IT is now 50 years since I skirted close to a tragedy and yet knew nothing about it until much later. On January 2 1971, my brother Gerry and myself found ourselves at the wrong end of the ground at Ibrox Park for the New Year Old Firm derby.
We had let ourselves in courtesy of the gates being open at half time. We had been travelling from Glasgow city centre and I thought “let’s see the second half of the game”. We climbed the stairs to the top and watched from the back of the terrace, looking over the mass of Rangers supporters sweeping down to the park – two Celtic supporters misplaced, but with no colours.
READ MORE: Hugh MacDonald: The Ibrox disaster: Stairway 13 and the changing face of football
It was a cold, dreich day, which even the tensions of an Old Firm Derby could not warm. Mist made watching a chore, as the far goal, Celtic’s goal in this second half, was often obscured and players were often indistinguishable from one another.
It was not a pleasant setting but we stuck it out, until I said to Gerry, “this is a draw, let’s go before the crowds”. We turned round and trotted down those steep stairs from the terracing with rattling metal handrails, and some other supporters had the same idea as us. The stairs fell away very steeply to accommodate the crowds leaving, and as students of architecture we ironically casually passed comment about this.
We had hardly gone any distance from the bottom of the stairs than a distant dull roar could be heard. “Celtic have just scored”, I said to Gerry. “Why Celtic?”. He asked. “It’s coming from the Celtic End the far end.”
READ MORE: I went down stairway 13 on the day of the Ibrox disaster
We’d missed the goal. Within a matter of seconds a driver in a parked car shouted to a nearby supporter “Colin Stein” in answer to “who scored?” I apologised to Gerry, saying I was certain it had been Celtic’s goal, and was obviously disappointed at that. Celtic had in fact scored through Jimmy Johnstone , followed quickly by a Colin Stein goal from kick-off.
Little did we know at that moment a terrible tragedy was beginning to unfold on those stairs only yards from us, and which we only became aware of when back home. Could we possibly have made a small difference in helping people, had we knew what was happening so close by? Football was put in perspective.
Matthew Kavanagh
Paisley
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