5 events that rocked the sporting world
Sports – a word when heard, fills everyone’s mind with immense pleasure at the thought of watching a game full of passion. Some think of a pulsating encounter between a bat and a ball, some think about the battle between a ball and a goal-post, some think about athletics while some think about cycling down the hill or swimming an entire stretch of fierce currents. All in all, different people think about different things when quizzed about Sports. But the history of Sports has been always tainted with events that have no relation with those imaginations and occurrences people usually associate with it.
Here’s a list of disastrous events that occurred:-
5] Hillsborough Diaster, 1989
It is a disaster which didn’t occur at someone’s will. It was a major accident which caused loss of life due to fans getting crushed in the stands.
What happened ?
The FA Cup semi-final between Liverpool and Nottingham Forest was played at a neutral venue. Thousands of supporters of Liverpool were provided with lesser number of seats. There was only one entrance and the influx caused a human crush, resulting in many dead.
Why this happened ?
In 2012, a report stated that the inability of police forces led to the mishap and not because of any Liverpool supporters.
Aftermath
As many as 96 died with 700 injured. This incident is still remembered by Liverpool and various other teams.
4] Heysel Stadium Disaster, 1985
Football fans started a brawl in Belgium’s stadium before the start of the European Cup Final between Liverpool of England and Juventus of Italy.
What happened ?
On 29th May, before the start of the match some Liverpool fans breached the fence between the supporters’ neutral area. They attacked Juventus fans who started stacking up against the wall, and as a result the people near the wall were crushed to death. The wall eventually collapsed, which resulted in more casualties. In all, 39 Juventus fans died with more than 600 supporters injured.
Why this happened ?
Liverpool had reached 1984’s European Cup Final where their fans were assaulted by fans of Roma, a team from Italy. I guess revenge was in fans’ mind.
Aftermath
The match still continued with Juventus defeating Liverpool by the scoreline 1-0. All the English teams were banned from this competition till 1991 with Liverpool facing 1 more year of ban. This was regarded as the darkest hour in the history of UEFA.
3] Togo National Football Team attacked, 2010
The Togo Football team, which was taking part in the African Cup of Nations, was attacked by a group called Front for the Liberation of Enclave of Cabinda (FLEC).
What happened ?
On 8 January, 2010 Togo national team’s bus was attacked by FLEC once they entered into the province of Cabinda from Republic of Congo. The bus came under the wrath of machine guns of 15 members of the FLEC. The attack lasted for 30 minutes as initially the bus driver was killed, leaving no escape for the members. The players took refuge under the seats. Many players were badly injured. List of wounded players include Serge Akakpo, Kodjovi Obilale, seven other members and a journalist. Emmanuel Adebayor, famous EPL player, was also on the same bus but wasn’t hurt. He later described the event as the worst of his life as he carried his screaming teammates to the hospital. 2 others were dead including the assistant coach of the team, Amelete Abalo .
Why this happened ?
It is believed that FLEC wanted to create a statement by this attack in their process of liberalizing Cabinda.
Aftermath
Many countries like Mozambique started demanding higher security. Togo boycotted the tournament and also persuaded others to do so. But the tournament continued without Togo.
2] Sri Lankan Cricket team attacked in Pakistan, 2009
Sri Lankan Cricket team was attacked by a group of terrorists closely linked to Al-Qaeda.
What happened ?
Sri Lanka was called upon to fill in the void created by Indian Cricket team after they backed out on the idea of visiting Pakistan after 26th Nov attack. On March 3 the Sri Lankan team was on their way to Gaddafi Stadium to play the 3rd day of second test match between the two countries. It is believed that 12 gunmen were hiding near the stadium from where the bus was to pass. As soon as the bus reached the target, the gunmen opened fire. All the members took refuge under their seats. In reply, the Pakistan police also opened fire. The attack was prevalent for 20 minutes.
During this process, a minivan consisting of all the match officials like Chris Broad, Simon Taufel and others was also attacked. In the attack, the gunmen also shot a rocket at the bus, but luckily it missed the target. Many Sri Lankan team players were injured in the attack. Big names include Kumar Sangakkara, Thilan Samaraweera, Mahela Jayawardena, Ajantha Mendis, Chaminda Vaas and 2 others.
After the attack, the team members received treatment. The team members were taken inside the stadium and from there, were air-lifted by a chopper landing on the ground. The attack was condemned world-wide.
Why this happened ?
The attack was meant to be a replica of the 26th November attack on Mumbai. Some also cite the reason as this terrorist group considered cricket a game that went against their religion.
Aftermath
No team has visited Pakistan from that event onwards. Pakistan play their own home-series’ in other countries.
1] Munich Massacre, 1972
Olympics, an event which had always enjoyed a rich history of being associated with bringing whole world to one place and competing against the best. But the Munich Olympics of 1972 was the first-ever Olympic event which was suspended due to the aftermath of events that occurred there.
What Happened ?
A group of Palestinian nationals calling themselves “Black September” had taken 11 Israeli members of the Olympic Team as hostages, eventually killing all of them including a West Germany Police Officer.
On the night of September 4, the Israeli athletes returned to the Olympic Village after enjoying a play performed by their own countrymen actor. By midnight when all the athletes were asleep, 8 members of the Black September in track-suits and lot of ammunition crossed a small fence and entered into the apartments of Israeli athletes with the help of stolen keys. Now, the security at 1972 Olympics Village was at an all-time low since the games were described as “Carefree Games” without high-security.
Once entered, they started the rampage on the athletes as most were shocked in their sleep and many didn’t get any chance to retaliate as everything happened under their noses. Israeli wrestling coach, Moshe Weinberg, did put up a fight against the intruders but they shot him in the cheek and forced him to let the terrorists into others apartments. Instead, Moshe lied to them and took them into others apartments, thus helping many to run away from death.
But still Black September in the end had 9 hostages. Their demand was to flee away from Germany through an airstrip. At that airstrip, German police forces had deployed their untrained snipers which unfortunately lead to the killings of all the hostages and 5 of the members of Black September with 3 being caught. In this process, one West German police officer also laid down his life.
Why this happened ?
The Palestine group wanted hundreds of prisoners of their own nationality in the Israeli prisons to be released. This was their sole aim. In the whole attack, only the Israeli members were hurt.
Aftermath
Many countries started backing out in-between the events. Afraid about attacks on Jewish athletes, many of them were sent back to their home-countries. The games still were played amidst all the fracas, citing the reason “to not let the terrorists win”.
Others beyond the list:-
Munich Air Disaster, 1958
It occurred on 6th February when Manchester United’s Football Team was returning back to home. It occurred because of an airplane take-off failure. 12 of Utd’s players and staff were dead, leaving back a team to be rebuilt again. Several journalists and passengers also died in the crash.
Battle of Bombonera, 1971
In this match of Football highest number of red cards were flashed. Match between Boca Juniors and Sporting Cristal in South America resulted in 19 red cards after a fight started between the players in the closing stages. This incident is purely due to the lack of sportsmanship among players.
Bane attack, 2012
After some grueling stories read this lighter version.
Bane of Dark Knight Rises wipes out entire teams of American football in Gotham. With only a player surviving from Gotham Rogues. Truly Deadly!