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Jock Stein and the Ibrox Stadium Disaster of 1971
In the midst of a big social disaster, it doesn’t matter what background you are from. Possibly the most difficult day in Jock Stein’s career as a manager, below helping and tending the dead and dying at Ibrox after the second big Ibrox Stadium disaster.
Jock Stein came from the mines of pre-war Lanarkshire and in that sense was no stranger to death and the dangers that accompanied such work. Mining communities were tough but they also bred a sense of togetherness and self help. When Jock Stein learned of what had happened after the game, he and several players went to do what they could.
Amid the chaos , the grief and the sheer numbness of the unfolding catastrophe Stein didn’t talk, he acted. He acted in a way that others should have done much earlier, to avoid the senseless loss of life. As he stood back and observed Stein saw the mindless folly of sectarianism reduced to its right place, a total irrelevance before the shrouded remains of the innocent.
Jock Stein did the right thing because what he knew was right, because of the values he had and what he stood for. He didn’t need to be lectured about what was right or what was wrong.
Background
The second major Ibrox disaster occurred on January 2, 1971 at the end of a Rangers vs 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 equaliser for Rangers.
As the crowd were leaving the ground, barriers on the stairway adjacent to passageway 13 gave way causing a massive chain-reaction pile-up of spectators. The tragedy resulted in the loss of 66 lives, many of whom were children – five of them schoolmates from the town of Markinch, in Fife.
Bodies were stacked as deep as six feet in the area. Over 200 other fans were injured. Initially it was speculated that fans leaving the ground turned back when they heard roars from the crowd. 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.
Quotes
“This terrible tragedy must help to curb the bigotry and bitterness of Old Firm matches. When human life is at stake this kind of hatred seems sordid and little. Fans of both sides will never forget this disaster.”
(Jock Stein from the Celtic View on the Ibrox Disaster of 1971)