As Celtic prepare to take on Clyde this Sunday, many Hoops fans will be hoping to avoid the disaster of January 2006, when the Cumbernauld club shocked the Bhoys with a famous 2-1 victory. The result not only eliminated Celtic from the Scottish Cup, but it also handed Roy Keane a nightmare debut. However, most Celtic supporters won’t be aware of a considerably more serious disaster when the sides met in a league encounter in 1957.
On that occasion, a large and buoyant Celtic support made the shortest trip of the season to Shawfield Stadium (Clyde’s home until 1986). The ground is said to have been overflowing, with children needing to sit on top of the boundary wall at pitch side to avoid being crushed. The match got underway with the referee’s whistle momentarily punctuating the Celtic support’s fine rendition of Kevin Barry.
In the third minute, Neil Mochan, who scored a brace in the famous 7-1 demolition of Rangers that year, combined with the hat-trick hero from that famous day – Billy McPhail. McPhail found himself unmarked on the left-hand side of the area and took a touch inside on his right foot, before rifling into the roof of the net. Pandemonium ensued, in a momentarily joyous manner.
Suddenly, things turned sinister.
The crowd had surged with catastrophic effect. The weight of the huge Celtic support falling forward caused a mass pile up on the pitch side wall, which toppled the brick work and crushed the children, who had been sat on top of it. Screams of panic pierced the air as all available ambulance units were dispatched to the scene.
The game was halted immediately, but due to the fog being so severe, those on the side of the ground furthest from the collapse had no idea what was going on. It was only when police pleaded for help from spectators that people began to realise that something serious had happened.
Men from both supports urgently tried to lift sections of the wall to allow the buried children to escape. Try as they might, the sound of helpless tears caused horrifically distressing emotions and so the police intervened, utilising their training to show calm leadership. The fire brigade joined the effort, desperately doing all in their power to help.
One father was seen, head in hands, weeping as the horror unfolded before his eyes. His son was among the 12 children who had to be taken to hospital for treatment. Their ages were all between nine and 15. A 54-year-old man was also hospitalised, whilst a further 24 boys and 14 adults were treated for minor injuries.
Despite the macabre scene, play was resumed half an hour after the last ambulance left Shawfield. The players coped well in the circumstances, and Billy McPhail soon scored his second of the afternoon with an outrageous right footed strike into the top corner from an acute angle. The match looked to be all over in the 23rd minute, when Neil ‘Smiler’ Mochan belted a shot against the crossbar, which cannoned off a defender into the net. However, Clyde weren’t willing to give up yet. They responded with two quick fire goals to go into the break trailing 3-2.
Clyde started the second half on the attack but a fluent move on the counter saw McPhail round the keeper… only for the centre forward to miss an open goal. John Smith redressed matters for the Hoops when he extended Celtic’s advantage in the 57th minute, but plucky Clyde responded again, making the score 4-3 just after the hour mark. It took a beautiful volley by Sammy Wilson and a late second for Smith to confirm victory for Celtic. Those in hooped jerseys had certainly been made to fight for their 6-3 win, though the result had been secondary in the circumstances.
The day after the match, on Sunday 15 December, a test was carried out on a part of the wall that was still standing. 18 policemen stood on a ten-yard stretch of the wall without issue, but when they closed in to two yards, the wall shook and parts of it trembled. Clearly it was not fit for purpose, especially as there had been a 26,500-strong crowd bearing down upon it.
Unbearable anxiety hung over the city throughout the weekend, before there was a clamour to obtain a copy of the Monday newspapers. Devastatingly, the red tops told of a 12-year-old named James Ryan, who had not been as lucky as others at Shawfield. The child from Bridgeton had lost his life just minutes after seeing his hero score for the club he loved. The hospitalised fans were being visited by players of both teams when the sombre news was confirmed to the clubs, who immediately decided that they would send officials to the funeral.
A Fatal Accident Inquiry went ahead on 27 February 1958 and statements were taken in open court. Bizarrely, statements came from both the Rutherglen and Lanarkshire Police forces as 95% of Shawfield stadium was located in Lanarkshire, whilst the turnstyles fell within Glasgow. As such, the main man-power was supplied by Lanarkshire Police but both forces had been involved. Eventually, the jury returned a formal verdict that the accident had occurred ‘through the actions of an unruly element in the crowd’. The verdict failed to give closure on one of the saddest days in the history of Celtic Football Club.
Help raise money for Celtic Youth Development by joining the £1 weekly lottery and you could win up to £25,000 – just click on any one of the photographs below to join. Lots of our readers have already done so and they’re now doing their bit to help fund Celtic Youth Development that can deliver the stars of tomorrow and beyond. And you might even win a few bob too!
