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50 years 1971/2021 Our clubs saddest day


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 Thought it would be good idea to start a thread. For everyone to post some comments, in memory of this sad day .

So with inspiration from Tannerall , here it is . Was hoping that maybe the Mods, could keep it at the top until January of next year .

 

 Approaching 50 years to that day .

It changed so many supporters lives  and their families from 1971 to this present day.  It is now known as " the Ibrox disaster " but we regard it, as the biggest tragedy this club has ever suffered .

Maybe fans could share their memories , think of some stories or share ,any ideas for RM to pay their tributes on the day .

Ok it's months away ,  gives us good time to reflect and honoring  the people that died .

 

 

 

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Best regards to @eejay the dj for starting this thread. 

Will be interesting to see how our fans and our club choose to respect  this important anniversary, one   that will forever play  a core part of our history.

Football is a game of human interaction and pleasure, It brings people together, it brings a common sense of purpose. Globally dominant, anyone can play, any age, sex, colour, political view or religion. And it also knows no boundaries of class or money. Even a  wee guy just practising  his keepy uppy skills in a run down shanty town in Buenos Airies can make it to the top. 

Truly the greatest sport of humanity. 

Yet with that human interest comes the extremes of emotion, The glory of winning a game of kickabout in the  back garden against your best mate , where you've been kicking the ball around all  day, but you kept going until a goal in a final game completed a  21 goal decider  , to the extravagance  of parading a wee golden trophy in front of global billions as your nation salutes you.    And as younger (and older) players ourselves we recognised this, and every level in between, and appreciated and were loyal to the teams we played for, and those we supported. Yet football can also bring the other side of these emotions, especially when tragedy is involved.

And so it was a large proportion of the city of Glasgow watched a football match on January 2nd 1971.   

Both sets of fans wanted to win, to experience the cameraderie, the joy of watching football, and the triumphant joy of a win. 

The game itself ended in a draw, an exciting finish to the match had seen both teams score in the last few minutes. 

Yet the  majority of the crowd were probably satisfied, honour was intact on both sides, and there would be a chance to win again in future games. Most were content to go for a pint, or more importantly, go home and see their friends and loved ones.

But unfortunately on that evening fate dealt a horrible blow to those football fans, the football clubs, and many, many folk in Glasgow, Scotland and even further abroad. 

 

The Ibrox Disaster of January 2nd 1971 has been well documented. Many of us were around at the time and have our own stories. I would refer those who are interested in learning more to other sources, there are many accounts on line, there have also been documentaries and many photos of the time are available, many of them very poignant And I am hoping that many on here  will gladly contribute their thoughts and experience to this thread. 

It is now almost 50 year since the tragedy. Many died, many suffered major and minor injury. And the family, friends and aquaintences of the dead and injured suffered too. And we must always remember that many suffered a life time, and importantly there are still those amongst us who continue to suffer and grieve. 

Those who died and all those associated will always stand proud in our club's culture.

We will ensure they will never be forgotten. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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My mates dad was one of the 66. Some of the stories I've heard about that day are too horrible to write down on here.

Folk always seem to forget the first time fans died at our stadium too. 

These tragedies did lead to us having one of the best and safest stadiums in the UK so there was a silver lining.

 

RIP to every fan who lost their lives going to watch their team. 

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arrival

first season had a season ticket book, you were given the seat on arrival, that day we were sat in line with the penalty spot at broomloan end about 5 min.before the game started 3 priests appeared and sat down next to us .3 of us looked at each other,oh no,after about 5 min into the game one turned round and offered us a fag, i was the only one that smoked back then so i took one and thanked  him  after that we got talking turned out he was only a trainee but he was chaty so we got on ok. with about 5 mins to go he and his palls left just as stein scored we were shouting for them to come back but no way they were off.got back to the albert bar in q.  about 6 the bar man said you lads .had better get up the road its just been on the tele about the accvi9dent so we got of f  when i got in my next door neighbour was in  and in a bit of a panic.about 8.30 my wife heard him in the close his wife went for him big time but he had not heard anything ,his wife soon told him ,but at work on monday quite a few said they had heard nothing.. oh by the way the season  book then cost £7.

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Obviously know about it and what happened but don't actually know a lot about what actually happened that day. Obviously know a lot more about Hillsborough as its a lot more publicised and I have a mate who was there. His story about it is horrific, I knew he was a big Liverpool fan but didn't know he wad there until I seen him break down in tears when they got He's not heavy he's my brother to number one. The Bradford fire is another horrific one and they tend to use it a lot in training videos for my work because some people in complete shock walked into the fire which sounds horrific.

I sometimes feel the Ibrox disaster's get dummed down compared to others. I duno if thats good or bad Tbh. Its history that should be talked about but it's also good that the people that were truly affected get to grieve in peace.

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I was 7  at the time, and had been pestering my parents to go to the football with my older brother,but i was always fobbed off even so i was being allowed to go to one of the minor games, in the future, that changed after the tragedy it was to be another couple of years before i was lifted over the turnstiles of the west enclosure, as a kid you dont understand these things you have your own selfish interest at heart, as you grow up the enormity of what happened starts to unfold as the years go by and you form a better appreciation of what happened so much so that i cant listen to elton john sing ing this song, i first seen this clip on the Rock and Roll years many moons ago but i have lifted it from youtube, it chokes me ,         its on the first 5 minutes                                               

 

 

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On 22/05/2020 at 10:39, bazman said:

I was 7  at the time, and had been pestering my parents to go to the football with my older brother,but i was always fobbed off even so i was being allowed to go to one of the minor games, in the future, that changed after the tragedy it was to be another couple of years before i was lifted over the turnstiles of the west enclosure, as a kid you dont understand these things you have your own selfish interest at heart, as you grow up the enormity of what happened starts to unfold as the years go by and you form a better appreciation of what happened so much so that i cant listen to elton john sing ing this song, i first seen this clip on the Rock and Roll years many moons ago but i have lifted it from youtube, it chokes me ,         its on the first 5 minutes                                               

 

 

Thanks for sharing this mate . I would imagine , it's had the same effect on many bears through the years 

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  • 2 weeks later...

A truly dreadul day - hard for those of this generation to understand how news of such a huge disaster could simply trickle through but thats exactly how it happened in these pre-social media days.

My brother & his mate Chub had gone to the game - my parents took me to the Hillhead cinema that night to see the Disaster movie Airport - unbeknown on our very doorstep a real life disaster was unfolding. It started in the cinema with a series of whispers which soon grew to a mass panic as relatives grew worried about loved ones.

Eventualy my father phone home from a public phone box and brought back the welcome news my brother & his mate were safe & well.

That joy was short lived when we heard that a young bear from the next street - David McGhee (14) had perished.

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That day had a major impact on my life as it finally put paid to religion for me.       I don't wish to dwell on what I did and saw that day but suffice to say that it doesn't get any easier every passing year.    The families of those who lost a loved one must go through hell every day.   My thoughts are with them.

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I still have a vivid memory of that tragic day that will live with me forever so here is my recollection of the disaster with the backstory from my perspective.

My pals and I went to Ibrox for the game, most of us were members of the Dennistoun RFC and the bus left from Aberdour St. as usual.  As it was an OF, we didn’t stand in our normal area that was in the Derry Shed near the small under stand entrance towards the away end so for OF games we moved and this time were up the back of the Copland Rd. end of the stadium.  As it got close to full time and they were ahead a few of the guys left early but me and my best mate Chan stayed right to the end and saw Colin Stein get the equaliser.  At full time we left by staircase 13 and everyone was in a great mood.  The staircase was absolutely crammed and I remember just behind us there was a guy on another guys shoulders celebrating, just as we reached the bottom of the stairway, my mate said to me to look back as there was this huge kind of clear area now with nobody visible but as it was 2nd January and dark by now we never thought anything about it.

We headed back to our supporter’s bus which was parked on Fairley St as normal and left for home without I think 3 people from the outgoing journey who always travelled together.  The bus home was in great spirits and we knew nothing of what had happened.  The bus dropped off as usual but gave me and my mate a lift home as it passed along my road on its way back to the depot.  I remember when I got off the bus my parents were standing at their front door in tears as they by then knew what had happened and told me, this was the first I knew of the disaster.  On the Sunday I found out that one of those who had tragically perished was William Summerhill who I think was 14 and was one our club members.

R.I.P. Billy

:rip:

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Great thread eejay. This tragedy is such an important part of our clubs history,  its 50th anniversary is going to mean so much to so many Bears.  Well done for making it and getting it pinned in its rightful place at the top of the forum.

 

I was working in Markinch today.  A wee town just about 6 miles from where i grew up and still live now. As usual when I come here I was thinking about the 5 young local boys who all died on stairway 13 that day.

I was only 5 years old when the disaster happened, but when I first heard of that terrible story, I remember thinking   that small close community must have suffered so much pain and heartache.  Every person in that town would have been touched and affected by it.

Nobody should go off to watch a football match and never return home to their familys due to some cruel accident. Especially someones child.  It was justso sad and unfair.

Since then,  Markinch has always  been a  place of reflection and quiet thought for me.  Today was no different.

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On 12/06/2020 at 19:36, BloodRunsBlue said:

Great thread eejay. This tragedy is such an important part of our clubs history,  its 50th anniversary is going to mean so much to so many Bears.  Well done for making it and getting it pinned in its rightful place at the top of the forum.

 

I was working in Markinch today.  A wee town just about 6 miles from where i grew up and still live now. As usual when I come here I was thinking about the 5 young local boys who all died on stairway 13 that day.

I was only 5 years old when the disaster happened, but when I first heard of that terrible story, I remember thinking   that small close community must have suffered so much pain and heartache.  Every person in that town would have been touched and affected by it.

Nobody should go off to watch a football match and never return home to their familys due to some cruel accident. Especially someones child.  It was justso sad and unfair.

Since then,  Markinch has always  been a  place of reflection and quiet thought for me.  Today was no different.

An awful, horrible and tragic event especially for the parents and family members of the 5 youngsters who passed away, nobody so young should ever be taken especially just for going to see their club play football.

R.I.P. lads, gone but not forgotten. 

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On 12/06/2020 at 19:36, BloodRunsBlue said:

Great thread eejay. This tragedy is such an important part of our clubs history,  its 50th anniversary is going to mean so much to so many Bears.  Well done for making it and getting it pinned in its rightful place at the top of the forum.

Thanks to Dummisoot for doing that for us 👌

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On 12/06/2020 at 19:36, BloodRunsBlue said:

Great thread eejay. This tragedy is such an important part of our clubs history,  its 50th anniversary is going to mean so much to so many Bears.  Well done for making it and getting it pinned in its rightful place at the top of the forum.

 

I was working in Markinch today.  A wee town just about 6 miles from where i grew up and still live now. As usual when I come here I was thinking about the 5 young local boys who all died on stairway 13 that day.

I was only 5 years old when the disaster happened, but when I first heard of that terrible story, I remember thinking   that small close community must have suffered so much pain and heartache.  Every person in that town would have been touched and affected by it.

Nobody should go off to watch a football match and never return home to their familys due to some cruel accident. Especially someones child.  It was justso sad and unfair.

Since then,  Markinch has always  been a  place of reflection and quiet thought for me.  Today was no different.

And that’s a brilliant post mate .👍

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12 hours ago, BallochBear said:

An awful, horrible and tragic event especially for the parents and family members of the 5 youngsters who passed away, nobody so young should ever be taken especially just for going to see their club play football.

R.I.P. lads, gone but not forgotten. 

Always reminds me of the documentary shown years ago .The mother of one of the boys from Markinch  telling her story .The pain in her recollection will haunt me forever .If you ever see this .It would make you greet

It had that effect on me  

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10 hours ago, eejay the dj said:

Always reminds me of the documentary shown years ago .The mother of one of the boys from Markinch  telling her story .The pain in her recollection will haunt me forever .If you ever see this .It would make you greet

It had that effect on me  

Saw it a few years back and you could just see the pure anguish of the mother so obviously haunted by it. As a father and grandfather I can sympathise but hopefully never experience that level of pain. Like you it brought me to tears. 

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I was 11. My dad and uncle were there in the main stand. I really thought they were going to surprise me with a ticket and I was gutted when I realized I wasn't going. Listened to the game on my transistor radio and remember running around the couch like a maniac when my favourite player Colin Stein equalized. I soon realized something was wrong. 

I remember that horrendous day so vividly. How time flies.

I knew a guy who's father died that day.

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On Dec. the 8th , one day after the Japanese had bombed Pearl Harbour , Franklin D. Roosevelt addressed the Members of the Senate and House of Representatives and the Nation and delivered his now famous "A Day that will Live in Infamy speech.

On the 2nd of January 1971 Rangers fans the World over suffered our very own Day that will live in Infamy.

I myself had attended my very first Old Firm game a few months before that at the ripe old age of 14 having lied about where i was going that day so instead of going to a Girl in my Class's birthday party i attended the League Cup Final and saw a young Derek Johnstone head home the winner that day.

So when the New Years game came around a few months later I bugged my late Father to let me go. "As long as you go on the supporters bus" was his answer and so off i went.

The only thing was i never went on the Supporters bus i , with a few friends , left Cumbernauld in the train and made our way to Ibrox that day.

I've never ever regretted telling a lie like i did that one to this very day.

The game itself wasn't really up to much , a back and forward affair , with the usual tensions and songs being sung. The one song i do remember the Rangers fans singing that day was The Northern Lights of old Aberdeen due to the fact that Aberdeen had beaten celtic the game before this one.

The Rangers end was jammed that day as well and the usual crowd sways were the norm. Fans of today can only watch TV coverage of terracing Football and wonder what it must have been like to stand and get caught up in those sways. It was exciting and terrifying at the same time.

celtic scored and we all thought that was that , and usually with it being so late in the game some fans would leave early to get a jump on the crowd spilling out after the game , but right from the kick-off Rangers moved down the left and a cross by Dave Smith was missed by Derek Johnstone and following up behind him was Colin Stein to ram the ball into the net.

The Rangers end exploded in joy , the final whistle blew , and so began our trek towards stairway 13 to catch the subway at Copland Rd. back into Buchanan St.

We got as far as the top of 13,,,,a few yards away from from Disaster and who knows what. I'll never ever forget to this day the look on the face of this one Rangers as he turned and was screaming for everyone to get back and waving his arms in the air. Gradually the rush of bodies subsided and we all kind of made our way back onto the terracing and over to stairway 19 singing and dancing without knowing of the carnage and devastation unfolding behind us on the stairs of 13.

We ended up walking back from Ibrox that day back into the City Centre and outside Central Station in bought a pink times which used to have last minute news flashes printed in the margin at the side of the paper in red ink and that is where i/we got our first clue that something had happened as it merely said 3 people killed at Ibrox.

We walked up to Queen Street Station and got the train back to Cumbernauld totally oblivious to what had happened. We did our usual and went for something to eat at the chip shop in Seafar , everyone who know's Cumbernauld at that time will know the old Chippy in Seafar , and as we were leaving this guy asked if we were at the game and we said yes. Only then did we learn of the death's of 66 Fans. Right away we were like we'd better get the fuck home as immediately we thought of our parents.

No cell phones in those days.

As my buddy and i headed home out of the cold misty fog that night we saw two shadows emerge. It was both our Mothers and you can only imagine the relief on their faces as they saw both of us walking towards them.

It was then that my Mother said to me you'd better go and find your father as he is away looking for me as each bus and train came in from Glasgow.

I've never been so scared in all my life as the lie i'd told earlier that day came well and truly back to haunt me and i'll never forget as i walked along the path towards the Town Centre and saw this figure emerge from the fog.

It was my Dad and i couldn't apologize enough to him but he was so happy to see me i think all the anger he had about the lie vanished in an instant.

My mates dad , who was at the game as well , was one of the ones who helped bring the dead and the injured down to the park behind the Rangers end goal. Now can you imagine what was going through his mind as he helped bring those bodies down and wondering if he'd find his son and/or sons friend in amongst them.

My Dad passed away two years ago at the age of 85 and even to this day i don't ever remember sitting down with him and having a conversation about that day , such was the trauma around it all.

As you can probably tell that day is etched in my memory forever , it is my Day of Infamy and many others , and it is a day we all should remember with the greatest of respect because no one should ever go to a game of Football and never go home.

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I mind being told the story by my dad who was there, said when he walked in the door that night the whole family was there waiting for him because the news reports would say "5 confirmed dead" then "12 confirmed dead" then "18 dead" then at some point they stopped listing the number of deaths.

It never really hit me the horror and terror those poor Bears must have faced until I saw the picture of the bent and twisted barricades, and imagining how they were bent and twisted by human bodies being pushed against them. I'd walked down stairs like many times as a child and thought that it would be impossible to break a steel barricade like that in anyway let alone with a human body, I can't imagine what it would have been like for those poor souls. Utterly horrifying.

I used to sit in the Club Deck when I was a kid and sometimes I'd be terrified walking up the stairs because in my childhood mind when I thought about the disaster I pictured the stand just falling down below people's feet and them falling down into darkness like Gandalf in Lord of the rings or something, the saddest part is the reality for the victims of the disaster was probably much worse than that.

But it gives me great pride knowing that these poor men women and children will never be forgotten by the Rangers family. They'll forever be in our hearts and minds and it's up to every Rangers fan to make sure their memory will never die and I'm certain it never will

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On 21/06/2020 at 01:53, King Jela said:

Chills reading this thread. 

It’s good to reflect Jela. Even if it pains us too .Some brilliant posts already .I’m sure their will be many more nearer the time .When many start to feel more sentimental 

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I was 21 years old when I attended that game with my brother and a pal.We were just outside the ground on our way to Copland Road  when we equalised,heard the roar of our fans and headed home totally unaware of what was unfolding until we got home.

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I was a young boy at the time and lived in the Govan Road facing Fairfields. I remeber all the ambulances going up and down towards the southern General. News was slow then and it was ages before i found out what had happened. Sad day.

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2 hours ago, semaj said:

I was a young boy at the time and lived in the Govan Road facing Fairfields. I remeber all the ambulances going up and down towards the southern General. News was slow then and it was ages before i found out what had happened. Sad day.

I was the same, I lived in Govan and we were at my grandparents and listened to the game on the radio then walked the few minutes home, must have passed your house. Still remember it was a foggy night and we started to hear ambulance sirens as the news started to filter through.

Three of my uncles were at the game, they all came down that staircase. Two were unscathed,  the third was caught up in the crush but got out. Never knew about that until he told me about it not long before he died, he kept it bottled up for over forty years. 

Over the years I’ve got to know three separate families who lost loved ones that day, I always think of them every 2nd January. We owe to all the victims to keep their memory alive as long as there is a Rangers and a Rangers support.

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