In January 1990, the Rt Hon. Lord Justice Taylor concluded his investigation and authored the comprehensive final report known as the Taylor Report, which provided recommendations for improving stadium safety in sports venues.
His inquiry followed the Hillsborough stadium disaster, which claimed 97 lives and caused over 700 injuries. The Taylor Report deals with many subjects.
Investigating the root cause of the disaster, strategies for prevention in future scenarios, and debunking false claims that hooligans were responsible – all crucial aspects that shed light on the truth behind this catastrophe.
The Taylor report has had an immense effect on football and other sports over the last twenty years. The big effect is that all major sports grounds, including the Premier League, must be all-seater stadiums. This means that the old-fashioned football terraces had to be abolished by 1994.
One reason for this was so that a game could never oversell again. Each fan had a bit of room to move.
Taking such actions would also cut down on hooligans, who, as a rule, were in the terraces since they were the cheapest area in the stadium.
It is clear that hooliganism has died down, long since the 1980s. This could be linked to the decline of standing areas.
There are few or no acts of hooliganism in modern domestic football, with the exception of major rival games, such as West Ham v Millwall in 2009.
Other notable areas that have bloomed since the 1990s include major sponsorship of football, although this could be more due to the formation of the EPL. Football has also become more corporate, and most stadiums now offer directors’ boxes.
Reasons for this could again be linked to the decline of hooliganism, as football has recently had extraordinarily little negativity, making it favourable for advertising.
Hillsborough disaster crushed fans against the fence during the FA Cup semi-final between Liverpool and Nottingham Forest.
For example, a company that sponsors a stadium such as Fly Emirates (Arsenal’s Emirates stadium) would rather have its name mentioned in a headline such as “Arsenal win in flying style at the Emirates” as opposed to one such as “Fight breaks out at the Emirates.”
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