Ibrox Disaster

[kazboot]

Having discussed the tragic Hillsborough and Bradford City FC Disasters recently on here, I wonder how many of you remember the Ibrox Disaster of 2nd January 1971.

YouTube - Ibrox Disaster

I was only a kid at the time, but I used to go to football matches with my grandad and more than once I was crushed against the barriers on the terraces, it was very frightening. Also when the crowd surged forward you could fall down and be trampled on, it was dreadful really.

I have to say though in those days when we all stood up, the atmosphere was somehow better than today, if more dangerous.

The only good thing that came out of these disasters is that things were changed for better safety, but only at the unacceptable cost of too many lives. :cry:

[stevef]

Re: Ibrox Disaster

I'm too young to remember this myself but there's a Scot that works at my local petrol station that I often stop at on the way to work (I usually have to leave home 1/2 an hour early to allow time to chat with him or he makes me late lol), but he has often mentioned the Ibrox disaster to me because he was actually at the match when it happened. He told me that he would have been crushed had someone not pulled him clear just in the nick of time.

[curmudgeon]

Re: Ibrox Disaster

I was about five and the only other time I remember being so scared by a news story was the Moorgate tube disaster. I clearly remember having to be comforted by my mum that night because I'd dreamed about being crushed under a pile of bodies. It sickens me to think that 18 years later a very similar scenario played out at Hillsborough and 20 years on the people responsible still don't admit culpability.

[ayrshireman]

Re: Ibrox Disaster

I lost a cousin in the Disaster.

[kazboot]

Re: Ibrox Disaster

I lost a cousin in the Disaster.

I'm so sorry to hear that.
Do you remember that day yourself?

[ayrshireman]

Re: Ibrox Disaster

No. I was only a few months old (born in August 1970).

He was in fact my second cousin, my mum's cousin. He died several days later in hospital. Ironically my dad, his father and brothers all went to the match, but sat in the Main Stand at Ibrox and so were unaware of the crush.

The crush took place famously at Stairway 13, where the Copland Road and Govan Stands meet. There is a plaque to commemorate the disaster at the wall which joins them.

[kazboot]

Re: Ibrox Disaster

Last Sunday was the 40th Anniversary of The Ibrox Disaster.

I still remember the impact of seeing the newspaper photos the day after it happened even as an eleven year old.