What is the Safety of Sports Ground Act of 1975?

Answer 1

Following a fire at the Bradford City football grounds a committee examined the Safety of Sports Grounds Act 1975. They recommended that the Act be rewritten as the Fire Safety and Safety of Places of Sport Act. This gave more powers to the local building control authority and fire authority.

Answer 2

The act came about following several major accidents at safety grounds and it was brought to attention that the safety of sports grounds needed improving.

The Ibrox disaster in 1971 was the main trigger for the act to be imposed.

The disaster occurred on January 2nd 1971 at the end of a Rangers vs. Celtic game. After 89 minutes of goalless football Celtic took the lead and many Rangers fans left the stadium. However in the last seconds of the game Rangers scored an equalizer.

As the crowd was leaving the stadium barriers in one of the stadium stairways gave way cause a huge pile-up of spectators. The tragedy resulted in 66 deaths including many children. Most of the deaths were caused by suffocation with bodies being stacked as high as 6 feet.

At first there were speculation that the collapse was due to Rangers fans running back to the stadium after hearing cheers and colliding with fans coming down the stairway when the match ended. However in the official report it is stated that there was no truth in this speculation and that the all the fans were going the same way at the time of the collapse.