Oh mate you've just brought back memories of my Dad ! GORDON BOWMAN 🙏♥️ He was a survivor on this day ! He told me he was being crushed and couldn't breathe when out of nowhere an older man picked him up and he was passed over people's head to safety ! He died at 84 yrs 4 year's ago and I miss the old bugger massively ! Cheers for this and godbless Dad wherever you are mate ! Miss ya X
As a Bolton fan, thank you for this. It's often overshadowed by Hillsborough, Heysel and the Bradford Fire. I should clarify, I'm not measuring these tragedies against each other, but the Burnden Park disaster is rarely commemorated by those outside of the BWFC community.
Human crush stories are the worst. Horrifying to think of the physics, how a crowd can act as a fluid, at a certain density. I still think of the recent crush in Itaewon, Seoul, last Halloween. All preventable, with proper crowd control. Peace to the victims and their families
@@mwethereld I appreciate that quote in the context of the MiB movie, but it doesn't apply to these crush situations, because it blames the victims. It's not right. They victim-blamed in the Hillsborough disaster, and other events. The responsibility is with event organizers, security guards, city officials... not those who asphyxiate under the pressure of hundreds of bodies. If we analyze how these things occur, it's pretty common that the people in the back have absolutely no idea of what's happening in the front. And everyone in between... is just stuck. There's *no room* to be dumb or panicky. If you've ever been in a very tight crowd situation like this, where you could lift your feet up off the ground and remain upright, you understand what I mean. These things don't happen like an animal stampede. It's generally a gradual increase of density of humans per square meter, until a critical mass is reached, and tragedy strikes
@@tabularasa So yes, they're dumb, panicky animals that were stupid enough to let themselves act like a fluid in a crowd. Serves them right for betraying the solid state of matter. Like just don't push and shove?
I live just outside Boston, MA in the US. There are multiple fire regulations in place in the US due to the Cocoanut Grove Fire in 1942 that killed 492 people (still the 2nd worse is the country) and scarred many more for life. The Grove was a popular night club that was overcrowded with very combustible decorations and very few exits. The main one was a revolving door that almost immediately jammed with people trying to escape. Bodies ended up piled up inside it. One result was a new safety law that all revolving doors in the US have to have regular doors on either side of it. There's also still a city ordinance in Boston prohibiting any business being called the Coconut Grove.
As someone who was caught in a crush in the mid 1970's, there is nothing you can do! You can't move away because everyone's wedged against you and around you. You can't scream for help because everyone's screaming. You can't raise your arms to push people away because your arms are pinned in to your sides by bodies crushed against you. I had a small ice chest cooler which was literally pulled out of my grasp never to be seen again. By some miracle the crush finally eased, but I haven't been to another crowded event since.
If that happened to me, I also would never go to a crowded event again. I'm so glad that you escaped without injury (physical), but I'm sure it was traumatizing. Take care. Jean in California
I've been to Mardi Gras on the big day in New Orleans when the crowds were unmanageable. I could not help but go whichever way the crowd went. should something bad have happened, there would surely have been stampede deaths. Never again.
Happened to me too at an outdoor concert on Long Island. I felt the crowd closing in and I quickly pushed my way off to the side, under a fence and out of the crush zone. I thought I was going to faint.
@@randomlyentertaining8287 But they also died by injury from their own. Dying in war is horrible but at least it's considered relatively honourable to die while defending your own people. In this case, they were trampled by their own. In a way that almost feels worse.
My disabled grandfather was at this game. News that something had gone wrong and that people had been hurt quickly passed by word of mouth in the local community and my grandmother spent several terrified hours awaiting news that he was among the casualties when he didn’t return as expected. Turns out he’d been helping tend to some of the less-severely injured people.
it's hard for ppl to comprehend the immense crushing power of a crowd. i was at Woodstock '99 as a skinny 15 year old and i have vivid memories of being completely powerless to the surging ebb and flow of the crowd. legit thought i was going to die multiple times
I got pinned against a low metal fence at the front of the 2nd stage at Ozzfest '05 in Wheatland, CA. As a big guy, 6'1 and 250 lbs, I was shocked at how helpless I was. Luckily, security was keeping a close eye on everything and handled it like pros. Ever since then, as soon as I'm in a crowd and IT starts to move ME, I get the hell out of there.
@@exactlywhatisaid Being near the stage at Altamont must have been a terribly scared-sh*tless experience that you couldn't escape from ... First of all the Hell's Angels just simply get to the stage by boring a hole in the crowd with their Choppers, then they get to be attacked by the Totally Ripped Angels armed with Pool Ques as their weapons of choice if they complain, then some of the really unlucky ones get to see the guy who pulls a gun out to shoot Mick Jagger get bludgeoned to death by the Angels with the Pool Cues. No Love and Peace here, people. No Love and No Peace.
"As it became more crowded in the stands, some people became uncomfortable and decided to leave", and that is what we call having Situational Awareness!
@@richard6440 It's not always obvious fear though. Sometimes you really just feel uneasy, like you need to move but not a total full blown "I NEED TO GTFO" terrified feeling. Either way though you should listen to your gut feeling.
My Family Gp was actually at this disaster! He was just telling me about it …he is 92 now but his account of everything sounds as if it happened yesterday. That’s how awful it was .
I was present on the Champ de Mars during the centennial of the Eiffel Tower in 1989. There was a very large crowd present for the fireworks display, and I suddenly felt very uncomfortable. I persuaded my friend to leave, and go back to our apartment to watch the festivities on TV. Just as we got to the outside edge of the crowd, something happened. Who knows what - a fight, most likely. But the crowd surged outward like a giant wave, and we were among the lucky ones who weren't knocked to the ground. Since then, I've avoid all large crowds.
I've done lots of high risk activities and always been told follow that little voice that says something's not right. Most people are not thinking on alert at a social event. You have good instincts, keep on trusting them. I also now avoid large crowds. Often you can see more on the televised version anyway. Glad you got away safe.
My granddad was a season ticket holder for Bolton wanders from the 30s right up until he died in 2010, he missed this match as he was working and couldn't get off and said at the time he was super pi$$ed off he had to miss it but was glad later that he had missed it!
@@francishuddy9462 up to you to believe it or not but the club took him out on his 90th and gave him a tour of their facilities because of how long of a supportor he was!
@@ronjones-6977I'm a Bury supporter and I don't know Lucy at all, but what I do know is Bury FC had season ticket holders then so I would assume Bolton wanderers did to. It would mean no pre sale of tickets, season tickets would still have been used.
It's horrific to think that more than two dozen people died, and a majority of the people in attendance didn't have the faintest clue that people were in mortal danger & dying around them. Somehow I'm not surprised they finished out the game though. Great video as per usual!
Well it was actually the quickest and safest thing to do. It's horrible, but it had to be done. Trying to communicate to 85,000 people, in the days before technology, that the game was cancelled and everyone was to leave, would have led to absolute chaos and misinformation. And probably way more deaths.
@@derstoffausdemderjoghurtis people were dying, they needed medical attention how is a game more important. It should’ve been ended and all taken to the hospital, instead they layer dying watching a game go on. Horrific
@@Jason-rn4jk The video explained in detail why this decision was made - it wasn't because the game was seen as more important, but that cancelling it, especially without clear mass communication, would lead to far greater chaos and likely more injuries or deaths. Continuing the game was deemed to be the least harmful option.
Excellent as always. I've a fear of crushes, with Hillsborough one of my childhood memories. The Burden Park disaster seems so overshadowed by horrific events since. It was good that Bolton recognised the disaster and a remembrance the dead in 2016.
I also have a fear of crushes, though it was because my grandpa told me about the Victoria Hall disaster when I was a little too young and I've avoided large crowds ever since D:
If only proper action had been taken after this tragedy, other more well known football crushes could have been averted. It's sad that this did not happen, and it's sad that this tragedy is largely forgotten. But credit to Bolton Wanderers do a fantastic job of remembering the victims of this tragedy
When I heard, 'but not none of it was put into law...' I just sighed and said to myself, 'good team management will do the right thing and bad team management will do the cheapest thing.'
In truth, it's unlikely that any of the future disasters would have been averted for many reasons. Mostly the British public's general attitude towards health and safety in the 50s, 60s and 70s was largely negative or, at best neutral. Health and safety, beyond the most basic of safety measures in all things, was considered annoying and over officious by most people. The best example of this was the highly negative public attitude towards using seatbelts in cars. While todays society could be criticised at times for being too litigant, before the 1980s our society probably wasn't litigant enough. Perhaps it was a combination of a hangover of world war two and the dying class system but unless compensation was offered after an accident or disaster, people would rarely seek it or press the powers that be to find anybody liable, so there was little need to provide anything more than the most basic of health and safety regulations.
Elliot, I can recount every minute of the Hillsborough disaster to this day, I moved to Canada in 2000, I was interviewed by a Canadian police officer ( Mountie ) who had studied the Hillsborough disaster as part of his university thesis, this was in the early 2000`s, I made my statement about what I experienced as part of the inquiry as a survivor. He looked at me and told me this is most factual evidence I have ever heard from anyone. I just told him , this is not something you forget. The human mind can retain so many things , but i can tell you exactly what happened that day. I know now that I have post traumatic stress syndrome. I was asked by the PC have you sought any help^, I said no, I still cry everytime anything related to Hillsborough is mentioned. It does mentally affect you in ways you dont know.
It’s true that if we don’t remember history, especially the tragic parts, we can be doomed to repeat them. Sadly crowd crushes can happen so quickly, it can be before people react, so it’s important to be aware so it doesn’t happen to you!
Love your vids, seen every single one. No loud music, no change in tone, no sound effects, just pure story telling. Your voice alone with images of the events is simply perfect, thank you! Keep em coming
As a Bolton Wanderer myself, thank you for covering this tragedy . My Grandad was at this match and my Grandma was frantic with worry until he got home. She clearly remembers the fleets of ambulances heading towards the ground and the rumours of something terrible having happened. Most have been awful especially as my Grandad had only just got back from the war. It is known as the forgotten tragedy in Bolton. Coming as it did just after the horrors of WW2 and happening in an unfashionable corner of Lancashire. Pity lessons weren't learned and future tragedies involving crushes at football matches prevented. Will always be remembered by The Bolton Wanderers though.
It’s touching to know that it was common practice to “crowd surf” people to safety when they fainted. I’m left wondering why this isn’t still common practice. Still… it must have saved at least a few lives.
10+ years ago when I used to frequent rock concerts, crowd surfing happened a few time while I was in the mosh pit. Sports events are so cleaned up these days (in Sweden) but I believe they too take care of each other if need arise.
It does still happen at gigs but crowd management strategies try to reduce crush so that people don't faint and those most likely to suffer are right at the front.
To be fair, I’ve crowd surfed in a mosh pit (also decades ago lol), which is why I find it thought provoking that it still happens in controlled chaos, but this is the only time I’ve heard about it happening in actual chaos.
moving people when they're been injured can just as easily cause further harm. unless you know how or why they fainted, leaving them might be the better choice.
I worked in event security. Crowd crush is the biggest killer by far at events. But it isn't always too many people. There was another one where someone falling on the stairs on the way out caused many deaths, bottlenecks as people are trying to get out is a huge factor, other have been people trying to push in because they haven't enough entrances and they don't want to miss the start. Some sort of incident people are trying to get away from can be another one. Hillsborough was largely due to the police not understanding which gates led to where and letting people in when that stand was already crowded.
@@craigpridemore7566 you haven't been in a packed crowd, then. Good luck on that one. I've had it take 20 minutes to cross a (decent sized, but hardly staduim sized) room or a big deck.
During the 1937 British Coronation there were a number of crowd crushes and falls from heights along the route. Over 10,000 people were injured or became ill from all causes and two died. During the last Russian Coronation in 1896 a public distribution of gifts took place at Khodynka resulting in crowd crush which killed 1389 people and injured a large number.
There are probably linguistic barriers and censorship by the Tsar's government to deal with, but this Khodynka event you mentioned sounds like something this channel should cover, I had never heard of it.
Holy crap, that's massive! Really should be an episode. Reading about it, I wonder if it had a greater role in history beyond the deaths, the Tsar's callous response maybe hurting his public perceptions and contributing to - even if in a minor way - the later unrest and revolutions.
It's awful that people perhaps didn't take the disaster as seriously as it should have been and moved on so quickly. But it warms my heart that the football club keeps the memory of the people lost that day as part of their history, and regularly commemorate the anniversary of the disaster.
Gosh this brings back so many ghosts for me. My grandad and my uncle (freshly returned from fighting in Burma) were supposed to go to this match but my uncle was asked to work that morning. My uncle died in an accident at work that day (he was only 23) but my grandad reckoned that they'd both have died instead if they'd gone as it happened where they normally stood. Grandad was a broken man from that day onwards.
I'm so sorry. What a horrible and darkly ironic tragedy. If your grandfather is still alive, I hope he's as okay as he can be after living through that. If not, may he rest in peace.
My father took me to Burnden park many times to see the Wanderers when I was little but I dont remember this ever being mentioned. Thank you for the video.
After caving incidents, crushes are the second most terrifying subject on this channel for me due to severe claustrophobia. The thought about not being able to move or breathe trying to escape something is frightening.
Crowd crushes are genuinely one of my biggest fears like ever, that idea of that many people having absolutely no control over the fact that they're literally being crushed to death?? Probably the worst way to go ever
My father was there in 1946, a serving soldier, aged 18, in army boots and 5'11'' tall. He did not realize what had happened. It had been reported on the radio and he returned home to find his mother in a blind panic, thinking he was dead. Another world.
We watched the Hillsborough disaster unfold on live tv in South Africa. I had left to do something when my wife came running in with tears streaming down her cheeks. She kept repeating “people are dying “ it was terrible. Reading the reports afterwards left me horrified at the media and the actions of the police. I hate close crush crowds.
Continuing the match saved lives. There are always people in crowds like this that will not act responsibly and feel like their petty frustration should be shared with everybody. Recent world events have demonstrated it is still true.
The riot in South America where people all tried to get out at the same time. Whenever I go to big events I always wait around after the end and don't leave right away.
Had no idea of this disaster. Only knew about Hillsborough. Thanks for shedding light on these less known events and congrats on hitting 1 million subscribers!
I had absolutely no idea about this tragic accident, it just goes to show how sometimes things just slip under the radar. The Paisley cinema fire is another example of a tragedy that is almost unknown outside of the local community.
Crowd crush disaster happend in many place, many country. But people really don't know how dangerous it could. We learn about how to survive from building fire, earthquake, plane crash, car crash...but we don't know how to survive from crowd crush. There should be something, at lest a PSA or documentary to learn how to survive from crowd crush. It could save many lives.
Once you're in the crush there is nothing you can do. The best is to see it starting and stay back. Don't rush to be first out of a big event, avoid being front middle at music events, it there's stairs keep to the side and hold the handrail, stair or corridors with corners keep to the inside. Those people that left that match before it happened probably remembered the history of previous crush events.
One thing I’ve heard is to keep your hands up by your chin, wrists and elbows flush together. That way even if you can’t get out of the crush, there’ll at least be a bit of extra space by your chest and stomach to be able to breathe in a little more
To add to the good advice, above, check out the exits when you enter a venue. People have a tendency in an emergency to leave via the gate that they entered. Moving to another exit may keep you away from a crush.
@@davidcox3076 This was highlighted in The Station fire, hardly anyone used the fire exits, people all headed for the main entrance as that is what they were used to using. These days stewards sports events are told to direct people to specific exits and constantly call to people to get them to follow instructions "Exit this way, this way will be quicker" All stewards at UK sports events do a specified training course and crowd crush is very much part of that. In football grounds the sections are usually segregated so that people can't all head for the same exits.
Description: "On the 9th of March, 1946, football fans gathered at the Burnden Park stadium in Bolton, near Manchester in the UK..." Oh... oh no... it's gonna be a human crush, is it?
can't blame the guy for felling sick as people watch him play while not caring the dead bodies being removed while the game is still on going, great of him to donate to the victims.
2/1/71 Ibrox Park disaster. 66 killed. I wasn't there but saw the news on TV and remember the newspaper pics of the terrace and the array of mangled railings, which give a vivid idea of the force of the two masses of human bodies advancing on and crushing each other. I've never forgotten it, the Bradford Park Avenue, and Hillsborough Disasters, together with the Heysell Stadium disaster abroad. Going to football matches and coming out unscathed wasn't always a nailed-on cert, though thankfully, in the grand scheme of things, disasters are rare. With the huge numbers of spectators, if anything does happen, it will be many not few who will be affected.
Ibrox had steep terracing, it was an accident waiting to happen. Burnden Park was shallow at the railway end, as can be seen from the photographs. It must have been the sheer volume of people that caused the crush.
It's horrific that they carried on playing a full game of football knowing that people had died, yet I completely understand why it had to happen that way. Trying to communicate, without technology, to 85,000 people that the game was cancelled, would have ended in utter chaos and probably more fatalaties. Playing the game was actually the quickest and safest thing to do. But how sinister.
They had to keep playing the poor buggers, imagine what could have gone down had they stopped. It was the correct decision as tough as it would have been to make. Full marks to the club for keeping the memory alive as well.
Post war incidents are always so sad, especially something that's loved as much as football. It's events like this that always gets talked about, also I knew something was going to happen the minute you said railway line. Who's my man united fans here in the comments
I'm pleased you've covered this. As you said, it seems to have faded from public consciousness, possibly because of the proximity of WWII. The first I'd heard of it was in a book about the Hillsborough disaster which, had more lessons been learned from Burnden Park, may never have occurred itself.
My father had been a Japanese prisoner of war for 4 years and went to meet some army mates and go to the match but when he got to the turnstile the fear of a closed space made him turn round and go home it probably saved his life it happened several years later when he took me to a amatuer cup final replay between Enfield and Skelmersdale we had to sit on coach why the match was played didn't understand then but do now my dad was a brave man I might add
Imagine being those poor players, aware that people had been hurt and possibly killed and having to put on an entertaining match within metres of the dead and injured.
I really like to watch these videos. Not only do I love history, but it brings light to the past hoping it will never repeat itself. RIP to all who lost their lives that day.
Like the Farnborough air show disaster of 1952, when a jet disintegrated and the engine ploughed through the watching crowd, the show went on. Mass death was a recent phenomenon from war, and people carried on regardless. Seems heartless now, but the population were used to seeing the dead and dying. On a lighter note, it must have been difficult to concentrate on trains in the signal box on match days.
I used to think that it was lucky that a train hadn't passed the stadium while people were escaping onto the track, however the man in the box probably had all traffic halted.
I been thinking that a future project you may wanna consider is the Kelly Barnes Dam break, which resulted in the 1977 Toccoa Flood. It’s one of the more forgotten disasters in North Georgia history but it was serious taking the lives of 39 people. You do an amazing job with these documentary videos and I thought that topic would be done exceptionally.
As with the Le Mans disaster, carrying on was absolutely the right thing to do. It's awful to think of a football match going on whilst the dead and dying are laid right by the pitch, however.
While most fans probably believed all was well, I get the sense the players were fully aware of what was going on, and were asked to keep playing to pacify the crowd - that would be a very hard thing to do, but they knew they must.
A handful of years ago I attended a festival style Imagine Dragons performance. 80,000 people at least spread over a large field in Quebec, CAN. A sudden, extreme thunderstorm shut down the event and people were rushing to try and get their possessions out of rented lockers and also people trying to leave through one of 8 exits in the pouring rain. Everyone was in the streets trying to find a bus or a ride. Fortunately I was able to walk to my hotel. That was the one emergency mass event I've been part of.
No matter if it was just after World War II or the present day, crowd dynamics don't change. There is always risk with masses of people in a confined area. We often forget this, to our detriment.
This is because your a gay “organ lover” , your in tune with your female psych , you like ‘people’ stories as do slightly overweight women who read “people” and “hello !” magazine. There’s nothing wrong with being totally gay. Just embrace it , live your life .. wishing you all the best on your journey..
It’s so hard to curb the disgust you feel when hearing the events keep going even knowing that it’s usually the best course of action during events like these.
The beastly thing is that the people participating in the event -- strange as it seems -- are likely to be the last people to become acutely aware that any kind of disaster is happening. Footballers are focused on playing; rock bands have the lights in their faces. Even at the Station fire, the members of Great White twigged to the danger later than the crowd even though the fire was visible on stage next to them.
Bolton supporters took the blame and it was rarely spoken about by us in the years after. All respect to the Liverpool fans that stood up to the authorities and and refused to be blamed when similar happened at Sheffield.
Crowd control is not for amateurs. It's incredibly difficult and must be managed with physical barriers, not humans. If you go to a large event in modern times, pay attention to exits, stairwells, sprinklers, first aid booths, narrow corridors, movable partitions, and large and abrupt elevation changes. Make sure you know which direction you plan to move if you sense danger.
I mean, I get the decision to go ahead with the game, for fear of upsetting the crowd even more. But what about the risk to the injured spectators lying on the edge of the pitch? Imagine lying there with cracked ribs and broken bones, then the ball whacks you in the head as a result of a stray kick?
Good work on this one. The forgotten football stadium disaster. Sadly it wasn't the first or the last. For some reason when it is football supporters that are involved there a possibility of reluctance to learn the lessons. I say that as someone who felt afraid of being involved in something similar (during the 1980s) at least once.
@@Jabarri74 However I suspect fans don't exactly help themselves at times and are just as ignorant as the authorities hence the issues which are creeping back into the game as older fans die and younger fans who weren't born when the last great tragedy occurred fail to heed the warnings.
People who complain about queue lines and capacity limits and such *really* should learn about incidents like this where proper crowd control was not implemented.
I've been in a few of these situations and it's not a nice feeling. A common factor is the feeding of new people into a closed or semi closed area. There are fewer of these crushes happening and people are not used to the sensation and are more likely to panic. It's very important to send the message to the newer people entering into the 'pen' or who are pushing into the crowd to go back. It's very important not to panic and raise anyone smaller who is in distress above shoulder height. I've been in a soccer crowd where there's been a crush but a maintainable crush and those uncomfortable move to the side or push backwards to escape. I've been in a mosh pit where someone has gone down and the whole group of people make space and raise that person up on their feet. Someone on the floor trips up the others and you may end up with a pile and almost certain casualties. The most important thing is DONT PANIC!
I happened across this clip by accident. My dad’s brother, Uncle Harold had just been demobbed and attended this match with his friends. He used to mention helping to pass people over his head to the ground in front of the stand at the railway end (called the ‘embankment’ end). My dad hadn’t yet been demobbed so obviously didn’t attend the match.
Videos like this show how something so trivial like attending a football match can turn into something deadly. And history shows that it happens quite often. I'm glad I don't like attending concerts or being in large crowds. What a pointless way to die.
It seems harsh, but the decision to keep playing was probably the smartest thing they could have done. If they had cancelled the match, who knows how much worse this could have been.
My dad and grandad were at this match standing in the Manchester Road Paddock closest to the roofed Great Lever End of Burnden Park. They knew nothing about the tragedy until they arrived home. They too thought people had fainted.
Last time I was in an overcrowded venue, was the Pennsylvania Sportsman's Show at the Harrisburg Fairgrounds. They had added a huge amount more parking, and in turn, many more people allowed into the buildings. The last time I went (probably 20 years ago now) it was the tipping point where I couldn't hardly move through the crowded halls, it was so full. I left knowing that anything triggering panic, would mean certain chaos and deaths.
As soon as he said more people than expected would show up, tickets were being sold at the gate instead of in advance, and there were only a few turnstiles I knew what was going to happen
The closest I have had to one of these experiences was on board a public train in Tokyo on the day someone had taken their own life jumping onto nearby tracks. This was during rush hour in the most densely populated city in the world. I remember getting into the train car and feeling the heat coming off of everyone around me, feeling like I could smell way more than I wanted to of those around me. I thought I was going to lose my lunch, but the saving grace was just above me was an AirCon and I just pointed my head up to it and closed my eyes to try and escape the situation. Fortunately in Japan people are extremely considerate of others and being rowdy or disorderly is a taboo so there was no fear of any danger, but its the closest insight I have to anything like this.
imagine surviving the war, maybe even a close one, just to die like that; 0,04% for 85k, however those were human lives and I bet authorities knew of the imminent danger but the fear of being overwhelmed, as you said, together with inefficient safety measures made it possible to happen. even to this day, people are crushed like that under special circumstances.
Hello! I want to congratulate you on your videos, and also ask: have you ever done a video about the Guatemalan Mateo Flores stadium tragedy October 16 1996? I'd like to see your take on it. Keep up the great work!
I remember seeing the story of that disaster on the news. I was a teenager at the time. Never been a fan of crowds and things like this just reinforce that feeling.
I went to Burnden Park a couple of times towards the end and to think they tried to fit 85k people in that space is crazy!! It really wasn't that large of a stadium, but not only was it not that large there wasn't much space outside of it either it was very much wedged in in the middle of a housing estate(with the railway blocking one of the ends). Interestingly the highest official attendance for a Football match in England outside of London involved Stoke City too....85k at Maine Road(Manchester City's ground)and while I wouldn't have been crazy being part of 85k there being part of 85k at Burnden Park would have been just insane!
I'm glad to see that they are not trying to sweep this tragedy under the rug like so many corporations do today. They are embracing the past in order to honor its victims. We should do that with all of history, no matter how ugly it may be, for in that past, we find the lessons we need to improve the future.
My late father mentioned to me that he was at the match. He was in his early teens at the time. Luckily, he was in the stand opposite the railway end. He said he was aware that there was a commotion in the ground, but I imagine this was fairly common in the stands, especially when there was a large attendance. It was only later when he found out that there were fatalities, which must have been a terrible shock for him.
I was at Camp Randall Stadium in 1993 when Wisconsin beat Michigan. There was a similar crowd rush that was blocked by a steel railing. Many people were injured but it was a miracle that no one was killed.
Thanks for putting this video up..... I support the "other" famous Wanderers... I went to Burnden Park in the late '70s, last match of the season.. Bolton only needed a point for promotion to the first division (we were already Div. 2 champions).. Wolves won 1-0 so Nottingham Forest got promoted rather than Bolton.. I had no idea about the extent of the tragedy in the 1940s. Why is this tragic event not more known about?
Probably because it was 1946 so 1. People were used to death and disaster and 2. People had already became numb to it so were eager to move on like they had with the war
I remember when I first started going to Spurs @ White Heart Lane in the 1960's, the terraces were rammed and people often feinted, obviously a serious accident waiting to happen, its a wonder it didn't happen there…...
I’d love to see more football/stadium related vids, like the ibrox disasters, heysel, etc. hillsborough has been done to death, but I think more light needs to be shed on other disasters that some may not be aware of.
Can you make Kanjuruhan Stadium tragedy? it's located in malang, East Java, it happened on october 1 2022, its the most deadliest football tragedy in modern history with 174 people died
I've been watching these videos for some years now and today it was the turn of my own home town to be featured. Relatively little appeared to have been learned from this disaster and it took further crushes at Ibrox and especially Hillsborough for real action to take place. It's not even the only major loss of life here. In 1961 19 people lost their lives in the Top Storey nightclub fire in the town centre. This has been long forgotten and even though I have lived here for over 30 years had never heard of it until relatively recently. The subject of a new Facinating Horror perhaps?
I'm also a lifelong Boltonian.I'd heard of this disaster,but not of this other one you mentioned. I agree,it sounds like a candidate for the "Fascinating Horror" series.
My friend's father was at the game. Thankfully he was ok but his family didn't know if anything had happened to him, due to a lack of telephones, public telephones of course, where he was. Thanks for telling me the story of that day Malcolm.
It's a shame that lessons were not learned, & that the Government passed the buck not making safety a priority. But then, the country was in pieces, so none of them cared of the fate of some people at a football match 🤷♂️
![Felix "Unfair" | [Stray Kids : SKZ-PLAYER]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/Oswujxm2Ag0/mqdefault.jpg)
Oh mate you've just brought back memories of my Dad ! GORDON BOWMAN 🙏♥️ He was a survivor on this day ! He told me he was being crushed and couldn't breathe when out of nowhere an older man picked him up and he was passed over people's head to safety ! He died at 84 yrs 4 year's ago and I miss the old bugger massively ! Cheers for this and godbless Dad wherever you are mate ! Miss ya X
Dad's are the best! God bless yours❤
♥️
That’s so fortunate he survived!
@@danadoozer9990 cheers Dana 👍x
@@bexjones6770 Cheers Bex 👍
As a Bolton fan, thank you for this. It's often overshadowed by Hillsborough, Heysel and the Bradford Fire. I should clarify, I'm not measuring these tragedies against each other, but the Burnden Park disaster is rarely commemorated by those outside of the BWFC community.
I'm not hugely into sports but I think it's really cool that the team keeps the tragedy in their history rather than trying to forget about it.
Full marks to your club and it's fans for not forgetting and still honouring those who died 75 years later, respect.
Agreed
Respects mate, lost a good mate at our Forest Semi and I'm glad you're getting your tragedy noted here.
I think it's probably just the time that has passed compared to the other tragedies. Still should be remembered of course but that is probably why
Human crush stories are the worst. Horrifying to think of the physics, how a crowd can act as a fluid, at a certain density. I still think of the recent crush in Itaewon, Seoul, last Halloween. All preventable, with proper crowd control. Peace to the victims and their families
"A person is smart. People are dumb, panicky dangerous animals" Kay (Tommy Lee Jones, 1997)
Peace, I also think it's one of the worst ways to go. Just imagine, brrr.
@@mwethereld I appreciate that quote in the context of the MiB movie, but it doesn't apply to these crush situations, because it blames the victims. It's not right. They victim-blamed in the Hillsborough disaster, and other events. The responsibility is with event organizers, security guards, city officials... not those who asphyxiate under the pressure of hundreds of bodies. If we analyze how these things occur, it's pretty common that the people in the back have absolutely no idea of what's happening in the front. And everyone in between... is just stuck. There's *no room* to be dumb or panicky. If you've ever been in a very tight crowd situation like this, where you could lift your feet up off the ground and remain upright, you understand what I mean. These things don't happen like an animal stampede. It's generally a gradual increase of density of humans per square meter, until a critical mass is reached, and tragedy strikes
Crowd turbulence is a horrible thing
@@tabularasa So yes, they're dumb, panicky animals that were stupid enough to let themselves act like a fluid in a crowd.
Serves them right for betraying the solid state of matter.
Like just don't push and shove?
It’s amazing how many safety measures that we take for granted, had their beginnings in some form of tragedy!
The saying, "Safety procedures are written in blood", is a fact. The sad part is sometimes it's profit over people in many recent events.
@@bwalker3238 Was going to comment that exact quote. A good reminder to never scoff at safety rules. If it exists, it's because someone was hurt.
Nowadays if they took out the seats at an arena and made it standing-only, only 1/20th of the capacity would show up lol
There is a reason why it is said that Security/Safety rulebooks are written with blood.
I live just outside Boston, MA in the US. There are multiple fire regulations in place in the US due to the Cocoanut Grove Fire in 1942 that killed 492 people (still the 2nd worse is the country) and scarred many more for life. The Grove was a popular night club that was overcrowded with very combustible decorations and very few exits. The main one was a revolving door that almost immediately jammed with people trying to escape. Bodies ended up piled up inside it. One result was a new safety law that all revolving doors in the US have to have regular doors on either side of it. There's also still a city ordinance in Boston prohibiting any business being called the Coconut Grove.
As someone who was caught in a crush in the mid 1970's, there is nothing you can do! You can't move away because everyone's wedged against you and around you. You can't scream for help because everyone's screaming. You can't raise your arms to push people away because your arms are pinned in to your sides by bodies crushed against you. I had a small ice chest cooler which was literally pulled out of my grasp never to be seen again. By some miracle the crush finally eased, but I haven't been to another crowded event since.
If that happened to me, I also would never go to a crowded event again. I'm so glad that you escaped without injury (physical), but I'm sure it was traumatizing. Take care. Jean in California
I've been to Mardi Gras on the big day in New Orleans when the crowds were unmanageable. I could not help but go whichever way the crowd went. should something bad have happened, there would surely have been stampede deaths. Never again.
I think often you can't breathe in as you're squashed and often. That's what kills you.
Happened to me too at an outdoor concert on Long Island. I felt the crowd closing in and I quickly pushed my way off to the side, under a fence and out of the crush zone. I thought I was going to faint.
@@laurenurban3942 Yes! People who haven't gone thru it can't understand what it's like. You were so lucky!
Lots of these poor people were returned armed forces. Imagine surviving Anzio or
Caen, only to be killed going to a football match.
That's a good point
Good point, how fecking tragically unfair is that?
At least they died at home. Better than dying in a foreign land. Better not to have died at all, obviously, but little comforts.
@@randomlyentertaining8287 But they also died by injury from their own. Dying in war is horrible but at least it's considered relatively honourable to die while defending your own people. In this case, they were trampled by their own. In a way that almost feels worse.
@@alice45-fgd-456drt Obviously Random Entertaining never served a day in the military, except for being a Keyboard Warrior.
My disabled grandfather was at this game. News that something had gone wrong and that people had been hurt quickly passed by word of mouth in the local community and my grandmother spent several terrified hours awaiting news that he was among the casualties when he didn’t return as expected. Turns out he’d been helping tend to some of the less-severely injured people.
it's hard for ppl to comprehend the immense crushing power of a crowd. i was at Woodstock '99 as a skinny 15 year old and i have vivid memories of being completely powerless to the surging ebb and flow of the crowd. legit thought i was going to die multiple times
I got pinned against a low metal fence at the front of the 2nd stage at Ozzfest '05 in Wheatland, CA. As a big guy, 6'1 and 250 lbs, I was shocked at how helpless I was. Luckily, security was keeping a close eye on everything and handled it like pros. Ever since then, as soon as I'm in a crowd and IT starts to move ME, I get the hell out of there.
@@exactlywhatisaid Being near the stage at Altamont must have been a terribly scared-sh*tless experience that you couldn't escape from ... First of all the Hell's Angels just simply get to the stage by boring a hole in the crowd with their Choppers, then they get to be attacked by the Totally Ripped Angels armed with Pool Ques as their weapons of choice if they complain, then some of the really unlucky ones get to see the guy who pulls a gun out to shoot Mick Jagger get bludgeoned to death by the Angels with the Pool Cues. No Love and Peace here, people. No Love and No Peace.
"As it became more crowded in the stands, some people became uncomfortable and decided to leave", and that is what we call having Situational Awareness!
Uncomfortable is putting your underwear on inside out. some people became " Scared " and decided to leave",
@@richard6440 It's not always obvious fear though. Sometimes you really just feel uneasy, like you need to move but not a total full blown "I NEED TO GTFO" terrified feeling. Either way though you should listen to your gut feeling.
I thought that too!
I wish he hadn't left the door open though
The gift of fear ;)
My Family Gp was actually at this disaster! He was just telling me about it …he is 92 now but his account of everything sounds as if it happened yesterday. That’s how awful it was .
That's how good his memory is at age 92!!
@@disssmith3102 As We age, we remember more of the past, but little of yesterday!
@@disssmith3102 Unfortunately horrible things like this are burned into the memory sadly happy memories not always as much
Quit lyin
@@teaguejelinek4038 Quit spamming the same comment
I was present on the Champ de Mars during the centennial of the Eiffel Tower in 1989. There was a very large crowd present for the fireworks display, and I suddenly felt very uncomfortable. I persuaded my friend to leave, and go back to our apartment to watch the festivities on TV. Just as we got to the outside edge of the crowd, something happened. Who knows what - a fight, most likely. But the crowd surged outward like a giant wave, and we were among the lucky ones who weren't knocked to the ground. Since then, I've avoid all large crowds.
I've done lots of high risk activities and always been told follow that little voice that says something's not right. Most people are not thinking on alert at a social event. You have good instincts, keep on trusting them. I also now avoid large crowds. Often you can see more on the televised version anyway. Glad you got away safe.
Quit lyin
@@angelachouinard4581 Is that why the Dangerous Women concert turned out the way it did?
Where was the instinct?
Too bad we can't say the same of the girls that exploded at the Dangerous Women Concert. Poor things' inner voice failed them.
@@puppiesarepower3682 What event was that? I've never heard of it before. When and where was it, etc.? Thanks for explaining!
My granddad was a season ticket holder for Bolton wanders from the 30s right up until he died in 2010, he missed this match as he was working and couldn't get off and said at the time he was super pi$$ed off he had to miss it but was glad later that he had missed it!
Aye, a drab 0-0 draw, he missed nothing
A season ticket holder every year for 80 years? Yeah, right.
@@francishuddy9462 up to you to believe it or not but the club took him out on his 90th and gave him a tour of their facilities because of how long of a supportor he was!
@@centurion262 They said right in this video that there was NO pre-sale of tickets. Everyone paid at the gate. 'Splain that one, Lucy.
@@ronjones-6977I'm a Bury supporter and I don't know Lucy at all, but what I do know is Bury FC had season ticket holders then so I would assume Bolton wanderers did to. It would mean no pre sale of tickets, season tickets would still have been used.
It's horrific to think that more than two dozen people died, and a majority of the people in attendance didn't have the faintest clue that people were in mortal danger & dying around them. Somehow I'm not surprised they finished out the game though. Great video as per usual!
Spoilers
tbf under those circumstances it was probably was the safest thing to finalize the game
Well it was actually the quickest and safest thing to do. It's horrible, but it had to be done. Trying to communicate to 85,000 people, in the days before technology, that the game was cancelled and everyone was to leave, would have led to absolute chaos and misinformation. And probably way more deaths.
@@derstoffausdemderjoghurtis people were dying, they needed medical attention how is a game more important. It should’ve been ended and all taken to the hospital, instead they layer dying watching a game go on. Horrific
@@Jason-rn4jk The video explained in detail why this decision was made - it wasn't because the game was seen as more important, but that cancelling it, especially without clear mass communication, would lead to far greater chaos and likely more injuries or deaths. Continuing the game was deemed to be the least harmful option.
Excellent as always. I've a fear of crushes, with Hillsborough one of my childhood memories. The Burden Park disaster seems so overshadowed by horrific events since. It was good that Bolton recognised the disaster and a remembrance the dead in 2016.
I also have a fear of crushes, though it was because my grandpa told me about the Victoria Hall disaster when I was a little too young and I've avoided large crowds ever since D:
@@amber-zu2yb FH has covered Victoria Hall and yes, that's not a story little kids need to hear.
If only proper action had been taken after this tragedy, other more well known football crushes could have been averted. It's sad that this did not happen, and it's sad that this tragedy is largely forgotten. But credit to Bolton Wanderers do a fantastic job of remembering the victims of this tragedy
When I heard, 'but not none of it was put into law...' I just sighed and said to myself, 'good team management will do the right thing and bad team management will do the cheapest thing.'
In truth, it's unlikely that any of the future disasters would have been averted for many reasons. Mostly the British public's general attitude towards health and safety in the 50s, 60s and 70s was largely negative or, at best neutral. Health and safety, beyond the most basic of safety measures in all things, was considered annoying and over officious by most people. The best example of this was the highly negative public attitude towards using seatbelts in cars. While todays society could be criticised at times for being too litigant, before the 1980s our society probably wasn't litigant enough. Perhaps it was a combination of a hangover of world war two and the dying class system but unless compensation was offered after an accident or disaster, people would rarely seek it or press the powers that be to find anybody liable, so there was little need to provide anything more than the most basic of health and safety regulations.
Elliot, I can recount every minute of the Hillsborough disaster to this day, I moved to Canada in 2000, I was interviewed by a Canadian police officer ( Mountie ) who had studied the Hillsborough disaster as part of his university thesis, this was in the early 2000`s, I made my statement about what I experienced as part of the inquiry as a survivor. He looked at me and told me this is most factual evidence I have ever heard from anyone. I just told him , this is not something you forget. The human mind can retain so many things , but i can tell you exactly what happened that day. I know now that I have post traumatic stress syndrome. I was asked by the PC have you sought any help^, I said no, I still cry everytime anything related to Hillsborough is mentioned. It does mentally affect you in ways you dont know.
Safety measures were put in place in future stadiums and yet these same things still happened.
It’s true that if we don’t remember history, especially the tragic parts, we can be doomed to repeat them. Sadly crowd crushes can happen so quickly, it can be before people react, so it’s important to be aware so it doesn’t happen to you!
Love your vids, seen every single one. No loud music, no change in tone, no sound effects, just pure story telling. Your voice alone with images of the events is simply perfect, thank you! Keep em coming
Thank you for this,I never knew about the Burnden Park disaster!RIP
As a Bolton Wanderer myself, thank you for covering this tragedy . My Grandad was at this match and my Grandma was frantic with worry until he got home. She clearly remembers the fleets of ambulances heading towards the ground and the rumours of something terrible having happened. Most have been awful especially as my Grandad had only just got back from the war.
It is known as the forgotten tragedy in Bolton. Coming as it did just after the horrors of WW2 and happening in an unfashionable corner of Lancashire. Pity lessons weren't learned and future tragedies involving crushes at football matches prevented.
Will always be remembered by The Bolton Wanderers though.
It’s touching to know that it was common practice to “crowd surf” people to safety when they fainted. I’m left wondering why this isn’t still common practice. Still… it must have saved at least a few lives.
10+ years ago when I used to frequent rock concerts, crowd surfing happened a few time while I was in the mosh pit. Sports events are so cleaned up these days (in Sweden) but I believe they too take care of each other if need arise.
It does still happen at gigs but crowd management strategies try to reduce crush so that people don't faint and those most likely to suffer are right at the front.
To be fair, I’ve crowd surfed in a mosh pit (also decades ago lol), which is why I find it thought provoking that it still happens in controlled chaos, but this is the only time I’ve heard about it happening in actual chaos.
moving people when they're been injured can just as easily cause further harm. unless you know how or why they fainted, leaving them might be the better choice.
@@picklesxrxkewl the exact opposite of that is taught in first aid training
Large amounts of people gathered in a space too small to accommodate them seems to be part of the recipe of the majority of the worst disasters.
I worked in event security. Crowd crush is the biggest killer by far at events. But it isn't always too many people. There was another one where someone falling on the stairs on the way out caused many deaths, bottlenecks as people are trying to get out is a huge factor, other have been people trying to push in because they haven't enough entrances and they don't want to miss the start. Some sort of incident people are trying to get away from can be another one. Hillsborough was largely due to the police not understanding which gates led to where and letting people in when that stand was already crowded.
And, ultimately, it's our responsibility to, if the 'alarm bell' in our head goes off, GET OUT!!
@@nlwilson4892 Thanks for sharing that. :)
@@craigpridemore7566I 100% agree.
@@craigpridemore7566 you haven't been in a packed crowd, then. Good luck on that one. I've had it take 20 minutes to cross a (decent sized, but hardly staduim sized) room or a big deck.
During the 1937 British Coronation there were a number of crowd crushes and falls from heights along the route. Over 10,000 people were injured or became ill from all causes and two died. During the last Russian Coronation in 1896 a public distribution of gifts took place at Khodynka resulting in crowd crush which killed 1389 people and injured a large number.
There are probably linguistic barriers and censorship by the Tsar's government to deal with, but this Khodynka event you mentioned sounds like something this channel should cover, I had never heard of it.
Wow, this is my first time hearing about the Khodynka Tragedy. The number of dead is mind blowing.
Never heard of that one before, either. Here's a link to an article about it: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Khodynka_Tragedy
Holy crap, that's massive! Really should be an episode. Reading about it, I wonder if it had a greater role in history beyond the deaths, the Tsar's callous response maybe hurting his public perceptions and contributing to - even if in a minor way - the later unrest and revolutions.
@@quillmaurer6563 just another brick in the pile.
It's awful that people perhaps didn't take the disaster as seriously as it should have been and moved on so quickly. But it warms my heart that the football club keeps the memory of the people lost that day as part of their history, and regularly commemorate the anniversary of the disaster.
In 1946 much worse things were fresh in the memory.
Gosh this brings back so many ghosts for me. My grandad and my uncle (freshly returned from fighting in Burma) were supposed to go to this match but my uncle was asked to work that morning. My uncle died in an accident at work that day (he was only 23) but my grandad reckoned that they'd both have died instead if they'd gone as it happened where they normally stood. Grandad was a broken man from that day onwards.
I'm so sorry. What a horrible and darkly ironic tragedy. If your grandfather is still alive, I hope he's as okay as he can be after living through that. If not, may he rest in peace.
How full of shit people here are, that's the real horror story.
Sorry for your losses. Interesting yet tragic story you have.
My father took me to Burnden park many times to see the Wanderers when I was little but I dont remember this ever being mentioned. Thank you for the video.
After caving incidents, crushes are the second most terrifying subject on this channel for me due to severe claustrophobia. The thought about not being able to move or breathe trying to escape something is frightening.
Crowd crushes are genuinely one of my biggest fears like ever, that idea of that many people having absolutely no control over the fact that they're literally being crushed to death??
Probably the worst way to go ever
Glad you covered this. A forgotten and shameful event in the history of the sport
My father was there in 1946, a serving soldier, aged 18, in army boots and 5'11'' tall. He did not realize what had happened. It had been reported on the radio and he returned home to find his mother in a blind panic, thinking he was dead.
Another world.
We watched the Hillsborough disaster unfold on live tv in South Africa. I had left to do something when my wife came running in with tears streaming down her cheeks. She kept repeating “people are dying “ it was terrible. Reading the reports afterwards left me horrified at the media and the actions of the police. I hate close crush crowds.
Continuing the match saved lives.
There are always people in crowds like this that will not act responsibly and feel like their petty frustration should be shared with everybody.
Recent world events have demonstrated it is still true.
The riot in South America where people all tried to get out at the same time. Whenever I go to big events I always wait around after the end and don't leave right away.
Had no idea of this disaster. Only knew about Hillsborough. Thanks for shedding light on these less known events and congrats on hitting 1 million subscribers!
I had absolutely no idea about this tragic accident, it just goes to show how sometimes things just slip under the radar.
The Paisley cinema fire is another example of a tragedy that is almost unknown outside of the local community.
Crowd crush disaster happend in many place, many country. But people really don't know how dangerous it could. We learn about how to survive from building fire, earthquake, plane crash, car crash...but we don't know how to survive from crowd crush. There should be something, at lest a PSA or documentary to learn how to survive from crowd crush. It could save many lives.
Once you're in the crush there is nothing you can do. The best is to see it starting and stay back. Don't rush to be first out of a big event, avoid being front middle at music events, it there's stairs keep to the side and hold the handrail, stair or corridors with corners keep to the inside.
Those people that left that match before it happened probably remembered the history of previous crush events.
One thing I’ve heard is to keep your hands up by your chin, wrists and elbows flush together. That way even if you can’t get out of the crush, there’ll at least be a bit of extra space by your chest and stomach to be able to breathe in a little more
To add to the good advice, above, check out the exits when you enter a venue. People have a tendency in an emergency to leave via the gate that they entered. Moving to another exit may keep you away from a crush.
@@davidcox3076 This was highlighted in The Station fire, hardly anyone used the fire exits, people all headed for the main entrance as that is what they were used to using. These days stewards sports events are told to direct people to specific exits and constantly call to people to get them to follow instructions "Exit this way, this way will be quicker" All stewards at UK sports events do a specified training course and crowd crush is very much part of that. In football grounds the sections are usually segregated so that people can't all head for the same exits.
Stop, drop and roll away from the crush.
I wish all documentaries were presented this way, calm and matter of fact.
Agreed. Clearly spoken , not to fast , easily understood. Well done.
Description: "On the 9th of March, 1946, football fans gathered at the Burnden Park stadium in Bolton, near Manchester in the UK..."
Oh... oh no... it's gonna be a human crush, is it?
Yep did the same thing.
can't blame the guy for felling sick as people watch him play while not caring the dead bodies being removed while the game is still on going, great of him to donate to the victims.
Most of the people would not have known that people had died, they thought they'd simply fainted. That was explained in the video.
2/1/71 Ibrox Park disaster. 66 killed. I wasn't there but saw the news on TV and remember the newspaper pics of the terrace and the array of mangled railings, which give a vivid idea of the force of the two masses of human bodies advancing on and crushing each other. I've never forgotten it, the Bradford Park Avenue, and Hillsborough Disasters, together with the Heysell Stadium disaster abroad.
Going to football matches and coming out unscathed wasn't always a nailed-on cert, though thankfully, in the grand scheme of things, disasters are rare. With the huge numbers of spectators, if anything does happen, it will be many not few who will be affected.
Ibrox had steep terracing, it was an accident waiting to happen. Burnden Park was shallow at the railway end, as can be seen from the photographs. It must have been the sheer volume of people that caused the crush.
This really spoke to me. It happened the very day I was born apparently. Makes me feel really ill. May those who died RIP. 🇦🇺🇦🇺
It's horrific that they carried on playing a full game of football knowing that people had died, yet I completely understand why it had to happen that way. Trying to communicate, without technology, to 85,000 people that the game was cancelled, would have ended in utter chaos and probably more fatalaties. Playing the game was actually the quickest and safest thing to do. But how sinister.
Horrible to think of laying under a coat fatally injured waiting for help,but instead hearing the football match.
No loudspeaker information and not enough entrances! 😢
They had to keep playing the poor buggers, imagine what could have gone down had they stopped. It was the correct decision as tough as it would have been to make.
Full marks to the club for keeping the memory alive as well.
Post war incidents are always so sad, especially something that's loved as much as football. It's events like this that always gets talked about, also I knew something was going to happen the minute you said railway line.
Who's my man united fans here in the comments
I'm pleased you've covered this. As you said, it seems to have faded from public consciousness, possibly because of the proximity of WWII. The first I'd heard of it was in a book about the Hillsborough disaster which, had more lessons been learned from Burnden Park, may never have occurred itself.
When you see the picture of alllllll those people crowded together, you know it’s gonna be a crush… RIP
My father had been a Japanese prisoner of war for 4 years and went to meet some army mates and go to the match but when he got to the turnstile the fear of a closed space made him turn round and go home it probably saved his life it happened several years later when he took me to a amatuer cup final replay between Enfield and Skelmersdale we had to sit on coach why the match was played didn't understand then but do now my dad was a brave man I might add
Imagine being those poor players, aware that people had been hurt and possibly killed and having to put on an entertaining match within metres of the dead and injured.
I really like to watch these videos. Not only do I love history, but it brings light to the past hoping it will never repeat itself. RIP to all who lost their lives that day.
Like the Farnborough air show disaster of 1952, when a jet disintegrated and the engine ploughed through the watching crowd, the show went on. Mass death was a recent phenomenon from war, and people carried on regardless. Seems heartless now, but the population were used to seeing the dead and dying. On a lighter note, it must have been difficult to concentrate on trains in the signal box on match days.
I used to think that it was lucky that a train hadn't passed the stadium while people were escaping onto the track, however the man in the box probably had all traffic halted.
I been thinking that a future project you may wanna consider is the Kelly Barnes Dam break, which resulted in the 1977 Toccoa Flood. It’s one of the more forgotten disasters in North Georgia history but it was serious taking the lives of 39 people. You do an amazing job with these documentary videos and I thought that topic would be done exceptionally.
As with the Le Mans disaster, carrying on was absolutely the right thing to do. It's awful to think of a football match going on whilst the dead and dying are laid right by the pitch, however.
Its a bit sketchy thinking that some of those died as they received no first aid and were just covered in coats and left to well die
While most fans probably believed all was well, I get the sense the players were fully aware of what was going on, and were asked to keep playing to pacify the crowd - that would be a very hard thing to do, but they knew they must.
A handful of years ago I attended a festival style Imagine Dragons performance. 80,000 people at least spread over a large field in Quebec, CAN. A sudden, extreme thunderstorm shut down the event and people were rushing to try and get their possessions out of rented lockers and also people trying to leave through one of 8 exits in the pouring rain. Everyone was in the streets trying to find a bus or a ride. Fortunately I was able to walk to my hotel. That was the one emergency mass event I've been part of.
I can't imagine how scary that must have been for you. So glad you had a hotel room within walking distance! Jean in California
No matter if it was just after World War II or the present day, crowd dynamics don't change. There is always risk with masses of people in a confined area. We often forget this, to our detriment.
I hate football with a passion - but I love stories like this with a passion ! The human-side of the game that is so emotional and deeply meaningful.
This is because your a gay “organ lover” , your in tune with your female psych , you like ‘people’ stories as do slightly overweight women who read “people” and “hello !” magazine. There’s nothing wrong with being totally gay. Just embrace it , live your life .. wishing you all the best on your journey..
It’s so hard to curb the disgust you feel when hearing the events keep going even knowing that it’s usually the best course of action during events like these.
The beastly thing is that the people participating in the event -- strange as it seems -- are likely to be the last people to become acutely aware that any kind of disaster is happening. Footballers are focused on playing; rock bands have the lights in their faces. Even at the Station fire, the members of Great White twigged to the danger later than the crowd even though the fire was visible on stage next to them.
Bolton supporters took the blame and it was rarely spoken about by us in the years after.
All respect to the Liverpool fans that stood up to the authorities and and refused to be blamed when similar happened at Sheffield.
I watch ur videos all the time I can’t believe you did a video about Bolton! I was so surprised when I heard you say it
Crowd control is not for amateurs. It's incredibly difficult and must be managed with physical barriers, not humans. If you go to a large event in modern times, pay attention to exits, stairwells, sprinklers, first aid booths, narrow corridors, movable partitions, and large and abrupt elevation changes. Make sure you know which direction you plan to move if you sense danger.
Nah
The sheer number of crush incidents that happened in the UK make me wonder how often they occurred at the Roman Coliseum.
Deaths were part of the entertainment in the Roman Coliseum.
I mean, I get the decision to go ahead with the game, for fear of upsetting the crowd even more. But what about the risk to the injured spectators lying on the edge of the pitch? Imagine lying there with cracked ribs and broken bones, then the ball whacks you in the head as a result of a stray kick?
well done, sir. thank you for the care you took with this story
Thanks!
Good work on this one. The forgotten football stadium disaster. Sadly it wasn't the first or the last. For some reason when it is football supporters that are involved there a possibility of reluctance to learn the lessons. I say that as someone who felt afraid of being involved in something similar (during the 1980s) at least once.
Easy to demonise football fans as it used to be the common mans game
@@Jabarri74 However I suspect fans don't exactly help themselves at times and are just as ignorant as the authorities hence the issues which are creeping back into the game as older fans die and younger fans who weren't born when the last great tragedy occurred fail to heed the warnings.
Thanks for highlighting this.
Finally,another viideo
And disaster i never heard about earlier
Thank you
I was in the UK in 1985, when the Bradford City stadium fire killed so many people. The BBC ran so much terrifying footage - I've never forgotten it.
People who complain about queue lines and capacity limits and such *really* should learn about incidents like this where proper crowd control was not implemented.
I've been in a few of these situations and it's not a nice feeling. A common factor is the feeding of new people into a closed or semi closed area. There are fewer of these crushes happening and people are not used to the sensation and are more likely to panic. It's very important to send the message to the newer people entering into the 'pen' or who are pushing into the crowd to go back. It's very important not to panic and raise anyone smaller who is in distress above shoulder height. I've been in a soccer crowd where there's been a crush but a maintainable crush and those uncomfortable move to the side or push backwards to escape. I've been in a mosh pit where someone has gone down and the whole group of people make space and raise that person up on their feet. Someone on the floor trips up the others and you may end up with a pile and almost certain casualties. The most important thing is DONT PANIC!
I happened across this clip by accident.
My dad’s brother, Uncle Harold had just been demobbed and attended this match with his friends. He used to mention helping to pass people over his head to the ground in front of the stand at the railway end (called the ‘embankment’ end).
My dad hadn’t yet been demobbed so obviously didn’t attend the match.
Videos like this show how something so trivial like attending a football match can turn into something deadly. And history shows that it happens quite often. I'm glad I don't like attending concerts or being in large crowds. What a pointless way to die.
I've been refreshing the RUclips home page all morning waiting for this to upload.
Get a life.
@@thefonzkiss Can’t be bothered.
It seems harsh, but the decision to keep playing was probably the smartest thing they could have done. If they had cancelled the match, who knows how much worse this could have been.
There is also the Bradford city fire at Valley parade if you haven't looked at it yet.
My dad and grandad were at this match standing in the Manchester Road Paddock closest to the roofed Great Lever End of Burnden Park. They knew nothing about the tragedy until they arrived home. They too thought people had fainted.
The Itaewon Halloween crush in Korea was very bad with over 150 people dying. I'm glad I wasn't there that night.
Last time I was in an overcrowded venue, was the Pennsylvania Sportsman's Show at the Harrisburg Fairgrounds. They had added a huge amount more parking, and in turn, many more people allowed into the buildings. The last time I went (probably 20 years ago now) it was the tipping point where I couldn't hardly move through the crowded halls, it was so full. I left knowing that anything triggering panic, would mean certain chaos and deaths.
As soon as he said more people than expected would show up, tickets were being sold at the gate instead of in advance, and there were only a few turnstiles I knew what was going to happen
The closest I have had to one of these experiences was on board a public train in Tokyo on the day someone had taken their own life jumping onto nearby tracks.
This was during rush hour in the most densely populated city in the world. I remember getting into the train car and feeling the heat coming off of everyone around me, feeling like I could smell way more than I wanted to of those around me. I thought I was going to lose my lunch, but the saving grace was just above me was an AirCon and I just pointed my head up to it and closed my eyes to try and escape the situation.
Fortunately in Japan people are extremely considerate of others and being rowdy or disorderly is a taboo so there was no fear of any danger, but its the closest insight I have to anything like this.
Imagine surviving WWII just to be crushed to death at a poxy Football match
This is by far the closest disaster to me I've ever heard of, and I'd never heard of it before today. Huh.
I even went to Burnden Park to watch Grimsby play there and I didn't know of it either, so you aren't alone :)
imagine surviving the war, maybe even a close one, just to die like that; 0,04% for 85k, however those were human lives and I bet authorities knew of the imminent danger but the fear of being overwhelmed, as you said, together with inefficient safety measures made it possible to happen. even to this day, people are crushed like that under special circumstances.
Those who ignore history are destined to repeat it. Thanks for the constant reminders about safety and rules.
Hello! I want to congratulate you on your videos, and also ask: have you ever done a video about the Guatemalan Mateo Flores stadium tragedy October 16 1996? I'd like to see your take on it. Keep up the great work!
I remember seeing the story of that disaster on the news. I was a teenager at the time. Never been a fan of crowds and things like this just reinforce that feeling.
He has an email posted in the description. Try sending him an email to request this one. He was courteous enough to respond to my suggestions. :)
I went to Burnden Park a couple of times towards the end and to think they tried to fit 85k people in that space is crazy!! It really wasn't that large of a stadium, but not only was it not that large there wasn't much space outside of it either it was very much wedged in in the middle of a housing estate(with the railway blocking one of the ends). Interestingly the highest official attendance for a Football match in England outside of London involved Stoke City too....85k at Maine Road(Manchester City's ground)and while I wouldn't have been crazy being part of 85k there being part of 85k at Burnden Park would have been just insane!
I know it's recent but can you talk about the crowd crush that happen in Seoul ,South Korea at Halloween
I'm glad to see that they are not trying to sweep this tragedy under the rug like so many corporations do today. They are embracing the past in order to honor its victims. We should do that with all of history, no matter how ugly it may be, for in that past, we find the lessons we need to improve the future.
St John Ambulance volunteers did more than expected of them that day and at Hillsborough. Respect to them.
I remember seeing one such incident on the news in the late 80's or early 90's, where people were pressed up against a fence and had no way out.
That may have been Hillsborough. There are some videos and footage online.
The Who concert? I think in Cincinnati 80a
I’ve noticed that “Well I never” is the arsenic channel, and “Fascinating horror” is the football stampede channel.
My late father mentioned to me that he was at the match. He was in his early teens at the time. Luckily, he was in the stand opposite the railway end. He said he was aware that there was a commotion in the ground, but I imagine this was fairly common in the stands, especially when there was a large attendance. It was only later when he found out that there were fatalities, which must have been a terrible shock for him.
I read Stanley Matthews memories of the disaster in his book 'Feet First Again'
I was at Camp Randall Stadium in 1993 when Wisconsin beat Michigan. There was a similar crowd rush that was blocked by a steel railing. Many people were injured but it was a miracle that no one was killed.
Your writing is always excellent!
Thanks for putting this video up..... I support the "other" famous Wanderers... I went to Burnden Park in the late '70s, last match of the season.. Bolton only needed a point for promotion to the first division (we were already Div. 2 champions).. Wolves won 1-0 so Nottingham Forest got promoted rather than Bolton.. I had no idea about the extent of the tragedy in the 1940s. Why is this tragic event not more known about?
Probably because it was 1946 so 1. People were used to death and disaster and 2. People had already became numb to it so were eager to move on like they had with the war
I remember when I first started going to Spurs @ White Heart Lane in the 1960's, the terraces were rammed and people often feinted, obviously a serious accident waiting to happen, its a wonder it didn't happen there…...
I’d love to see more football/stadium related vids, like the ibrox disasters, heysel, etc. hillsborough has been done to death, but I think more light needs to be shed on other disasters that some may not be aware of.
There was a concert where high winds blew the stage over and killed several people
Can you make Kanjuruhan Stadium tragedy? it's located in malang, East Java, it happened on october 1 2022, its the most deadliest football tragedy in modern history with 174 people died
Great vid FH, condolences to the families of those who lost their lives that day.
Human crushes are the scariest things ever. I can not imagine the terror.
Right up there with being trapped in a raging fire!
I've been watching these videos for some years now and today it was the turn of my own home town to be featured. Relatively little appeared to have been learned from this disaster and it took further crushes at Ibrox and especially Hillsborough for real action to take place.
It's not even the only major loss of life here. In 1961 19 people lost their lives in the Top Storey nightclub fire in the town centre. This has been long forgotten and even though I have lived here for over 30 years had never heard of it until relatively recently.
The subject of a new Facinating Horror perhaps?
I'm also a lifelong Boltonian.I'd heard of this disaster,but not of this other one you mentioned.
I agree,it sounds like a candidate for the "Fascinating Horror" series.
I was born in 958 have followed football all my adult life yet I've never heard of this. Thanks.
What’s the secret to living over 1000 years?
Congratulations on your extended lifespan!
My friend's father was at the game. Thankfully he was ok but his family didn't know if anything had happened to him, due to a lack of telephones, public telephones of course, where he was. Thanks for telling me the story of that day Malcolm.
It's a shame that lessons were not learned, & that the Government passed the buck not making safety a priority. But then, the country was in pieces, so none of them cared of the fate of some people at a football match 🤷♂️
Crowd crushes have happened too many times all over the world. Surely there must be some procedures that could mitigate or eliminate the problem.
Yes, don't literally cram people in...