Warning bell sounded as two football fans die in crush after barrier collapse

The Sunday Post reported on the deaths of two fans after an Old Firm game in 1961.

But it was what was to come just 10 years later that would make this tragedy all the more poignant.

“Two people were killed and 50 injured when a crush barrier gave way at Ibrox Park, Glasgow, yesterday after the RangersCeltic match,” read the paper. “Only minutes after the game ended thousands of fans were making their way down the steep steps towards the exit at Cairnlea Drive. It is thought some of the fans stumbled. Those nearest tried to hold back, but the rush of fans teeming from the terracing couldn’t be stopped.

“Women screamed as they were catapulted forward. The wooden barriers separating the exit steps from the grass embankment gave way. Then a crush barrier collapsed. Seconds later a hand-rail running down stairway also gave way and hundreds of fans tumbled over one another.”

Horribly, this incident did not prevent further tragedy. The exits at Ibrox had for many years been a concern, with a number of fan crushes after games.

Then, tragically, following a crush at an Old Firm game on January 2, 1971,

66 fans died and more than 200 were injured,

in the worst disaster at a British football ground until

Hillsborough in 1989.