At 8.45pm, 15 minutes before the scheduled kick-off time in the 2022 Champions League final, a message flashed up on the big screens in Stade de France. The match would be delayed for a period of time due to supporters “arriving late”. This was Uefa’s first official line on the grande farce de Paris. It did not reflect the reality of what we saw outside the stadium.
Six minutes later, that message was changed: fans arriving late became “the an security issue” – the incorrect grammar a symptom of the haphazard nature of the security, no doubt – and vague enough to cover pretty much everything. But it was far better phrasing given what we knew and didn’t know. Six minutes later again, now 8.57pm, the original wording returned to the screen. A lie was set in motion.
This was not just one LED screen; it was a message to the world. Every supporter in the stadium read it. The written media all read it. Broadcasters read it. Every corporate sponsor and every Uefa delegate read it. A lie was delivered to those who could not disprove it and, in the modern age, that meant many millions in a few minutes. On social media, blame spread like a disease because football tribalism rules over decency.
Outside the Stade de France’s stands, while they were quickly being smeared by those responsible for their safety, Liverpool supporters were trying to avert a disaster.
The report of the independent panel commisioned by Uefa to investigate the chaos intimates what, again, we already knew: fans’ efforts in staying relatively calm, looking after others, and documenting the issues outside the stadium, probably saved lives.
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‘A clear foul’: Ten Hag says referee ‘mistake’ will impact Man Utd’s return leg with Barcelona16 February, 2023There are two strands to the scandal that should force systemic change within Uefa. The first is the guilt to be apportioned for the total mismanagement of the biggest match in European football’s calendar. The report concluded that Uefa was only ever involved ineffectually, failed to take responsibility and, when it did so, it failed to use the appropriate staff. “The panel has not been able to identify any effective action taken by the safety and security unit” – that alone is unforgivable on such a high-profile occasion.
That blame extends to the French police, who prepared themselves for a culture of hooliganism that was never likely and a ticketless army of supporters that never existed. We can be generous towards the police and say that they panicked or we can be cynical and say that they were unduly primed to be heavy-handed; neither is palatable. But the report concluded that it was “remarkable that nobody lost their life” in “dangerous conditions” that were exacerbated by the police’s liberal use of teargas and pepper spray towards supporters who had done nothing wrong beyond their apparently foolish assumption that they would be protected.
But more than the culpability of those organisational bodies, it is the manner in which they colluded to smear innocent supporters that is most indefensible. Claims from Uefa and French police that there were large numbers of ticketless fans were baseless, but “stated as fact to deflect responsibility for the planning and operational failures of stakeholders”.
The report labelled it “reprehensible” behaviour and that was being delicate. The fear of those supporters – the grotesque reminders of times past – was used as a weapon against them by the governing body of their own sport. This is as grim as it gets.
The historical context to this is so evident that it slaps you in the face. More than three decades ago, authorities blamed Liverpool fans in the aftermath of a stadium disaster to preserve their own reputations, playing on the negative stereotypes of football supporters to fabricate a myth that would remain in the public consciousness until finally being disproved, and even now is used as a tool in beyond-the-pale tribalism.
The first tragedy of Hillsborough was the unspeakably awful loss of life. Its second tragedy was the inability of a city, community and club to process their grief because of the storm that engulfed them following the miserable collusion by authorities. The success of the lies was based upon a simple premise: we trust authority to protect us. That premise was flawed.
And now, in 2022 as in 1989, Liverpool supporters were besmirched again. Not only were the same practices used: immediate propaganda, the use of ingrained (and inaccurate) negative stereotypes, collusion, and a rapid pivot into self-preservation mode. We are even told that one of the pre-event reports made reference to Hillsborough as reason for a stronger police presence. Are these people sick or thick?
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Uefa 'sincerely' apologises to Liverpool and Real Madrid fans over Champions League final03 June, 2022Mercifully, this time Liverpool – its club and community – are not being forced to cope with tragedy. That allows for righteous anger to rush into the spaces where grief crammed before. Liverpool FC have received an apology from Uefa, but that apology is not enough. A dereliction of duty was followed by a deliberate, wicked attempt to cover it up and in doing so defame the comparatively powerless. Make no mistake: this is one of the most significant sporting scandals of its time.
I don’t know when leaders stopped taking responsibility. Perhaps it is a result of living in the post-truth age, where scientific fact can be beaten by any opinion just so long as it is strong enough, a world where action has no consequence if you have enough power and influence. But the buck stops at the top. Aleksander Ceferin is Uefa’s president and this happened at the biggest night of his year. He may not have been personally involved, but the collusion was organised on his watch. Ceferin’s position is now untenable; he must resign.
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