Bradford fire

By Armchair vultureYesterday 17:08Yesterday at 17:08:06

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40 years since the Bradford fire when 56 people lost their lives .
Documentary on BBC2 tonight.
This had a massive impact on football clubs across the country including non league. 25 non league grounds were designated under the Safety of Sports grounds Act as holding more than 10’000 people. The result was that many unsafe grounds had their stands condemned as was the case with Manor Park which had the main stand condemned along with the canal side roof and the lower cock and bear end. Boro could not afford the substantial repairs needed and the slow rebuilding of the main stand contributed to the economic problems which resulted in the closures and the club facing
a winding up order in the early 90s.
Much of the wolves ground was also closed down. It’s a sad fact that it took a couple of major tragedies to influence change when many grounds especially lower and non league were semi derelict death traps.
Grounds like Manor park were once deemed acceptable but how wrong they were. The main stand at MP built in the 1920’s was of steel and timber construction with rubbish beneath the floor and it could well have suffered the same fate as Bradford bit on a smaller scale - most of us who once sat in it will remember rust falling on us when a ball hit the roof.
Again let’s remember those that perished at Bradford and Hillsborough and thank god ancient, derelict and death trap football grounds are a thing of the past.

Edited by Armchair vulture at 17:09:46 on 11th May 2025
Edited by Armchair vulture at 17:11:10 on 11th May 2025

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