Stairway 13 - The Story of the 1971 Ibrox Disaster.
Paul Collier & Donald S. Taylor
The Bluecoat Press, £6.99
This is a very difficult book to read, and to review it requires more than a little detachment. I was not yet born on the day so many lives were tragically taken: those men, so many young boys, and one solitary teenage girl. But the disaster of 1971 can hardly have failed to impact upon the life and footballing experience of anyone who was there or who has ever heard the tale.
Now we have a book that seeks to give voice to those who experienced the horror of that day, and to explain it from the point of view of everyone in the city and beyond who felt the consequences. The central thesis, to dispel the myths surrounding the disaster, may appear old news to some but the testimony of those who were there, including many survivors directly involved with some putting down their thoughts on paper for the first time, holds a power strong enough to make this work worthwhile.
The terrible events of January 2nd 1971 were, of course, not an isolated incident, either at Ibrox or in the world of football. The preface paints a sorry picture of tragedies at games around the globe: from riots in South America to the saddening events at Bradford and Sheffield in more recent times. But, of course, Ibrox Stadium has borne the suffering of calamity on more than one occasion – the first Ibrox disaster of 1902 claimed the lives of twenty five spectators, and during the 1960s three separate incidents in less than a decade would result in many being injured and the tragic loss of two lives. Yet, this was not to be the saddest day at the famous ground.
The fatal accident inquiry covers adequately the events of that day, from a dry perspective. Where this book scores a direct emotional hit is in the recollections of the people who were involved. All, from journalists to fans, seem to dwell on the fog, the cold weather and the effect this had on the match; of course, it also fits the mood that descended upon Rangers, and Scottish Football, in the aftermath. But if some contributions are heartbreaking, more on that momentarily, others strike a peculiarly atonal chord: John Burrowes, then News Editor at the Sunday Mail, speaks of the doom of losing a Ne’erday match as “like having a death in the family” and later makes mention of “vile sentiments and language” from the Rangers Members’ section, scoffing at them celebrating the last minute goal, and lambasting them for being as bad as elsewhere in the ground. It seems a little out of place, to say the least.
But other tales require the close proximity of a bookmark and handkerchief. The emotional bite of this book rather negates the likelihood of a one sitting read, and I defy anyone to remain unmoved. One such, tragic example is the story of Matthew Reid, an account of a boy who was caught in a surge forward, and separated from his father, who was only at the game because Matthew bought some tickets and had finally bullied him into attendance. He never again saw his father alive and suffered the loss of both feet to amputation. The vivid memory of being in hospital, and having the curtains drawn around his bed, in anticipation of the entrance of a police officer coming to inform him of his father’s death, is a choking moment.
Other stories are equally moving; the memory of Andy Ewan, trapped under lifeless bodies, slowly losing all breath and hope, clinging on to the chance that he could be released in time; the report of the Celtic fan from the small town of Markinch, who lost all five of his Rangers supporting friends on that day; the reconstruction of the day’s events from the point of view of the four year old Craig Smith, whose daddy kissed him goodbye to go to a football game and never came home. These, and many others, are the clear strong points of the book.
There is, by necessity, a little bit of repetition when it comes to the opinions of the emergency services, the Fourth Estate, and those who actually played in the game. But from all come the sense of utter disbelief, and the raw impact of the dozens of bodies lain out on the pitch and later in makeshift mortuaries. Rangers manager Willie Waddell, who did so much in the days and months after the disaster, is afforded a short profile, and there is an appendix with some footballing details of the time and a word on the players of the day.
Rangers were exonerated of blame for the disaster itself, but the inquiry did not cover the Club in glory, and the later civil suit brought against Rangers contained some very harsh words in the judgement in favour of the claimant. A recent government release of records shows that the council desire to upgrade safety measures at all of Glasgow’s grounds had been turned down by central government, which claimed that legislation to upgrade grounds was not a matter of priority. Stairway 13 had been a source of problems in the past and, with the level of crushing involved, the inquiry noted that such a dark day was always a very real possibility.
The only good thing to come from that day was the stadium rebuilt in honour of those who suffered and perished. The authors have created a work that clearly reiterates and decisively confirms the true story of the second of January 1971, and presents an emotional and hard-hitting account of the period and how it still affects the lives of many to this day. To recommend it may seem a little macabre, but it deserves to be read.