An unfortunate ‘1946 Burnden Park’ disaster that swallowed a number of lives
Almost 65 years ago, a football match was played that swallowed more than two dozen lives and left nearly 400 injured. It will surely be remembered as one of the worst ever disasters in the http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Sporting-89-c40576 history. The year was 1946 and the stage was the sixth
round of the FA Cup, a game between Bolton Wanderers and Stoke City, when a wall broke down causing a catastrophe that could not be rubbed off from the memories in decades that followed.
Both teams were competing in the second-leg of the quarter-finals after Bolton emerged out as 2-0 winners after the first-leg. The Potters certainly made a bright start to the game but the match was soon brought to a halt after a barrier was reported to
have collapsed with just 12 minutes into the match.
A crowd of 65,000 supporters was present inside the stadium and another 20,000 were believed to be waiting outside the locked gates of the stadium. All those people could not wait to get inside and started pushing one another as a result, causing the crush
barriers to collapse. A large wave of supporters stormed inside the ground raising concerns for the stadium officials and the security personals. The already present spectators were unable to bear the pressure and a stampede broke out, killing a number of
fans and injuring hundred others.
At first, both the referee and the players were unaware of the situation and the match carried on until a security personal intervened. Referee, George Dutton, had to stop the game after he was told about a spectator’s death. Both captains of that time,
Harry Hubbick and Neil Franklin, after some mutual consultation agreed to stop the match until the situation eased out.
Former Stoke City’s right wing-back, Stanley Matthews, was also present in that game, was quoted as saying:
"As we trotted on to the pitch I noticed the crowd was tightly packed, but this was nothing unusual at a big cup-tie. Our boys began well, and after ten minutes we had reason to feel confident as we were having the best of the game. It then happened! There
was a terrific roar from the crowd, and I glanced over my shoulder to see thousands of fans coming from the terracing behind the far goal on to the pitch."
He died at the age of 85 in February 2000, 54 years after the incident.
Both teams marched off into the dressing room with Stoke still two goals adrift. At that time, several people were reported to be dead which caused a wave of panic in both the dressing rooms. Both set of players were in no condition to play but were asked
to resume by the Chief Constable of Bolton, after almost 30 minutes of stoppage.
As the players were coming back on to the field, one of the spectators got hold of a Stoke player in anger and shouted at him for continuing with the game. He, though, managed to get away from that incident and the match was finally completed amidst heartbreaking
tragedy.
After the match, Stanley Matthews told the reporters, "In our dressing-room again we heard more rumours about the increasing number of casualties. Yet it was not until I was motoring home that evening that the shadow of the grim disaster descended on me
like a storm-cloud."
It was a disaster which still revolves fresh in the memories of thousands of fans but had the stadium authorities taken timely action, the “Bolton Disaster” would not have become one of the most horrifying incidents in footballing history.
Tags: