History’s Top 15 Worst Soccer Disasters

There are a lot of soccer stadium disasters in the history of the sport. This is probably due to the fact that football is the most popular sport in the world. Hooliganism may play a small part in some, but we think the problems are mostly because stadiums are old, and they can’t keep up with the increasing amount of spectators. There is usually no orderly or logical setup for efficiently moving people inside them. It’s basically a free-for-all, and if the match is big enough, that could end in tragedy.

Sources for this article include: Wikipedia

Top 15 Worst Soccer Disasters

15. The First Ibrox disaster
Date: 5 April 1902
Location: Ibrox Stadium, Glasgow, Scotland
Death Toll: 25

What’s worse – the fact that a soccer tragedy occurred at Ibrox and people died, or that it happens enough times that you actually have to enumerate them?

On April 5th, 1902, 51 minutes into a match between Scotland and England, the back of the newly built West Tribune Stand collapsed due to heavy rainfall the previous night. Hundreds of supporters fell up to 40 feet to the ground below. 25 people died and over 500 people were injured.

The stand at the time was a wooden terracing with a steel girder frame. After the accident, stands were no longer made that way; they would from now on be supported with earthworks or concrete.

Sadly, Ibrox stadium was to see more tragedy in 1961 and 1971 (see #8 below).

14. Burnden Park Disaster
Date: 9 March 1946
Location: Burnden Park, Bolton, Manchester, England
Death Toll: 33

At Burnden Park, a game between the Bolton Wanderers and Stoke City was taking place when a wall collapsed, crushing spectators and starting a stampede which killed 33 people. More than 400 others were injured. The crowd was more than 85,000 people. The tragedy was thought to have started when some 20,000 fans locked outside broke down the gates and forced their way in. At the time, this was the biggest tragedy in British football history, until the Ibrox Park disaster at Rangers’ home ground in 1971 (see #8 below).

13. The Heysel Disaster
Date: 29 May 1985
Location: Heysel Stadium, Brussels, Belgium
Death Toll: 39

Hooliganism was the trigger for this tragedy among the worst soccer disasters. Back in 1984, when Liverpool F.C. (England) defeated Roma, the Liverpool fans were attacked by the Roma fans. So there was already bad blood between England and Italy when Liverpool faced off against Italy’s Juventus F.C. the following year. As for Heysel Stadium, it was old and outdated. Build in 1930, parts of the stadium were crumbling. But the 1985 European Cup Final was played there anyway, and about 60,000 fans crammed in the place.

About an hour before kickoff, Liverpool fans broke through a fence and attacked Juventus supporters. The Italian fans retreated, but there was a wall behind them, which soon collapsed. The retaining wall collapse killed 39 people and hurting hundreds more.

Juventus fans then started to riot, fighting against police with rocks and bottles. The game was still played despite what was going on, with Juventus eventually winning 1-0.

After the disaster, all English football clubs were placed under indefinite ban by the UEFA from all European competitions (lifted in 1990-91). The disaster has been called “the darkest hour in the history of the UEFA competitions.”

In 1995 the Heysel Stadium was demolished and the King Baudouin Stadium built in its place.

Trivia: the disaster was the subject of a song titled “38″ by the group Revolting Cocks.

12. Orkney Disaster
Date: 13 January 1991
Location: Oppenheimer Stadium, Orkney, South Africa
Death Toll: 42

South Africa is not immune from some of the worst soccer disasters. In the mining town of Orkney, during a pre-season game between the Kaizer Chiefs (the South African football club, not the British band!) and the Orlando Pirates, (from the township of Orlando in the South African city of Johannesburg, not the Florida town where people go to see Mickey Mouse!), 42 people died in a stampede after a Pirates fan attacked Chiefs supporters in the crowd with a knife. (They called the match a “friendly” – we’d hate to see what an unfriendly game looks like!) Most of the victims were trampled along riot-control fences that surround the field when panic set in and people tried to get away.

NYT:

11. Ellis Park Stadium Disaster
Date: 11 April 2001
Location: Ellis Park Stadium, Johannesburg, South Africa
Death Toll: 43

The lesson of the Orkney tragedy was not learned. Ten years after that event, on April 11th, 2001, spectators poured into the Ellis Park Stadium for another match between the Kaizer Chiefs and Orlando Pirates. There was already a 60,000 capacity crowd in the stadium, but reports suggest a further 30,000 fans were still trying to gain entry to the stadium. Reports also suggest that 120,000 fans were admitted.

As the crowd surged to gain seats, they spilled into the press boxes. The resulting stampede crushed 43 people to death. Apparently untrained security guards fired tear gas at the crowd, making the situation worse.

When it became apparent what had happened the match was halted and the crowd was dispersed. It was the worst sporting accident in South African history, beating out the Orkney incident by just one body. Hopefully, these two teams will stop trying to break their records.

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