Football has come a long way:
BShankly famously said: “Some people think football is a matter of life and death. I don’t like that attitude. I can assure them it is much more serious than that.”
Not to denigrate the legendary Liverpool manager’s dedication and priorities – one can only assume he had his tongue firmly in cheek – but clearly he was wrong. And certainly for the families who lost loved ones to the terrible events at Ibrox on January 2, 1971, the last-minute drama on the pitch bore no comparison to the human tragedy that unfolded at stairway 13.
It’s difficult to comprehend the hideous scene on that bleak Saturday afternoon as the slowmoving crowd of singing fans, ignorant to the devastation beneath them, spilled on to the stairs causing a pyramid of people to pile up on top of each other.
Despite similar earlier incidents on the same stairway, Rangers had yet to act. A civil engineer had been employed, a report drawn up, and recommendations made. The failure of management to act quickly on the warnings was staggering, only helped by many “loyal” fans who regarded any criticism of their beloved club as an act of treachery.
Not that Rangers of old were in any way unique in their handling of the safety of supporters. I always recall my father, who played professionally in London in the 1960s before my birth, telling me the views and demands
It’s difficult to truly comprehend the hideous scene on that bleak Saturday afternoon
of fans were of no importance to clubs, they were merely a profitgenerating means to an end.
Thankfully, huge progress has been made, although it took many more tragedies – Bradford, Heysel and Hillsborough – for attitudes to change. No longer are fans regarded as the great unwashed, prepared to pay for their ticket only to be squeezed into packed terraces amid the stench of urine and crushing throng of humanity.
Fans do matter to clubs as they realise they can’t take their support for granted any more – after all, there are plenty of other things to do on a Saturday afternoon. And few can understand the plight of fans more than Rangers boss Steven Gerrard, whose 10-year-old cousin was the youngest victim among the 96 Liverpool fans who died at Hillsborough.
We have also seen the future of the game with the rise of women’s football. Having watched the international team at Hampden, it was fantastic to witness a genuine family occasion more akin to the American football experience. It may be a world away from the febrile atmosphere of an Old Firm clash, but maybe it’s time for a more radical rethink of football, make it more inclusive, less intimidating.
As someone who grew up in a football-obsessed household, and is well aware of its intrinsic relationship with the cultural, religious and political make-up of our country, let’s put football in perspective. It can be happiness and heartbreak, wonderful and woeful, love and loss, friend and foe. But frankly, Mr Shankly, it’s not more serious than life and death. It’s just a game, albeit a beautiful one at that.