The Courier & Advertiser (Angus and Dundee)
Ibrox tragedy remembered
Residents of a Fife village have come together to pay tribute to five local boys who perished in the Ibrox Stadium Disaster.
The c lose-knit community of Markinch suffered its darkest of days on January 2 1971 when Rangers fans Peter Easton, 13,14- year-old sB ryan Todd, Ronald Paton and Mason Philip, and 15-yearold Douglas Morrison, were among the 66 who were crushed to death as fans left the stadium following the end of a cup tie versus Celtic.
The five friends, four of whom lived in the same street, failed to return home, leaving a shadow over the community.
Around 60 relatives, friends and fans gathered at the memorial stone in Park View, just yards from where the boys lived, to lay floral tributes, scarves and wreaths in their memory.
Amid bright but frosty conditions, minister Alistair MCL eod led a poignant memorial service, speaking of the grief Markinch had carried for 50 years.
“In this village and in other places where there were folk shocked at the scale of the disaster, we remember five young boys who were killed that afternoon ,” said Mr Mcleod.
“Eight young boys left home together as they often did to go with pals to watch a football match, full of life, energy and enthusiasm.
“But only three boys of the eight returned home.
“Mums and dads, whole families and this community were united in raw grief and they made a promise that the Markinch boys would never be forgotten.”
Following prayers for all five of the victims, those with their own floral tributes, wreaths and scarves stepped forward to place them at the foot of a memorial stone.
Shane Fenton, a close friend who went with the boys to the game, said it was important for the memory of his pals “never to be forgotten”.
“It’s hardly believable it is now 50 years since that day, the memories still being so raw and fresh in my mind,” he said.
“Eight of us went to Glenrothes that day to catch the supporters’ buses to the game and being a Celtic supporter I was in a different part of the ground.”
He said: “It wasn’t until they never returned on the buses that worry set in, and I waited late into the night in the hope that they would return on the last train or bus, but they never did.
“We were all pals, so young, it was such a loss. They will always be remembered.”
Clutching a school photo, Pat O’brian was there to remember her former class mates.
“Being such a small community, I knew all five boys. It was such an awful loss felt by the whole of Markinch,” she said.
Among the many tributes, including a supporters jersey sent from the Kiwi branch of the Rangers Supporters Club and flowers from Dunfermline Athletic, was a wreath from Glenrothes Royal Supporters Club, laid by organiser Ronnie Baine.
He said: “Despite the Covid restrictions it was important to pay our own tribute to those fellow fans on behalf of our 96 club members. Their memory will live on.”
We were all pals, so young