THE GLASGOW DERBY 1971

In 1902, only six minutes into the Scotland v England annual home international, 26 fans died and 517 were injured, when twenty square yards of wooden planks (this was 1902) at the West Tribune Stand "gave way", sending spectators tumbling  fifty feet to the ground. Amazingly, the match was resumed after a short break and finished 1-1. There were several stoppages to allow the rescue services in to look after the injured and to carry away the dead! Would that be allowed today? The match was later declared void by the two national Associations.

You will know why clubs from the same towns or cities playing matches play in a "DERBY"...don't you!? The Glasgow Derby is of course, a huge one and it is being played as I write;  "The Old Firm Derby". Seventy years later, there was a major disaster on this date on January 2nd 1971. 

This match brought together a huge number of city fans, with over 80,000 present at Rangers' home, Ibrox. Jimmy Johnstone's early goal for Celtic was equalised by Colin Stein in the final minutes,. bringing a 1-1 draw. The crowd was leaving the stadium, when Stairway 13 "gave way" sending supporters tumbling fifty feet to the ground; 66 fans were crushed and killed when crash barriers collapsed. 

Today, Rangers won the Glasgow Derby 3-0!! The first Glasgow Derby was a friendly played on May 28th 1888, with Celtic winning 5-2.  There have been 444 meetings, both teams have won 170, with the greatest victory, 7-1 to Celtic on October 19th 1957. A story goes that fans, who were leaving the stadium early, heard the referee's whistle and assumed it was a late goal scored for Rangers, so turned back to join in the celebration. Colin Stein did in fact score this equaliser, but the crush occurred after the final whistle, when it was thought that somebody had fallen down one of the steep stairways after trying to pick up dropped money, their match programme or a scarf or hat.

This was a major disaster waiting to happen, following a collapsed "crush" barrier on the same stairway, ten years earlier, when two fans were killed and in the next decade there had been 32 injuries caused by the dangerous stairway. This 1971 disaster was the final "straw" and Archibald Leitch's famous 1929 architecture at Ibrox, was razed to the ground and rebuilt into an all-seater stadium. The new stadium is barely recognisable, although the Leitch's famous facade was preserved.

Initially, there was speculation that some fans left the ground slightly early when Celtic scored, but then turned back when they heard the crowd cheering as 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, however, as all the spectators were heading in the same direction at the time of the collapse. Most of the deaths were caused by compressive asphyxia, with bodies being stacked up to six feet deep, in the area. More than 200 other fans were injured.

Kenny Dalgleish, then a Celtic player, was in the stands when the tragedy occurred, and was also present at the Heysel and Hillsborough disasters, in 1985 and 1989 respectively, with Liverpool FC.

The stadium's owner, Rangers FC, was later ruled to be at fault in a sheriff's judgement on one of the deaths. Rangers did not dispute this ruling, and was sued for damages in 60 other cases brought by relatives of the dead. Today, Rangers won the New Year's Glasgow Derby, 3-0 at home.