The serious excesses that marked the final of the Real Madrid-Liverpool Champions League (1-0), on May 28 at the Stade de France, are still in the minds of Reds supporters. Four months later, The Team explains this Thursday that two English supporters, who were present that evening in Saint-Denis, committed suicide. They had also lived the Hillsborough drama (the old Sheffield stadium), which resulted in the death of 97 Liverpool fans, crushed in April 1989 before a Cup semi-final against Nottingham Forrest.
“I cannot give too many details about these suicides, because investigations are ongoing, except that one took place about a week after the Saint-Denis final and the other last week, explains Peter Scarfe, chairman of Hillsborough Survivors Support Alliance (HSSA), a Hillsborough victim support organization. The victims were around 52 and 63 years old and there is no doubt that, if they committed this irreparable act, it was because the last Champions League final reactivated in them the trauma of 1989, which they thought have exceeded. »
Another Hillsborough victim took his own life in April
Namely huge crowd movements and supporters compressed around a stadium, in addition to blocked turnstiles preventing entry into the enclosure. “Among the many points in common with the events of Hillsborough, there are also above all false accusations then, continues Peter Scarfe. Since the French government, like the English police had done, spontaneously accused Liverpool fans of being responsible for these excesses. »
The HSSA association specifies to The Team that it finances the therapies of 11 supporters who witnessed the drama at Hillsborough and the incidents at the Stade de France suffering from psychological distress. A third victim from Hillsborough took his own life in April 2022, just before the anniversary date of this tragedy.