Ibrox disaster
Ibrox disaster refers to two accidents which led to to major loss of life at
Ibrox Stadium (formerly Ibrox Park) in
Glasgow,
Scotland.
On
April 5,
1902, during a
Scotland-
England British Home Championship match, a section of terracing at the back of the West Stand collapsed. Hundreds of supporters fell up to 40 feet (12 m) to the ground below. 26 people died and over 500 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 second incident occurred on
January 2,
1971 at the end of a
Rangers-
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 equalizer for Rangers.
As the crowd was leaving the ground, barriers on Stairway 13 gave way causing a massive chain-reaction pileup of spectators. Over the years there had been concerns about the safety of Stairway 13. There were even a number of incidents where people were injured in crushes, and two people were killed on one occasion. On this occasion the tragedy resulted in the loss of 66 lives, many of whom were children. Bodies were stacked as deep as six feet in the area. Over 200 other fans were injured.
Initially it was speculated that fans leaving the ground turned back when they heard roars from the crowd. The speculation was that those who turned back collided 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. The myth surrounding the Stein goal became widely believed for many years after the disaster.
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List of United Kingdom disasters by death toll*
BBC News report*
Names of dead and people's accounts
