On January 2nd, 1971, Rangers and Celtic came together at Ibrox Stadium, Glasgow, to play in one of the world’s great football derbies, with 80,000 supporters attending. However, the football result that day was immaterial. This was because 66 Rangers fans were killed and around 200 injured in an accident on Stairway 13 at the Copland Road side of the ground.

In the immediate aftermath, many in Scotland shed tears and, in a then more Christian society, numerous religious services were held. The Ibrox Disaster of 1971 is one of the worst in British football history. Sitting between Hillsborough (1989) and Bradford (1985), it is the ninth most devastating stadium catastrophe in world football.

A prevalent view of the time is that after Jimmy Johnstone scored what looked like a late winner for Celtic, and with thousands of disappointed Rangers fans beginning to depart, Rangers’ Colin Stein scored an injury-time equaliser. Fans amongst those already departing via the steep slopes at the Copland Road side rushed back upwards to join their jubilant fellow supporters inside, only to be met by others moving downwards towards them. The monstrous collision and heaving of bodies led to massive crushing and asphyxiation. This resulted in the huge number of fatalities.

Nevertheless, this rather simple account of the tragedy was later discounted, evidence demonstrating the accident occurred several minutes after the final whistle and not immediately following Stein scoring. The sheer weight of numbers involved meant it was physically impossible for anyone to have turned around and go against the solid wall of spectators coming down the stairs.

It is almost certain that someone, maybe more than one, unsurprisingly stumbled going down the stairway, causing others to fall, with fans rapidly caving in on each other. With most departing supporters on the stairway not being able to see what was going on around them, a numbing crush rapidly developed and intensified. Critically, this resulted in the collapse of several steel barriers that ran up the centre of the stairway. Later eye-witness accounts testified to hearing the barriers creak and bend under the human weight and pressure. There was no escape for many caught up in the crush and 66 people died horrific deaths.

With the unfolding tragedy being largely out of sight and evolving over the course of several minutes, most fans left by other exits and headed into the cold winter evening. The players disappeared up the tunnel with a mixture of delight and disappointment at the score. Few people knew what was unfolding on Stairway 13. Delighted their team had equalised, many Rangers fans departed through other gates unaware their fellow supporters were dying. Likewise, some of the players didn’t know what had happened either.

As match stewards, policemen and soon to arrive medical assistance began to descend on the scene, they discovered many fans already dead. Others injured and dying began receiving treatment, some life-saving. From the piles of bodies heaped on top of one another, many were subsequently carried from the stairway back towards the pitch and dressing rooms. Gradually, the dead were harrowingly laid out in a line on the playing field, their bodies covered with jackets and coats.

Photographs show Rangers manager, Willie Waddell, and Celtic counterpart, Jock Stein, helping the emergency services treat the injured as the dressing rooms were turned into makeshift casualty wards... and morgues.

Fathers, brothers, sons, cousins, nephews, son-in-laws, grandfathers, grandchildren were lost forever that day. There was one female amongst the dead too, 18-year old Margaret Ferguson. The loss included 31 teenagers, five of whom were from the same village in Fife. Nine-year-old Nigel Pickup from Liverpool also died.

When the magnitude of the disaster unfolded, the country went into a state of shock. Messages of sympathy came from all over the world, along with promises of financial assistance for the victims’ families. US president Richard Nixon sent condolences as did political leaders in New Zealand, Germany and elsewhere. Pope Paul VI also expressed his sympathies for the casualties, one of many religious leaders to lend a voice to the tributes.

The emotional distress continued as over the following days Rangers players attended a succession of funerals for the victims. On the Saturday after the game, a memorial service attended by more than 3,000 mourners and watched by millions on television took place at Glasgow’s Church of Scotland Cathedral.

At St Andrew's Catholic Cathedral in Glasgow, Archbishop James Scanlon celebrated Mass for the deceased. This was attended by the Celtic first team, directors and representatives of the Celtic Supporters’ Association. Joining also, were Rangers manager Willie Waddell, captain John Greig, numerous players and representatives from the Rangers Supporters’ Association. Rangers players, officials and fans were traumatised.

In its wake, Glasgow’s Lord Provost Sir Donald Liddle, who had been at the match, set up a fund to raise money for those who suffered financially.

Rangers and Celtic both contributed large sums, while there were donations from other clubs around the world. Afterwards too, Rangers and Celtic came together to play a game to raise funds for the victims' families, when a combined team took on a Scotland XI at Hampden watched by 81,405 fans.

As the 1970s proceeded, and in response to the enquiries and various other critical evaluations, Ibrox Stadium was renovated, the development inspired by that of Borussia Dortmund’s 1974 World Cup Westfalenstadion in Germany. In the 1980s, the new all-seater Ibrox was one of the best in Britain.

Lord Wheatley’s review of safety at all British football grounds resulted in the 1975 Safety of Sports Grounds Act which enshrined his recommendations in law. If a club did not meet standards, they would not be granted a stadium safety certificate. The Ibrox Disaster demonstrated in the most tragic way imaginable that football had a responsibility for the well-being and safety of supporters.

However, despite the transformation of Ibrox, it took the Bradford Stadium fire of 1985 and the Hillsborough disaster of 1989 to finally convince the rest of British football that the Victorian conditions endured by supporters, especially the mass standing terraces, were no longer acceptable.

The victims of the Disaster received apposite recognition by the club when, on the 30th anniversary, a plaque displaying the names of each person killed in 1971 was unveiled at Ibrox. So also, plaques were raised to remember those killed in two other Ibrox disasters – one at a Scotland game in 1902 when a newly-built stand collapsed and killed 25, and another at a Rangers game in 1961, when two fans were crushed on Stairway 13.

The last thing people expect to see when a loved one departs for a football match is that they never return. The pain and suffering of those that died, those who survived, and the many family and friends connected to all concerned, was, and for many still is, profound.

On January 2nd, 2021, all connected to Rangers, Celtic, and Scottish football and society, should pause to recall this terrible tragedy of 50 years ago, and to remember its victims with the dignity they deserve.

Celtic remembers the victims of the 1971 Ibrox Stadium Disaster