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There have been two accidents leading to major loss of life at Ibrox Park in Glasgow, Scotland.
First Ibrox disaster
On April 5, 1902, during a Scotland-England international 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 Britain 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, Rangers equalized.
Shortly after the equalizer, barriers on Stairway 13 gave way, causing a massive chain-reaction pileup of spectators. Initial reports indicated that fans who were leaving the ground turned back once they heard about the equalizer and collided with fans leaving the ground. However, the official inquiry into the disaster indicated that all the spectators were going in the same direction at the time of the collapse.
The tragedy resulted in the loss of 66 lives; bodies were stacked as deep as six feet in the area. Over 200 other fans were injured.
See also
External links
- BBC News report (http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/january/2/newsid_2478000/2478305.stm)
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