
Glasgow Rangers - Ibrox - South Stand 1 - Leitch - 1970s

by Legendary Football Grounds
Title
Glasgow Rangers - Ibrox - South Stand 1 - Leitch - 1970s
Artist
Legendary Football Grounds
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Photograph
Description
A ground at Ibrox has been the Rangers home since 1887 when they played on a site just east of the site of the current ground. The ground of their rivals Celtic was a much more advanced stadium so Rangers began development of what became Ibrox Park whilst playing on the adjacent site. Ground capacity was 40,000 but plans were already in the works for an expansion which would see capacity reach 75,000.
Archibald Leitch was in the early stages of his career as designer and engineer of stadia and was hired to design the terracing that would increase capacity to 75,000. The wooden terracing was approved by the city in March 1902 but tragedy struck in April when a section collapsed and 25 people were killed. The club removed the wooden terraces, decreasing capacity by two-thirds, and Leith designed earth bank terraces to replace the wooden structures raising capacity to 63,000 but Leitch’s most important work at the ground was to come.
Rangers asked Leitch to design a new Main Stand in the late 1920’s and when the stand was opened in 1929 it was one of the most magnificent in the world. The red brick structure is still in use today, renovated but maintaining its character. The earth bank terraces also continued to expand during this period and in 1938 a British league record for attendance was established when more than 118,000 watched a match against rivals Celtic. By the 1950’s safety legislation had reduced capacity to around 80,000.
Ibrox suffered another tragedy when 60 supporters were crushed on a stairway in 1971. Safety legislation and replacement of the earth terraces with stands reduced capacity to somewhere around 45,000 but renovations and construction since then have raised capacity to just under 60,000.
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January 14th, 2016
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