in his annual report,
then Chief Constable Geoffrey
Dear described it as “possibly
the worst crowd disorders ever
seen at a football ground in
this country”.

In Northampton, where the
family of Ian Hambridge still
live, they are still waiting for
satisfactory answers nearly 30
years on.

They waved their son out of
the family home that
afternoon and he did not
return.
Figure 59 A plaque at Birmingham City's St Andrew's stadium
His father Vic, a shoemaker, remembering Ian Hambridge
later said: “Ian’s death was
overshadowed by what happened at Bradford and later at Heysel in May
that year. It is understandable, they were bigger tragedies, except for us. “Ian
was just another statistic, but our lives changed forever.”

The family are not entirely clear what happened to their son on that day,
whether death came calling as the result of a structural fault or whether the
wall was pushed over. They say the council blamed the football club, and
the club blamed the police.

It went round and round. But it didn’t matter what they said, Vic and Ann had
still lost their son.
As each anniversary of the tragedy approaches, he must not be forgotten.

******************************
AFTER the disasters at Birmingham and Bradford, a judge carried out an
inquiry into the safety of sports grounds across the country.

In the weeks after the tragedy, Mr Justice Oliver Popplewell visited the
Hambridges, as well as the Birmingham ground to see the remnants of the
violence; the collapsed wall, ripped-down advertising hoardings and
flattened railings.

In July 1985 he reported that visiting Leeds fans were seen wearing Nazi
Page138
swastika armbands and chanting “Sieg Heil”. National Front leaflets were
found at the Birmingham ground after a match.