The 1971 Ibrox disaster was a crush among the crowd at an Old Firmfootball game, which led to 66 deaths and more than 200 injuries. It happened on 2 January 1971 in an exit stairway at Ibrox Park (now Ibrox Stadium) in Glasgow, Scotland. It was the worst British football disaster until the Hillsborough disaster in Sheffield, England, in 1989.
The stadium's owners, Rangers F.C., were later ruled to be at fault in a sheriff's judgement on one of the deaths. Rangers did not dispute this ruling, and were sued for damages in 60 other cases brought by relatives of the dead.
During 1963, concerns were raised about the safety of the stairway adjacent to passageway 13 (colloquially known as Stairway 13), the exit closest to Copland Road subway station. On 16 September 1961 two people were killed in a crush on the stairway, and there were two other incidents – in 1967 and 1969 – where several people were injured. Rangers had by then spent a total of £150,000 on improvements to Ibrox, a very significant sum of money for the time.
The 1902 Ibrox disaster was caused by the collapse of a stand, which led to the deaths of 25 supporters watching a Scotland v Englandfootball game. 517 supporters were injured. It happened on 5 April 1902 at Ibrox Park (now Ibrox Stadium) in Glasgow, Scotland, and is widely regarded as the first fatal stadium disaster of its kind in British football, comparable to later tragedies including the Hillsborough disaster of 1989.
Events
On 5 April 1902, during the 1902 British Home Championship match between Scotland and England, the back of the newly built West Tribune Stand collapsed due to heavy rainfall the previous night. Hundreds of supporters fell up to 40feet (12m) to the ground below. 25 people died and 517 were injured.
At the time the stand 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 allowed to finish, to avoid supporters exiting en masse and crowding the area, obstructing rescue work, but 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.
Rangers fans gathered at Ibrox Stadium today to mark 54 years since the Ibrox Disaster... READ NEXT. Minute's silence to be held in memory of victims of Ibrox Disaster .
By John Mcgarry At Ibrox... By John Mcgarry At Ibrox ... What a noise from Ibrox ... Ibrox falls silent to pay their respect to the lives lost in the Ibrox Disaster in 1971 ... A service has been held at the Ibrox Disaster Memorial ahead of today's clash.
What a noise from Ibrox... Ibrox falls silent to pay their respect to the lives lost in the Ibrox Disaster in 1971 ... Tributes paid at Ibrox Disaster memorial. A service has been held at the Ibrox Disaster Memorial ahead of today's clash.
Celtic loyalists, meanwhile, were tweeting '66 huns fell down the stairs' a reference to victims of the Ibrox stadium disaster of 1971 in which 66 supporters were killed in a crush at the end of an Old Firm game.
Rangers last night condemned Hibernian fans who scrawled graffiti and left stickers on seats at Ibrox mocking the stadium’s 1971 disaster in which 66 supporters died.
... and stickers left in the away end at Ibrox which mocked the disaster at the stadium in 1971 ... The 1971 Ibrox disaster was a crush among the crowd at a Rangers v Celtic game which led to 66 deaths.
Following a minute's silence as tribute to the 1971IbroxDisaster - which was not perfectly observed - another frenetic and breathless Glasgow derby commenced ... Ibrox held its breath as Beaton checked ...
Following a minute’s silence as tribute to the 1971IbroxDisaster – which was not perfectly observed – another frenetic and breathless Glasgow derby commenced ... Ibrox held its breath ...
Fellow Japanese attacker Daizen Maeda opened the scoring for the visitors in the fifth minute after taking advantage of atrocious Gers defending.The LightBlues looked forlorn going down the tunnel at ...
