Ibrox disaster

The Ibrox disaster refers to two accidents which led to major loss of life at Ibrox Stadium (formerly Ibrox Park) in Glasgow, Scotland.

First Ibrox disaster

On 5 April 1902, during a Scotland vs England football match the back of the newly built West Tribune Stand collapsed due to heavy rainfall the previous night. Hundreds of supporters fell up to 40 feet (12 m) to the ground below. 25 people died and 517 were injured. []

The stand at the time consisted of wooden terracing supported by a steel girder frame. Following the accident such frameworks were discredited, and replaced throughout the United Kingdom by terracing supported by earthworks or reinforced concrete.

The tragedy occurred after 51 minutes of the match, which was declared void by the two Football Associations. All proceeds of the replayed match at Villa Park, Birmingham on 3 May 1902 went to the disaster fund.

Further incidents

During the 1960s there were concerns about the safety of the stairway adjacent to passageway 13 (colloquially known as Stairway 13) the exit closest to Copland Road Underground Station. On 16 September 1961 two people were killed in a crush on the stairway, and there were two other incidents where several people were injured. However Rangers had spent £150,000 on improvements, a very significant sum for the time. [cite book |last= Ferrier |first= Bob |coauthors= Robert McElroy |title= |publisher= Breedon Books |year= 2005 |isbn= 1 85983 481 7 |pages= 67-8 ]

econd Ibrox disaster

The second major incident occurred on 2 January 1971 at the end of a Rangers vs Celtic game. After 89 minutes of scoreless football Celtic took a 1-0 lead and many Rangers supporters left the stadium. However, in the last seconds of stoppage time, Colin Stein scored an equaliser for Rangers.

As the crowd were leaving the ground, barriers on Stairway 13 gave way causing a massive chain-reaction pile-up of spectators. The tragedy resulted in the loss of 66 lives, including many children - five of them schoolmates from the town of Markinch in Fife. Most of the deaths were caused by compressive asphyxia, with bodies being stacked as deep as six feet in the area. Over 200 other fans were injured.

Alex Ferguson, current manager of Manchester United, had attended the game as a spectator with his brother Martin, and left the ground before the tragedy occurred. His brother Martin had left minutes later, but went to a nearby pub on his way home and returned to the family home in Govan just before his brother and a family friend were about to report his absence to the police.

Initially there was speculation that some fans left the ground slightly early when Celtic scored, but then turned back when they heard roars from the crowd when Stein scored the equaliser, colliding with fans leaving the ground when the match ended. The official inquiry into the disaster indicated that there was no truth in this hypothesis, all the spectators were going in the same direction at the time of the collapse. However the "myth of the Stein goal" became widely believed and repeated for many years after the disaster.

Consequences

The 1971 disaster led to a huge redevelopment of Ibrox, spearheaded by the general manager at the time Willie Waddell, who visited Borussia Dortmund's Westfalenstadion for inspiration. Ibrox was converted to an all seater stadium, and was subsequently awarded UEFA five star status.

For some years after the 1971 disaster there was only a small plaque at the corner of the ground where it took place. However around 30 years later a larger monument was erected at the corner of the Bill Struth Main Stand and the Copland Road Stand, including the names of everyone killed in all three incidents, and a statue of John Greig, Rangers captain at the time of the 1971 disaster.

ee also

*List of United Kingdom disasters by death toll

External links

* [http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/january/2/newsid_2478000/2478305.stm BBC News report]
* [http://ayeready.com/ibrox/disaster.html Names of dead and people's accounts]

References