The Blackest Day In Rangers History |
1971 The Ibrox Disaster
It was the afternoon of the Old Firm
game, Rangers v Celtic at Ibrox, Saturday January 2
1971. The match was heading for a 0-0 draw when Jimmy
Johnstone broke the deadlock to give Celtic the lead
in the 89th minute. Then, with just seconds left on
the clock, Colin Stein snatched a dramatic equaliser
for Rangers. The blue section of the 80,000 all-ticket
crowd went wild with delight. The green was thrown into
despair. Two goals in a minute. What a finish! Yet,
unseen amid this sea of emotions, a disaster was beginning
to unfold at the Rangers end of the ground over on the
East terrace at Staircase 13. As the fans swayed away
from the heaving mass, some stumbled halfway down the
steep steps. Those around didn't see them fall and continued
their descent. Suddenly a tidal wave of fans was engulfed
in a terrifying crush. Steel barriers crumpled under
the impact. When the carnage cleared, 66 people had
lost their lives and more than 140 lay injured.
Among the dead were 31 teenagers. The
youngest victim was a boy of nine, Nigel Pickup, who
had travelled to the game from Liverpool. One woman
was among the fatalities. Margaret Ferguson, an 18-year-old
from Maddiston near Falkirk, had made a doll for the
baby daughter of Rangers centre-forward Stein - the
man who scored the late equaliser - and had delivered
it to his home just before Christmas. Five schoolboy
pals, four of whom lived in the same street, had gone
to the game together from the small town of Markinch
in Fife. The five, all members of Glenrothes Rangers
Supporters Club, never returned. There were so many
harrowing tales. Eye-witness John Dawson was among the
injured. He said: "When the barrier gave way I
was carried along a passageway for 20 yards with three
people on top of me and at least three underneath."
Another survivor of Staircase 13 was Robert Black. He
said: "There was so much pressure from behind me
that I was tossed down on top of others. People were
on the ground and I was tossed over them. I was just
carried forward by the surge." Both sides of the
Old Firm put aside their rivalries and came together
to play a game to raise funds for the victims' families.
A combined Rangers and Celtic team took on a Scotland
XI at Hampden watched by 81,405 fans. The tragedy echoed
a previous accident on Staircase 13 when two people
had been killed.
The club and their fans were in mourning.
It was the blackest day in the history of Scottish football.
|
