Crowd Management: Learning from History
| DOI | 10.1177/0032258X9206500203 |
| Date | 01 April 1992 |
| Author | Tony Moore |
| Published date | 01 April 1992 |
| Subject Matter | Article |
TONY
MOORE
Formerly a
Chief
Superintendent in the Metropolitan Police
CROWD MANAGEMENT:
LEARNING FROM HISTORY
Introduction
TomanypeoplethefireattheBradfordCityFootballGroundinMay
1985
wasthemosthorrifying scenetheyhadeverwitnessed.
It
wasmadeall the
morehorrifying by thevividtelevision picturesbeamedintothousands of
homesacrossthecountrythatevening. ThencameHillsborough. Insome
waysthiswasevenworse-peoplewerebeingcrushedtodeathbeforetheir
veryeyes.
Learning
from
history
Aboutsevenyearsago,Ireadabookby aneminentmilitaryhistorian, B.H.
Liddell-Hart, called 'Strategy: The IndirectApproach", In it, Liddell-
Hartsuggested thattherearetwoformsof practicalexperience, directand
indirect. Direct experience is self-explanatory. In disaster
terms,
it
is
actually havingsome responsibility for the disasteror being involvedin
theresponse to thedisasteroritsimmediate aftermath. Butthereare two
majorproblems in relying on directexperience
alone:
Firstly, it can be very expensive in human terms, as it was at both
Bradfordand Hillsborough.
Secondly, theopportunities for directexperience are veryrare;so rare,
infact, thatveryfewpeoplewillactuallybe involved, in any way,with
a majordisaster involving crowds.
Indirect experience, on the other hand, is acquired, by undergoing
training, listening to others and, above all, by studying history. In the
context of this paper that means examining what happened, why it
happened and howpeoplereacted to disasters ofthe past.
It
issuggested
thatHenryFordoncesaid,"The only thing youlearnfromhistory is that
youcannotlearnfromhistory." But,ontheotherhand,Bismarkisalleged
tohavesaid,"Onlyfoolslearnfromtheirownexperience. I prefertolearn
from the experience of others." Whilst not everyone would
wholly
subscribe toBismark's remark, itmakesinfinitely moresensethanthatof
HenryFord.
Disasters
at
football stadia in
Britain
and
elsewhere
So, with that in mind, what are the advantages,
if
any, to be gained by
studying thedisasters of the past? Including Bradford and Hillsborough,
therehavebeenfivemajordisasters inside Britishfootball
grounds:
1. Liddell-Hart, B.H. Strategy: The Indirect Approach. Faber &Faber. London.
1%7.
April
1992 The Policelournal 99
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