By: HISTORY.com Editors

1985

Fire kills 50 at soccer stadium

Published: November 13, 2009Last Updated: May 27, 2025

Fifty-six people die in a fire in the grandstand at a soccer stadium in Bradford, England, on May 11, 1985. The wooden roof that burned was scheduled to be replaced by a steel roof later that same week.

Bradford was playing Lincoln City on the afternoon of May 11. Many fans were there to celebrate Bradford’s two-year rise from bankruptcy to the league championship and promotion to the second division. Near the end of the first half, a fire broke out at one end of the main stands. Although several fans moved onto the field to escape the flames, there was no immediate general concern.

Within minutes, though, the fire spread up the wooden roof and quickly engulfed the fans underneath. It took only four minutes for the entire roof to burn. Hundreds of people were injured in addition to the 56 who were killed. "It spread like a flash. I’ve never seen anything like it. The smoke was choking. You could hardly breathe," said survivor Geoffrey Mitchell.

Still, many in the crowd did not realize the enormity of the disaster. Some young fans reportedly danced and sang in front of the raging fire while others threw stones at a television crew.

The official inquiry into the cause of the fire blamed an accumulation of garbage beneath the stands. Most likely, the fire was sparked by a cigarette. It quickly lit the old and dilapidated structure that the formerly struggling team had just found the money to replace.

Timeline

Also on This Day in History

Discover more of the major events, famous births, notable deaths and everything else history-making that happened on May 11th

1812

British prime minister Spencer Perceval assassinated

In London, Spencer Perceval, prime minister of Britain since 1809, is shot to death by deranged businessman John Bellingham in the lobby of the House of Commons. Bellingham, who was inflamed by his failure to obtain government compensation for war debts incurred in Russia, gave himself up immediately. Spencer Perceval had a profitable law practice […]

1858

Minnesota enters the Union

Minnesota enters the Union as the 32nd state on May 11, 1858. Known as the “Land of 10,000 Lakes,” Minnesota is the northern terminus of the Mississippi River’s traffic and the westernmost point of the inland waterway that extends through the Great Lakes and the St. Lawrence Seaway to the Atlantic Ocean. The Ojibwe and […]

0:54m read

1864

Confederate Cavalry General J.E.B. Stuart is mortally wounded

A dismounted Union trooper fatally wounds J.E.B. Stuart, one of the most well-known generals of the South, at the Battle of Yellow Tavern, just six miles north of Richmond, Virginia. The 31-year-old Stuart died the next day. During the 1864 spring campaign in Virginia, Union General Ulysses S. Grant applied constant pressure on Robert E. […]

1934

Dust storm sweeps from Great Plains across Eastern states

During the Great Depression, a massive storm sends millions of tons of topsoil flying from across the parched Great Plains region of the United States as far east as New York, Boston and Atlanta.

2:22m read

1947

B.F. Goodrich Co. announces development of tubeless tire

On May 11, 1947, the B.F. Goodrich Company of Akron, Ohio, announces it has developed a tubeless tire, a technological innovation that would make automobiles safer and more efficient. The culmination of more than three years of engineering, Goodrich’s tubeless tire effectively eliminated the inner tube, trapping the pressurized air within the tire walls themselves. […]

1:40m read

1949

Evidence found against French serial killer known as “The Queen of Poisoners”

The body of Leon Besnard is exhumed in Loudun, France, by authorities searching for evidence of poison. For years, local residents had been suspicious of his wife Marie, as they watched nearly her entire family die untimely and mysterious deaths. Law enforcement officials finally began investigating Marie after the death of her mother earlier in […]

2:08m read

1960

High-ranking Nazi official Adolf Eichmann captured

On May 11, 1960, Adolf Eichmann, the Nazi SS officer who organized Adolf Hitler’s “final solution of the Jewish question,” is captured in Argentina. On May 23, Israeli Prime Minister David Ben-Gurion announces to the world that he will stand trial in Israel. Eichmann was born in Solingen, Germany, in 1906. In November 1932, he […]

3:20m read

1961

President Kennedy orders more troops to South Vietnam

President John F. Kennedy approves sending 400 Special Forces troops and 100 other U.S. military advisers to South Vietnam. On the same day, he orders the start of clandestine warfare against North Vietnam to be conducted by South Vietnamese agents under the direction and training of the CIA and U.S. Special Forces troops. Kennedy’s orders […]

1969

Bloody 10-day battle at “Hamburger Hill” begins

On May 11, 1969, Hamburger Hill becomes the scene of an intense and controversial battle during the Vietnam War. Known to military planners as Hill 937 (a reference to its height in meters), the solitary peak is located in the dense jungles of the A Shau Valley of Vietnam, about a mile from the border […]

4:00m read

1972

Labor organizer and civil rights activist Cesar Chavez begins hunger strike

On May 11, 1972, Mexican American labor organizer and civil rights activist Cesar Chavez begins a hunger strike. The strike, which he undertook in opposition to an Arizona law severely restricting farm workers’ ability to organize, lasted 24 days and drew national attention to the suffering of itinerant farm workers in the Southwest. A fervent […]

1:40m read

1981

Reggae star Bob Marley dies at 36

On May 11, 1981, Bob Marley, the soul and international face of reggae music, died in a Miami, Florida, hospital. He was 36 years old. In what would prove to be the next to the last concert of his tragically short life, Bob Marley shared the bill at Madison Square Garden with the hugely popular […]

2:40m read

1987

“Butcher of Lyon,” former Nazi Gestapo chief, charged with war crimes

Klaus Barbie, the former Nazi Gestapo chief of German-occupied Lyon, France, goes on trial in Lyon more than four decades after the end of World War II. He was charged with 177 crimes against humanity. As chief of Nazi Germany’s secret police in Lyon, Barbie sent 7,500 French Jews and French Resistance partisans to concentration […]

3:20m read

1997

Deep Blue defeats Garry Kasparov in chess match

On May 11, 1997, chess grandmaster Garry Kasparov resigns after 19 moves in a game against Deep Blue, a chess-playing computer developed by scientists at IBM. This was the sixth and final game of their match, which Kasparov lost two games to one, with three draws. Kasparov, a chess prodigy from Azerbaijan, was a skillful […]

2:10m read

Sports

31 videos

Sports

Who Invented Basketball?

A Canadian is to thank for one of America’s favorite pastimes.

Sports

What Was the 1919 ‘Black Sox’ Baseball Scandal?

In 1919, Chicago White Sox players allegedly threw the World Series. It remains one of professional baseball’s most notorious scandals.

Sports

When the College Football Stars Played NFL Champs

During the mid-20th century, standout college players and Super Bowl champions faced off in a charity game series.

About the author

HISTORY.com Editors

HISTORY.com works with a wide range of writers and editors to create accurate and informative content. All articles are regularly reviewed and updated by the HISTORY.com team. Articles with the “HISTORY.com Editors” byline have been written or edited by the HISTORY.com editors, including Amanda Onion, Christian Zapata, Cristiana Lombardo and Adrienne Donica.

Fact Check

We strive for accuracy and fairness. But if you see something that doesn't look right, click here to contact us! HISTORY reviews and updates its content regularly to ensure it is complete and accurate.

Citation Information

Article Title: Fire kills 50 at soccer stadium
Author: HISTORY.com Editors
Website Name: History
URL: https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/may-11/fire-kills-50-at-soccer-stadium

Date Accessed: October 21, 2026
Publisher: A&E Television Networks
Last Updated: May 27, 2025
Original Published Date: November 13, 2009

Fire kills 50 at soccer stadium

Related

Sports

Who Invented Basketball?

What Was the 1919 ‘Black Sox’ Baseball Scandal?

When the College Football Stars Played NFL Champs

About the author

Fact Check

Citation Information