The fans will remember. The players will remember. The families will never forget
Fans lost in the Ibrox Disaster are remembered
It was dark and foggy, deep in a Glasgow winter on January 2, 1971. For many of the families whose loved ones had gone to the Old Firm derby, the fog has never cleared, the darkness never lifted.
They will face each other again on Saturday to play out the latest chapter in the age- old rivalry between the biggest two clubs in Scotland’s biggest city.
When Rangers and Celtic come together at Ibrox, the
hard- fought match will be coloured by memories of what happened there exactly 50 years before when 66 fans died in a crush as they left the ground.
That common bond of loss, grief and unity inspired by the Ibrox Disaster on January 2, 1971 is shared by the Old Firm and the whole of Scotland, and by everyone who has ever been to a match.
“For a lot of people leaving the game, the vast majority would have no concept of what they had left behind,” said David Mason, Rangers’ official historian. “For the families, when you hear of fatalities at a game, all sorts of ideas run through your mind.
“Families across the country were gathered on the streets, waiting for the supporters’ buses to return, desperately hoping to see their family member step off the bus. I was chatting with Walter Smith’s son, Neil, who told me his dad went to the game on the bus from Carmyle and the families were waiting on the bus coming back.”
The game, watched by an estimated crowd of 85,000, ended in a 1-1 draw, with Celtic’s Jimmy Johnstone scoring in the last minute only for Colin Stein to equalise for Rangers seconds later. As Rangers fans streamed out of the stadium, happy to have seen their team salvage a draw from what looked like certain defeat, an accident occurred on Stairway 13, the steep stairwell closest to the subway station and supporters’ buses.
“We will never know what caused it,” David said. “An eyewitness said he saw a guy on someone’s shoulders and then he went down, but we don’t know if it was the guy falling that caused it or if he tripped because someone had gone down in front of him. I’d been on that staircase in the past and saw people lose their shoe and try to reach down to retrieve it – even something as simple as that could have precipitated the accident.”
There had been incidents on the stairway before – in 1961 two fans died, and in both 1967 and 1969 a number were injured. David said: “It’s the exit I always used. It was popular because it was where the buses, the subway and most of the cars were located. It always gave a little concern, but inevitably in big crowds, no matter the stadium, there was a lot of crushing and the exits would be busy. I could visualise it all, I could almost take myself there but thankfully I wasn’t there.”
One theory which can be thrown out is that the accident occurred as exiting fans tried to turn back upon hearing Rangers equalise. That was dismissed at the fatal accident inquiry held the following month.
“Pe o p l e h a ve held on to that, because it’s what they understood,” David said. “But it was unrelated. I think for a long time Colin Stein believed his goal had precipitated it, but the fatal accident inquiry clearly demonstrated that wasn’t the case, so that should be laid to rest. It had no consequence on it.”
As fate would have it, Stein had met the only female victim, Margaret Ferguson, just a short time before. “A few weeks earlier, Colin’s wife had given birth and Margaret had gone to his house with a present for the baby, so there was a personal touch to it as well,” said David.
While the historian points out the bereaved were always the primary concern and focus, there can be no discounting the impact the disaster had on the players and staff. As the teams washed and changed after the match, those who remained were asked to leave as the dressing rooms became makeshift casualty wards. For the fans who could not be saved, their covered bodies were laid out on the pitch. In the days afterwards, Rangers manager Willie Waddell ensured his players were in attendance at each of the funerals and visited fans in hospital.
“I have spoken to a lot of the players over the years and they have carried that scar with them,” David said. “There is always a sombre look that comes across their faces – it really did strike the players very hard. A lot of these young boys – Derek Parlane and Derek Johnstone were only 17 at the time – had probably never attended a funeral before and then they were put in a situation where all eyes were on them.
“I think, in hindsight, if that occurred now, there would be a lot of concern shown to make sure these boys went through some sort of counselling, but there was no counselling back then.”
From the night of the tragedy to the weeks and months afterwards, Willie Waddell stood as figurehead for the club and instigated the stadium redevelopment that would eventually see Ibrox become an all-seater stadium.
“The club embarked on a programme to make sure it never happened again and all credit to Willie Waddell for driving that,” David said. “He was a leader, so it was second nature to him. Not many managers in today’s football world would step in front of a press conference, with that kind of backdrop, the way he did.
“Willie Waddell said we can’t have this anymore, where people come to the ground and aren’t safe in this sort of environment. So the stadium itself is the edifice that commemorated the fans. To ensure nothing like that would happen again, to make sure the fans could come to the ground and be entirely safe, is the legacy to what happened.”
Coronavirus restrictions mean there can be no public ceremony at the stadium to mark the anniversary, but David says the fans themselves ensure absent friends are never forgotten.
“I know the club is putting forward a memorial, not just dedicated to the 1971 disaster, but to the 1902 disaster and as a place of commemoration for people who have been lost,” David added. “Besides that, the fans themselves still remember that day vividly and carry their own memorials out in different ways.
“Over the years, the fans have set themselves up in groups to tend graves and provide other memorials, like benches with plaques, so the supporters have been great. All sorts of things like that have taken place and still do. The people lost have certainly not been forgotten, and there is a great responsibility on the club and the likes of me to make sure the message gets out there that they never will be forgotten.”