Football disasters

At least 74 people have been killed and hundreds injured in a riot after a football match between two of Egypt’s top teams - Port Said’s al-Masry and Cairo’s al-Ahly (flag pictured above).   Al-Masry won the game, and at the final whistle their fans invaded the pitch and attacked rival players and supporters, while part of the stadium was set on fire.

Although some rioters were said to have been armed with knives and metal bars, most injuries appear to have been caused by a stampede of spectators desperate to escape from the ground.

Some observers are claiming that the normal police presence for a match of this kind had been scaled down, and there are theories that there may have been some kind of concerted attack on al-Ahly fans, who are seen as having been in the forefront of recent protests against the security forces.

The world’s worst football disaster came in Lima in 1964, when a goal was disallowed in the last minute of an Olympic qualifying match between Peru and Argentina.   More than 300 people died as a riot in the stadium spread into the centre of the city.     There too, many of those killed were crushed trying to escape the trouble.

(See also my blogs of February 6 and March 30, 2009, January 2, 2010.)

Ibrox 1971

On this day….39 years ago, two goals in the last couple of minutes of the traditional New Year Glasgow football derby between Rangers and Celtic at Ibrox Park precipitated a disaster. Crowds drifting away early suddenly turned and tried to go back into the ground.

The result was a terrible crush on Staircase 13 in the north-east corner of the stadium. As fans began falling, one eyewitness said it was as though people were “disappearing down a big hole.” People in the crush talked about being literally swept off their feet and carried along until there was a big bang and one of the banisters gave way.

Soon the steps were covered with the bodies of the dead and injured and with shoes and items of clothing torn off in the melee. Altogether 66 people were killed in what was then the worst disaster at a British football ground. Today there is a memorial at the ground and you can read the full story of the disaster in A Disastrous History of Britain.

Probably the worst football disaster of all time came at the Olympic qualifying tie of May 24, 1964 between Peru and Argentina in Lima. More than 300 people were killed when a riot broke out after Peru had a “goal” disallowed. See also my 2009 blogs of January 13 and March 30.