Today marks the 22nd anniversary of the Heysel disaster where 39 Juventus fans were killed when trouble broke out prior to the Italian side's meeting with Liverpool in the 1985 European Cup final.
With Athens still fresh in the memory, perhaps now is a good time to reflect on what did happen on May 29, 1985 and on what so could easily have happened on May 23, 2007.
As I've already said on this blog, comparisons between Athens and Hillsborough are totally erroneous.
There was no hooliganism at Hillsborough and what happened there was a direct result of a breakdown in police control and a stadium which was so outdated it didn't even have a safety certificate.

But there are comparisons between Heysel and Athens which are pretty much inescapable.
In both case there was a stadium unfit for the occasion. In both cases UEFA were totally indifferent to the needs of fans. In both cases organisation was at best shambolic. And in both cases the police were unable to deal with the situation facing them.
But there is another determinent which applies to both incidents - if the behaviour of the Liverpool fans had been exemplary on both occasions, many of the ensuing problems would not have occurred.
If you're looking for causes and reasons then this cannot be conveniently dismissed because it does not suit a particular argument or a certain image.
Of course there were reasons why certain Liverpool fans behaved the way they did at both Heysel and Athens but they by no means excuse what they did.
Charging opposition fans at Heysel was never going to result in anything but serious disorder at Heysel and the fact that 39 people were killed when a wall collapsed under the weight of those fleeing turned it into an unforgivable act of hooliganism.
You can dress it up whatever way you like. You can argue that what happened in the stadium in the minutes leading up to the charge set the tone. You can claim, albeit with some legitimacy, that events in Rome 12 months earlier made Heysel almost inevitable.
You can point the finger at Belgian police and UEFA, both of whom failed in their duty spectacularly.
But when it comes down to it, had there been no charge it would have been highly unlikely that anyone would have died that night.
It is an uncomfortable truth but it is the truth.
Similarly, had no-one arrived at the Olympic Stadium in Athens last week hell bent on getting into the ground by whatever means it is unlikely we would have witnessed the scenes that we did.
If you are prepared to risk the safety of others by charging fences then you are a big part of the problem.
I actually have some sympathy for those who bunked in because their sheer desperation to see their team in a major final had not been satisfied by a scandalously low ticket allocation from UEFA.
But, again, the fact remains that by doing do they put the safety of other fans at risk and that, I'm afraid, is far too high a price to pay.
Thankfully, no-one was seriously injured in Athens but everyone who was there knows this was down to luck, not judgement.
Yes, UEFA and the police both let down those of us who went to Athens with tickets just to see the game.
But so did some of our fellow fans who put all of us in jeopardy.
It is these similarities which make Athens an uncomfortable reminder of what happened at Heysel 22 years ago and this should not be forgotten.

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