Science Fair Project Encyclopedia
Ibrox disaster
There have been two accidents leading to major loss of life at Ibrox Stadium (formerly Ibrox Park) in Glasgow, Scotland.
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First Ibrox disaster
On April 5, 1902, during a Scotland-England British Home Championship match, a section of terracing at the back of the West Stand collapsed. Hundreds of supporters fell up to 40 feet (12 m) to the ground below. 26 people died and over 500 were injured.
The stand at the time consisted of wooden terracing supported by a steel girder frame. Following the accident such frameworks were discredited, and replaced throughout the United Kingdom by terracing supported by earthworks or reinforced concrete.
Second Ibrox disaster
The second incident occurred on January 2, 1971 at the end of a Rangers-Celtic game. After 89 minutes of scoreless football, Celtic took a 1-0 lead, and many Rangers supporters left the stadium. However, in the last seconds of stoppage time, Colin Stein scored an equalizer for Rangers.
As the crowd was leaving the ground, barriers on Stairway 13 gave way, causing a massive chain-reaction pileup of spectators. Initially it was speculated that fans who were leaving the ground just before the end turned back when they heard roars from the crowd when Stein scored the equalizer, and collided with fans leaving the ground when the match ended. The official inquiry into the disaster indicated that there was no truth in this hypothesis, all the spectators were going in the same direction at the time of the collapse. However the "myth of the Stein goal" became widely believed for many years after the disaster
The tragedy resulted in the loss of 66 lives, many of them children; bodies were stacked as deep as six feet in the area. Over 200 other fans were injured.
See also
External links
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