The stadium where the roar was like a lion in your face
WHA’S LIKE US? An irreverent, wry look at Scottish Icons
HERE’S a shock for you. Hampden, home of Scottish football, is named after an Englishman. The first Hampden Park was overlooked by a nearby terrace named after John Hampden, a Westminster politician who died fighting for the bawheids in the so-called English Civil War.
So where is our gas already? Correct: at a peep. Never fear. Hampden remains world-famous, and still holds all the major European records for attendance. On a personal note, it was also the venue for the happiest day of my life (sorry, gals): Hibs winning the Scottish Cup in 2016.
Hampden, in Glasgow’s Mount Florida district, owes its existence to some Spiders. That’s the nickname of Queen’s Park, Scotland’s oldest club, who played at the first Hampden for 10 years from 1873. That early Hampden hosted the first Scottish Cup Final of 1874 and Scotland’s international match with England in 1878.
Queen’s moved to a second Hampden 150 yards away in 1884 after the Cathcart District Railway blootered a new line through the original site.
In 1903, Third Lanark went forth and took the second Hampden, while Queen’s moved to a third site, with that stadium’s first match seeing the Spiders defeat Celtic 1–0. The first Scottish Cup Final at the ground featured Celtic and Rangers in 1904, attracting a record Scottish crowd of 64,672. The first Scotland v England match at the ground was played in 1906 with 102,741 in attendance.
Big, big and bigger still. Hampden was the world’s biggest stadium until the Maracanã in Brazil was built in 1950. That was after the official theoretical capacity of Hampden rose to 183,388 in 1937 – though the Scottish Football Association were only allowed to issue 150,000 tickets for games.
The in crowd
THE 1937 Scotland v England match had an attendance of 149,415 – still a European record – and that’s not counting 20,000 more who got in without tickets. A week later, the 1937 Scottish Cup Final between Celtic and Aberdeen drew an official crowd of 147,365, with 20,000 more locked outside, another world record at the time.
During the Second World War, a government official demanded the Hampden pitch be ploughed and used to plant vegetables. But that buttered no parsnips with the Scottish football authorities who pooh-poohed the idea.
In 1953, the Coronation Cup Final, marking the crowning of Queen Elizabeth, saw Celtic beat Hibs 2-0 before 117,060 passionately royalist fans. Hampden also began hosting European Cup Finals, including that in 1976, where Bayern Munich beat St Etienne, who believed two of their efforts which hit the square crossbar and bounced back oot into play would have been goals if the crossbar had been round. The French club subsequently bought the goalposts and displayed them in their museum. In 1987, square goalposts were banned by Fifa.
In 1970, Celtic won the home leg of their European Cup semi-final against Leeds United at Hampden, in front of 136,505 spectators, a Uefa competition record.
Public safety came to the fore after the Ibrox disaster of January 1971, when 66 spectators were crushed to death, and the Safety of Sports Grounds Act 1975 saw Hampden’s capacity reduced to 81,000.
Stand and deliver
FURTHER redevelopment, including demolition of the North Stand, reduced capacity to 74,370 and, in 1992, the UK Government provided £3.5 million towards a £12m project to create an all-seater stadium, leaving capacity today at 51,866.
The matter of who owns Hampden is an important and fascinating subject. Unfortunately, while reading about it, your correspondent dozed off, so suffice to say, with Queen’s Park retaining ownership and the lease due to expire, in 2018 the SFA announced an agreement to purchase the ground. Queen’s Park played their last match at Hampden on March 20, 2021.
You’ve probably heard of the Hampden Roar but thought it no more, with the reduced crowd capacity, and Scotland fans preferring to sing Do a Deer.
However, in 2018, a study found noise levels during a cup semi-final reached 115 decibels after Celtic’s four goals against Rangers were scored. Researchers Vanguardia said the racket rivalled a lion roaring at close quarters or a jet plane taking off 25 metres away.
The highest decibel rating recorded in England in an earlier study was 84 at Old Trafford. However, the Guinness Book of World Records has 142.2 decibels as the loudest sports stadium noise, during an American football game in Kansas City.
Perfect pitch
ACCORDING to my researchers, there are sports other than football and, bizarrely, Hampden has hosted these,
You’ve probably heard of the Hampden Roar but thought it no more, with the reduced crowd capacity, and Scotland fans preferring to sing Do a Deer
including rugby and athletics, whatever that is. In 2014, the stadium was temporarily converted to host some Commonwealth Games.
Hampden was home to Glasgow Tigers speedway team from 1969 until 1972 and, in 2000, was the venue for a boxing tournament headlined by Mike Tyson, who knocked his opponent down after 12 seconds, floored the referee too, and said afterwards he wanted to eat the children of world champion Lennox Lewis. I see.
In 1933, there was a Conventicle. This was a 50th anniversary meeting of the Boys’ Brigade, with 130,000 people inside the ground and another 100,000 outside singing psalms. Weird. In 1955, American evangelical Billy Graham ululated irrationally to a crowd of 100,000 eccentrics.
Artists of note
THOUGH best enjoyed in the privacy of one’s home, pop music has also occurred at Hampden, with Genesis – not the old, proper Peter Gabriel one – and Paul Young featuring in the stadium’s first concert in 1987. Other acts have included the Rolling Stones, Tina Turner, Rod Stewart, Bon Jovi, Yon Eagles, U2, Oasis, Take Some of That, The AC/DCs, Paul McCartney, Ribena and Bouncé.
Fair to say the all-seater bowl stadium has never been universally popular with footer fans.
The two end stands are up to 150 yards away from the pitch, and their shallow inclines don’t help the atmosphere.
Respected pundit Jim Spence has called the stadium “a national disgrace … where the action is best watched through binoculars”.
Citing Germany, France and Italy, he questioned the need for a national stadium at all, arguing that Celtic Park, Ibrox or preferably Murrayfield would be better.
Like the national team, Hampden has a fine history – and a debatable present.