In little over 24 hours, Liverpool Football Club has received over 5,000 separate accounts from supporters who attended the Champions League final, detailing the horrific events that occurred around the Stade de France.
On Monday, the club invited supporters who had travelled to Paris for the game, to register their experiences in writing along with photographs and video evidence, after fans were subjected to appalling treatment when trying to gain access to the stadium.
And in an interview with the LFC official website on Tuesday evening, CEO Billy Hogan provided an update that demonstrated just how committed match-goers were to sharing details of their disturbing ordeals at the France national stadium.
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He said: "It’s been incredible. As of right now, Tuesday late afternoon, just over 24 hours the form has been up and we have had over 5,000 forms completed and submitted, which is really astounding. First off, thank you to everyone who has taken the time to submit their experiences. Obviously it’s a tremendous amount of information so we’d ask you to bear with us as we work through that detail. But I’ve spent time over the course of today reviewing some of the information and, honestly, I’m horrified by the way some men, women, children – able bodied, less able bodied – have been indiscriminately treated over the course of Saturday.
"I think the volume of completed forms in the last 24 hours really demonstrates how fans want to support the investigation process and, importantly, gather real evidence of what happened both prior and post-kick-off. I do think it’s important to recognise we’ve all been rightly focused on the access issues at Stade de France; I think it’s also important we don’t lose sight of what happened after the match. I think we’ve all seen videos, photos, I’ve read a number of stories of absolutely horrific experiences leaving the stadium as well – crimes being committed, muggings taking place. Nobody should experience what our fans experienced both before or after the match. In our minds, obviously this is wholly unacceptable, which is why it’s important we create this body of experiences, which clearly must be included in the independent investigation.
"And finally, on that point I’d just like to reiterate the point I made yesterday, which is from everyone in this football club to every supporter who has been impacted by the events around Saturday: thank you. Thank you for sharing your experiences via the online form. It has been incredibly difficult in certain cases to read some of the experiences. Thank you for supporting each other through what has been a horrible and traumatic event."
On Monday, Liverpool's chairman Tom Werner wrote to UEFA requesting an independent investigation into the shocking incidents and organisational chaos that marred the showpiece sporting event, with European football's governing body later confirming that it had commissioned an independent report into the events surrounding the Champions League final.
In his interview with the club's website CEO Hogan was asked if there was anywhere fans affected by the events on Saturday could go to receive help and support.
He said: "Yes. That is something we’ve been talking about over the course of the last couple of days. Firstly, my heartfelt thoughts go out to anybody who had the experience of those unacceptable events on Saturday evening. We’re working right now with our Foundation team, who run outreach programmes and crisis support, to see how to guide people towards the appropriate support for those fans affected.
"People may be aware of the work that the Foundation has done with Spirit of Shankly specifically on mental health, for example. Our Foundation team, working with specialist organisations, has expertise in this area and we’ll be publishing these details across our channels as soon as possible.
"One other really important point that I do want to raise is we’re also aware that there were many fans who were injured on Saturday evening and we’ve asked UEFA for their matchday log, which includes any medical incidents for the night, so we can reach out to those supporters and their families to help if we can."
