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A memorial to those who died in the disaster, including a statue of then-captain John Greig, unveiled in January 2001
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| Date | 2 January 1971 |
|---|---|
| Location | Ibrox Park, Glasgow, Scotland |
| Coordinates | 55°51′13″N 04°18′25″W |
| Deaths | 66 |
| Non-fatal injuries | > 200 |
In the 1971 Ibrox disaster, which occurred during an Old Firm football match between the Rangers and Celtic, 66 people lost their lives and over 200 were injured. It occurred on January 2, 1971, in Glasgow, Scotland, on the escape stairs of Ibrox Park, which is now known as Ibrox Stadium. Up until the 1985 Bradford, England, Bradford City stadium fire, it was the worst football disaster. The Hillsborough disaster in Sheffield, England, in 1989 claimed the lives of 97 people.
A sheriff’s ruling on one of the killings later found the stadium’s owner, Rangers F.C., to be at fault.[1]Rangers was sued for damages in 60 further cases made by the family of the deceased, but they did not contest this decision.[2]
Background
The first disaster at Ibrox occurred during a 1902 home international match between Scotland and England. The back of the wooden West Tribune Stand collapsed due to heavy rainfall the previous night, causing 25 deaths and more than 500 injuries.[3]
The Copland Road exit is located at the far corner of Ibrox Park in 1910. There’s an identical staircase going down the closest corner.
Concerns over the safety of the stairwell next to passageway 13, sometimes referred to as stairwell 13, which is the exit next to the Copland Road subway station, were voiced in 1963.[4]Due to crowd pressure, it was reported that there was very little room for movement on the stairs. Many people were lifted off their feet by the mob and were unable to choose which lane to use or how quickly.[5]
Two persons lost their lives in a crush on the stairwell on September 16, 1961.[6] Eight people suffered injuries in 1967 as they were exiting the stadium. 26 people were hurt in an egress accident on Stairway 13 in 1969.[5] In the wake of these incidents, no steps were taken to speak with a professional firm about the possible risks posed by crowds on Stairway 13. Rangers had already invested a substantial amount of money at the time—£150,00,000, or £2,600,000 in 2021—on Ibrox renovations after the 1961 accident.[7]
Things that Happen
On Saturday, January 2, 1971, a crush accident claimed the lives of sixty-six persons as spectators attempted to flee the stadium. Over 80,000 people attended the Old Firm game between the Rangers and Celtic.[8][9][10]Jimmy Johnstone gave Celtic a 1-0 lead in the ninetieth minute, but Colin Stein gave Rangers an equalizer in the dying seconds. It looks like someone may have fallen, resulting in a big chain-reaction pile-up of fans as many were fleeing the area by stairwell 13.[11][6]
There was initial talk that some supporters had left the stadium early after Celtic scored, but they had returned when they heard the crowd applauding Stein’s equalizer, and they had collided with supporters who had left the stadium after the game.[12]But since every viewer was going in the same direction as the structure collapsed, the official investigation into the accident concluded that this theory was unfounded.[12]
With bodies piled up to six feet (1.8 meters) deep, compression asphyxia was the primary cause of death in this incident. Over 200 additional fans suffered injuries.
At the time of the incident, Celtics player Kenny Dalglish was in the stands.[13]Dalglish also witnessed the Hillsborough and Heysel catastrophes with Liverpool F.C. in 1989 and 1985, respectively.[14]
Victims
Due to injuries sustained during the catastrophe, sixty-six persons passed away that day at the stadium. Of the deceased, one was under ten years old, 49 were under thirty, 33 were under twenty, and all were under fifty. Numerous youngsters were lost in the tragedy, including five schoolmates from the same town in Fife: Peter Easton, Martin Paton, Mason Phillips, Brian Todd, and Douglas Morrison. Thirty-one youths were also lost, including Margaret Ferguson, the lone female victim from Maddiston in Falkirk, who was eighteen. Nine-year-old Liverpool native Nigel Patrick Pickup was the youngest youngster to pass away.[6]
There were reports of more than 200 injuries.[15]
| Age range | Males | Females | Total |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0–9 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| 10–19 | 31 | 1 | 32 |
| 20–29 | 16 | 0 | 16 |
| 30–39 | 12 | 0 | 12 |
| 40–49 | 5 | 0 | 5 |
| Totals | 65 | 1 | 66 |
Aftermath
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The incident prompted the UK government to investigate sports field safety. Scottish judge Lord Wheatley was invited to carry out an investigation in February 1971.[16]His research, which was published in May 1972, served as the foundation for the 1973 release of the Guide to Safety at Sports Grounds (Green Guide).
An exterior image of Ibrox Stadium, which has all seats, with the corner of Stairway 13 in the foreground (2008)
The disaster of 1971 prompted a massive reconstruction of the Ibrox stadium, supervised by the manager at the time, Willie Waddell, who took inspiration from the Westfalenstadion home of Borussia Dortmund.[17] Ibrox was transformed into a 44,000-seat stadium by 1981 following three years of rebuilding work, during which time modern all-seater stands replaced three-quarters of the original ground.[18]The stadium’s capacity was expanded to 50,000 by additional work in the 1990s, and Ibrox was subsequently granted UEFA five-star certification.
“The Ibrox Disaster” is a song written by Scottish folk singer-songwriter Matt McGinn (1928–1977) in memory of those who perished in the terrible incident.
Examination
Glasgow held a fatal accident inquiry, which began on February 15, 1971.[19]The jury, consisting of four men and three women, was told not to offer any suggestions regarding safety measures at football fields during the seven-day trial because Lord Wheatley would be conducting an investigation into the matter.[20]
Court Cases
Following a civil damages trial brought before Glasgow Sheriff Court in May 1974 by the widow of one of the Ibrox victims, Sheriff James Irvine Smith declared: “The said accident was due to the fault and negligence of the defenders, Rangers F.C.”[1]In the case of the death of Charles Dougan, a 31-year-old boilermaker from Clydebank, who perished from traumatic asphyxia along with 56 other people, Smith found Rangers F.C. guilty on four counts.
Sheriff Irvine Smith declared following his knowledge of the string of incidents on Stairway 13, which included September 1961, when 70 people were hurt and two people died, September 1967, when 11 people were hospitalized, and January 1969, when 29 people were hurt,
According to the evidence, the Board never even considered that it should consider the safety issue on that specific stairway […] and, to put it mildly, seems to have moved forward with the belief that, given enough time, the issue would eventually go away. It even goes beyond than this, as some of their acts can only be seen as a calculated attempt, seemingly successful, to trick people into thinking they were doing anything, when in reality they were not.
Sheriff Irvine Smith’s comments on damages.[1]
As can be seen from the Sheriff Principal’s appeal judgment, Rangers F.C. only contested the damages computation in the cases of Charles Dougan and another sixty instances presented by the deceased’s families, not the Sheriff Irvine Smith’s conclusions.[2][6]In his book, Irvine Smith claims that some people who supported the Rangers disapproved of him and accused him of being “disloyal” nearly 40 years after he made his decision.[21][6]
History
After the tragedy in 1971, there was simply a little plaque at the corner of the site for a few years. Rangers, however, made plans to honor the 66 fans slain in the 1971 tragedy known in 1995.[22][23]At the intersection of the Bill Struth Main Stand and the Copland Road Stand, a larger monument was unveiled on January 2, 2001, the 30th anniversary of the catastrophe. Blue plaques at the monument bear the names of all the victims who perished in the three tragedies. On top of the monument is a statue honoring John Greig, who was captain of the Rangers during the 1971 tragedy.
In 2011, a minute of silence was observed prior to the Old Firm encounter on January 2, 2011, to mark the 40th anniversary of the catastrophe. John Greig and Billy McNeill, the respective club captains at the time of the tragedy (albeit Billy McNeill had not played due to injury), led their teams out while wearing black armbands as a show of respect.
