Reply With QuoteThat was a hard read almost hard to believe the stance Rangers took.Originally Posted by uncle bob
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That was a hard read almost hard to believe the stance Rangers took.
Same stance as South Yorkshire Police isnt it in relation to Hillsborough?
Excellent article.
His description of being carried pinned between others and feet not touching the ground happened to me at Ninian, during & after the '69 cup tie against Arsenal, 52000 in NP was a squeeze, exhilarating but very frightening for a 9 year old.
Very graphic wasn't it. Almost like being there. I'm fairly sure that most of us have been caught up in a crush. Regular occurrence at the end of rgg internationals - advice given to me as a lad was to go with the flow and keep your head up.
Same here and at the same game. In the Grange End.
Well written article and quite a harrowing description of his experience.
Not sure I had ever heard of it.
I remember it well, strange how it was sort of shrugged off so quickly.
Can't remember the games but had a couple of similar experiences. Scary but a rush!
Me too, from the boys' enclosure at the front of the Grange End. Pulled out and put back in further along towards the corner of the Bob Bank. I was 13 and it was only my 5th game. I lost a shoe. Very scary. 55000+ there too.
This tragic disaster happened at the end of a local derby infamous for its religious intolerance. This intolerance, indirectly to this disaster , raised its ugly head again some years later. The inquiry into safety at football grounds that resulted from the Ibrox Disaster was headed by eminent Scottish advocate Lord Wheatley. Wheatley was a devout Catholic. When he died in 1988 his old friend and colleague, the Lord Chancellor, Lord Mackay of Clashfern, attended his funeral. Lord Mackay was a member of the Free Presbyterian Church of Scotland which was doctrinally opposed to Catholicism. On discovering that Lord Mackay had attended the funeral of his old friend, the Free Presbyterian Church suspended him for “showing support for the doctrine of Roman Catholicism”. A year later the Synod of the FPSC met again, confirmed their decision and asked him to undertake not to attend and further Catholic services of any description. He refused and left the FPCS. I suppose I shouldn’t be surprised but I was at the time
I can remember two examples of Rangers making the national news on a Saturday night from my youth, the first was when they lost to Berwick Rangers in the Scottish Cup and the second was the Ibrox disaster, but I didn't realise just how culpable the club were until I read that excellent article. I was aware of the incident where the writer had been injured some years earlier, but didn't realise it was as serious as that - it's a disgrace, but not too much of a surprise, that Rangers seemingly did little or nothing to address the stairway 13 problem.
Others have mentioned crushes they encountered at Ninian Park, but when you look at the photos of that stairway at Ibrox, I'm thankful that City had what I'd say was a pretty safe ground for the time with the huge Bob Bank terrace not being too steep with large exit areas. The Grange End was probably more dangerous with narrower exits, a steeper terrace and that area under the stand, but overall, the ground's relative flatness must have helped when it came to safety.
I'm surprised to read that this tragedy is described as 'forgotten'.
My memory is like a sieve, but I recall it happening, the reason (fans trying to get back into the stadium after a goal was scored late on) and even the death toll.
Thinking about it, I remember quite vividly many of football's tragedies. I was watching BBC at home that Saturday afternoon when the Bradford fire happened. They showed a lot of live footage.
Heysel, of course (the terrible, grey faces of those poor Italian fans).
One other incident I well remember was the death of Jock Stein - though I had forgotten it was at Ninian Park. The TV cameras were facing the dugouts and there was suddenly a lot of activity around them - people milling around, but not aggressively. It was clear something major had happened. Wiki says this was at the end of the game - but that is not my memory - it was during the match.
I guess its the "Where were you when you heard....." syndrome.
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