Ibrox disaster remembered 40 years on from tragedy which claimed 66 lives

Jan 3 2011

Ibrox disaster

RELATIVES of victims joined representatives of Rangers and Celtic in marking the 40th anniversary of the Ibrox disaster in Glasgow on Monday.

A memorial service was held at the stadium to commemorate the 1971 tragedy which claimed the lives of 66 people.

It followed Sunday's poignant one minute silence which was observed impeccably by both sets of fans before the same fixture at the same ground.

The tragedy happened on January 2 1971 when fans were crushed on stairway 13 of Rangers home ground at the end of an Old Firm game.

An eight-year-old boy and five young teenagers from the Fife village of Markinch were among those who perished in the incident as thousands of supporters were leaving the ground. More than 200 other fans were injured.

Thousands of people attended Monday's memorial service. Relatives of the 66 victims placed posies of blue and white flowers at the stand as Rangers manager Walter Smith and former player John Greig read the names of the dead.

The 5000 people attending then fell silent for two minutes as they remembered those whose lives were lost in the disaster.

Celtic chairman John Reid, who attended along with manager Neil Lennon and chief executive Peter Lawwell, also laid a green and white wreath on behalf of the club and its fans.

The service was led by the Reverend Stuart MacQuarrie, who said the Ibrox disaster was a "personal tragedy" for the families left behind.

The Glasgow Philharmonic Male Voice Choir and the Salvation Army and Govan Citadel band led the crowd in the hymns The Lord is My Shepherd, Guide Me Oh Thou Great Jehovah and the Rangers anthem, Follow On.

Ahead of Sunday's match, both teams were led out by John Greig, who captained Rangers in the 1971 derby, and Billy McNeill, the Celtic captain of that era.

Both sets of players wore black armbands for the match.

Greig, 68, whose statue stands outside Ibrox as a permanent memorial to the disaster, last week recalled his memories of the tragic events of the day.

He said: "I was one of the last people to come out of the dressing room because I'd got a slight injury and had been getting some treatment.

"They started to bring one or two bodies into the dressing room. It's an unreal situation to see that.

"I walked down the tunnel again and saw all the bodies laid out at the side of the pitch. You couldn't comprehend at that stage just how serious it was.

"It was a cold foggy kind of day. It's something that will never leave me, it's etched on my mind.

"For somebody to go to a football match and never return must be a terrible thing to live with."

Rangers manager Walter Smith, who was there as a spectator in 1971, said Glasgow was united in grief following the tragedy.

He said: "Men, women and children lost their lives that day and they will never be forgotten by this club or our fans.

"They will also never be forgotten by the people of Glasgow who came together in the days and weeks following the disaster."

Rangers were trailing their great rivals 1-0 in the final minute of the 1971 derby when Colin Stein equalised.

At first, it was believed that fans leaving the ground before thefinal whistle had turned back when Stein scored in a sequence of events which caused the tragic scenes.

But afatal accident inquiry later determined all of the victims had been leavingthe ground.