October 17, 1987: The Old Firm's "Shame Game"

October 17, 1987: What might be the nastiest match in the history of what might be the world's nastiest sports rivalry takes place. It became known as "The Shame Game."

Rangers Football Club was founded in 1872, as a soccer team for the Protestant citizens of Glasgow, Scotland. Their arch-rivals are Celtic Football Club, a team founded in 1888, by and for Irish Catholics living in Glasgow. The former's Ibrox Stadium, on the west side of Glasgow, and the latter's Celtic Park, on the east side, are separated by just 5 miles -- but, Cliché Alert: They might as well be on opposite sides of the world.

These 2 teams -- Rangers, in blue shirts, like their counterparts in New York hockey and Texas baseball; and Celtic, in green and white stripes, giving them the nickname "The Hoops" -- have dominated Scottish soccer, and, together, are known as "The Old Firm."

But perhaps no 2 teams in all of sport hate each other as much, because religion is thrown into the mix. It has made both teams much bigger than they ordinarily would have been. Celtic, not the University of Notre Dame, are the most famous Catholic-themed sports team in the world. They, not Notre Dame and not the Boston Celtics, are the most famous Irish-themed sports team in the world. They can call upon that heritage in ways that Rangers have tried to do with the world's Protestants, but just can't.

This game, at Ibrox, followed a 1-0 Celtic win at Celtic Park on August 29, and was truly nasty. An altercation after 17 minutes between Celtic's Frank McAvennie and Rangers goalkeeper Chris Woods resulted in both being shown red cards, thus getting sent off. Rangers defenders Terry Butcher and Graham Roberts were also involved, with Butcher receiving a yellow card for dissent. This was a time when teams were limited to naming 2 possible substitutes, and didn't use one of them on a goalkeeper, resulting in position players having to occasionally take the goalie's place, as Roberts did in this case.

Andy Walker scored in the 33rd minute, and an own goal by Butcher 2 minutes later made it 2-0 Celtic. Things got worse for Rangers early in the 2nd half, when Butcher received a 2nd yellow card, resulting in a sendoff, and Rangers were down to 9 men. But in the 65th minute, Ally McCoist, perhaps Rangers' greatest player ever, scored to pull them to within 2-1. And in the 90th minute, Richard Gough tied it up.

After the final whistle, Roberts walked over to the fans, and waved his fans, who took this to mean he was "conducting" their singing; songs which included anti-Catholic chants, infuriating the Celtic fans.

Three days later, the Procurator Fiscal ordered a Police enquiry into the events of the match. The Rangers trio of Woods, Butcher and Roberts, and Celtic's McAvennie, were later charged with breach of the peace, and appeared at Court. After a trial lasting several days, Butcher and Woods were convicted and fined, Roberts was found "not proven" (a verdict that exists in courts in Scotland, but not in "England and Wales" or in the United States), and McAvennie was found not guilty.

The teams usually play on or close to New Year's Day, and on January 2, 1988, Celtic won 2-0 at Celtic Park. On March 20, they played at Ibrox again, and Celtic won, 2-1. Celtic won the title with 72 points, 10 ahead of Edinburgh-based Heart of Midlothian (a.k.a. "Hearts"), and 12 ahead of Rangers. Celtic also won the Scottish Cup, beating Dundee United in the Final. Rangers fans had to be content with the Scottish League Cup, including a Final win over Aberdeen.

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October 17, 1987 was a Saturday. Game 1 of the World Series was played, the 1st Series game ever played indoors. Dan Gladden and Steve Lombardozzi backed Frank Viola with home runs, and the Minnesota Twins beat the St. Louis Cardinals, 10-1 at the Metrodome in Minneapolis.

By a weird turn of events, the song "U Got The Look" peaked at Number 2 n Billboard magazine's Hot 100 singles chart on this date. The song was written and performed by Prince, a Minneapolis native, and contains the line, "Boy versus girl in the World Series of love."

Among the college football games played on the day were these:

* Number 1 Oklahoma beat Kansas State, 59-10 at KSU Stadium (now Bill Snyder Family Stadium) in Manhattan, Kansas. Oklahoma had an undefeated regular season, and won the Big 8 Conference title.

* Number 2 Nebraska beat Number 12 Oklahoma State, 35-0 at Lewis Field (now Boone Pickens Stadium) in Stillwater, Oklahoma. Nebraska were undefeated and ranked Number 1, until November 21, when they lost to Number 2 Oklahoma, costing them the Big 8 title and a shot at the National Championship. They were invited to the Fiesta Bowl, anyway.

* Number 3 University of Miami had the week off. They were then an independent, and thus ineligible for any Conference Championship. The season before, they had gone into the Fiesta Bowl at Number 1, but lost the National Championship to Number 2 Penn State. This time, they again went undefeated in the regular season, were ranked Number 2, played in the Orange Bowl, at their home venue, the Orange Bowl stadium, and beat Number 1 Oklahoma to win the National Championship.

* Number 4 Florida State beat the University of Louisville, 32-9 at Doak Campbell Stadium in Tallahassee, Florida. Florida State were then an independent, and thus ineligible for any Conference Championship. Two weeks earlier, they had lost to the University of Miami, costing them a shot at the National Championship. They were invited to the Fiesta Bowl, where they beat Nebraska.

* Number 5 Auburn beat Georgia Tech, 20-10 at Grant Field in Atlanta. Auburn had been tied by Tennessee 3 weeks earlier, and would lose a non-conference game to Florida State 3 weeks later. But they still went undefeated in Southeastern Conference play, and thus won the league title.

* Number 6 Louisiana State University beat Kentucky, 34-9 at Tiger Stadium in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. A loss to Alabama 3 weeks later cost them the SEC title and a shot at the National Championship.

* Number 7 Clemson beat Duke, 17-10 at Memorial Stadium in Clemson, South Carolina. Clemson won the Atlantic Coast Conference title.

* Rivalry: Number 8 Tennessee were upset by Alabama, 41-22 at Legion Field in Birmingham, Alabama. This loss in their annual 3rd Saturday in October contest with 'Bama cost Tennessee a shot at the SEC title, and they ended up going to the Peach Bowl, where they beat Indiana.

* Number 9 UCLA beat Number 16 Oregon, 41-10 at the Rose Bowl in the Los Angeles suburb of Pasadena, California.

* Number 10 Penn State were upset by Number 13 Syracuse, 48-21 at the Carrier Dome (now the JMA Wireless Dome) in Syracuse, New York. Syracuse were an independent, so there was no Conference Championship for them to win. But they were undefeated in the regular season, and were invited to the Sugar Bowl, where they played Auburn to a tie. Nevertheless, they went into that game at Number 4, and would not have had a chance at the National Championship. Penn State were invited to the Florida Citrus Bowl, and lost to Clemson.

* Rivalry: Number 15 Arkansas were upset by Texas, 16-14 at War Memorial Stadium in Little Rock, Arkansas.

* Number 19 Michigan State beat Northwestern, 38-0 at Ryan Field in the Chicago suburb of Evanston, Illinois. (Due to force of habit, I originally typed that as "the Chicago cuburb.")

* The University of Southern California beat the University of Washington, 37-23 at Husky Stadium in Seattle. Neither team was ranked at the time. USC won the Pacific-10 Conference title. Michigan State pulled off a rare feat in college football, even rarer in those pre-Playoff, pre-BCS days: They beat a team twice in one season, opening the year by beating USC, and ending it by beating them again in the Rose Bowl.

* Rivalry: North Carolina beat North Carolina State, 17-14 at Carter-Finley Stadium in Raleigh, North Carolina.

* Texas A&M, then unranked, beat Baylor, 34-10 at Baylor Stadium (later Floyd Casey Stadium) in Waco, Texas. A&M went on to win the Southwest Conference, and beat Notre Dame in the Cotton Bowl.

* Among the service academies, Army lost to Colgate, 22-20 at Michie Stadium in West Point, New York; Navy beat the University of Pennsylvania, 38-28 at Franklin Field in Philadelphia; and Air Force lost to Number 11 Notre Dame, 35-14 at Falcon Stadium in Colorado Springs, Colorado.

* And Rutgers beat Boston College, 38-24 at the old Rutgers Stadium in Piscataway, New Jersey.

The NBA season hadn't started yet. There were 9 games in the NHL:

* The New York Rangers lost to the Washington Capitals, 4-3 at the Capital Centre in the Washington suburb of Landover, Maryland.

* The New York Islanders lost to the Philadelphia Flyers, 4-3 at the Nassau Coliseum.

* The New Jersey Devils lost to the Hartford Whalers, 4-3 at the Hartford Civic Center (now the PeoplesBank Arena). Sylvain Turgeon, who would play the 1989-90 season with the Devils, scored the winning goal for the Whalers, with 1:01 left in overtime.

* The Buffalo Sabres beat the Quebec Nordiques, 6-3 at the Colisée de Québec.

* The Montreal Canadiens beat the Pittsburgh Penguins, 3-2 at the Montreal Forum.

* In an "Original Six" matchup, the Toronto Maple Leafs beat the Detroit Red Wings, 7-4 at Maple Leaf Gardens in Toronto.

* The Winnipeg Jets beat the Minnesota North Stars, 5-2 at the Metropolitan Sports Center in the Minneapolis suburb of Bloomington, Minnesota.

* The Chicago Blackhawks beat the St. Louis Blues, 3-2 at the St. Louis Arena.

* And the Edmonton Oilers beat the Boston Bruins, 4-3 at the Northlands Coliseum in Edmonton. This turned out to be a preview of the Stanley Cup Finals, where the Oilers swept the Bruins.

January 2, 1971: The Ibrox Disaster

Stairway 13 after the disaster

January 2, 1971: The Ibrox Disaster occurs, at Ibrox Park in Glasgow, Scotland. (It was renamed Ibrox Stadium in 1997.) There were 66 deaths, over 200 injuries.

The stadium opened in 1899, as the home of Rangers Football Club, a soccer team for the Protestant citizens of Glasgow. Their arch-rivals were Celtic Football Club, a team founded by and for Irish Catholics living in Glasgow.

These 2 teams -- Rangers, in blue shirts, like their counterparts in New York hockey and Texas baseball; and Celtic, in green and white stripes, giving them the nickname "The Hoops" -- have dominated Scottish soccer, and, together, are known as "The Old Firm."

But perhaps no 2 teams in all of sport hate each other as much, because religion is thrown into the mix. It has made both teams much bigger than they ordinarily would have been. Celtic, not the University of Notre Dame, are the most famous Catholic-themed sports team in the world. They can call upon that heritage in ways that Rangers have tried to do with the world's Protestants, but just can't.

There had previously been a disaster at Ibrox on April 5, 1902, during a British Home Championship match between Scotland and England that ended 1-1. A section of the newly built West Tribune Stand collapsed, killing 25 people and injuring about 500 others. In 1961, 2 people were killed in a crush on the narrow Stairway 13, the exit closest to Copland Road subway station. In 1967, 8 fans were injured there. In 1969, there was an incident there, injuring 26 people.

Ibrox Park, as it was named, and would have appeared, in 1971

On January 2, 1971, the teams took the pitch at Ibrox, and over 80,000 people attended. The game remained scoreless until the 90th minute, when Jimmy "Jinky" Johnstone, often regarded as Celtic's greatest player ever, scored. And so, thinking the game was sure to end in a 1-0 defeat, many of the Rangers fans got up to leave.

But in stoppage time, Colin Stein (like Celtic's manager, John "Jock" Stein, that's pronounced "STEEN," and isn't Jewish or German), scored an equalizer for Rangers. Hearing the roar of the fans who hadn't left, some of those who did turned around and tried to go back to see what had happened.

This proved fatal on Stairway 13. It is widely believed that someone tripped and fell, causing a domino effect. Bodies ended up being stacked up to 6 feet deep. Among the 66 deaths were 31 teenagers, and 5 children who were schoolmates from Fife.

The incident happened so late that the on-pitch people, including the players, and the fans still in the stands, didn't know what happened until after the game was over. The players for Celtic included 18-year-old forward Kenny Dalglish, who would become a star for the team, and later in England for Liverpool Football Club. He would be present for the Heysel Stadium Disaster of 1985, where 39 died; and the Hillsborough Stadium Disaster of 1989, which would surpass the Ibrox Disaster of 1971 as the deadliest sporting disaster in the history of the British Isles.

Rangers F.C. were sued, and, knowing the case was unwinnable, they settled. Ibrox soon underwent a renovation, including a new Stairway 13. While the Hillsborough Disaster was the catalyst for all English stadiums converting to all-seater, the Ibrox Disaster led to most Scottish stadiums doing so far sooner, and Ibrox was all-seater by 1981. Today, it seats 50,817.

A recent photo of Ibrox Stadium

In 2001, on the 30th Anniversary of the tragedy, a monument with the names of the victims was dedicated. It includes a statue of John Grieg, their Captain in 1971, and often regarded as their greatest player ever.

In 2011, on the 40th Anniversary, Grieg and Billy McNeill, Celtic's Captain at the time (though he was injured and unavailable to play in the game in question), led the current versions of their respective teams out for a pregame ceremony.

Foreground: McNeill (left) and Grieg.

Background: 2011 Captains Scott Brown (left) and David Weir.

Celtic won the game, 2-0.

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January 2, 1971, like most English and Scottish "football" matchdays in the pre-Premier League era, was a Saturday. Oddly, the team that ended up winning England's Football League Division One and its FA Cup, Arsenal F.C. of North London, did not play that day. Nor did they play the day before, New Year's Day, as they usually do. Indeed, no games were played in Division One that weekend.

In America, it was the off-season for Major League Baseball. No games were played in the NFL, although the Conference Championship Games were played the next day. The Baltimore Colts won the AFC Championship, beating the Oakland Raiders 27-17 at Memorial Stadium in Baltimore. And, in the last NFL game played at Kezar Stadium in San Francisco, the Dallas Cowboys won the NFC Championship by beating the San Francisco 49ers, 17-10. Two weeks later, the Colts beat the Cowboys in Super Bowl V, 16-13 at the Orange Bowl in Miami.

There were 8 games played in the NBA that day:

* The New York Knicks lost to the Atlanta Hawks, 112-108 at Madison Square Garden. Walt Frazier led all scorers with 28 points in defeat.

* The Boston Celtics beat the Philadelphia 76ers, 125-120 at The Spectrum in Philadelphia.

* The Cincinnati Royals beat the Buffalo Braves, 115-103 at the Buffalo Memorial Auditorium. The Royals moved in 1972 to become the Kansas City Kings, and moved again in 1985, to Sacramento. The Braves were a 1st-year expansion team, who became the San Diego Clippers in 1978 and the Los Angeles Clippers in 1984.

* The Baltimore Bullets beat the Detroit Pistons, 108-99 at Cobo Hall in Detroit. Dave Bing scored 33 points for the Pistons in defeat. The Bullets moved to Washington in 1973, and were renamed the Washington Wizards in 1997.

* The Milwaukee Bucks beat the Cleveland Cavaliers, 118-73 at the Milwaukee Arena. In 1974, it was renamed the Milwaukee Exposition, Convention Center and Arena, or "The MECCA." Since 2014, it has been named the UW-Panther Arena. Lew Alcindor, still a year and a half from changing his name to Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, led all scorers with 27 points.

If you don't know what happened in the NBA's 1970-71 season, reading the score will make it less of a surprise to learn that the Cavs were a 1st-year expansion team, and the Bucks went on to win the NBA Championship.

* The San Diego Rockets beat the Los Angeles Lakers, 109-108 in overtime at the San Diego Sports Arena. The Rockets moved to Houston before the next season.

* The Phoenix Suns beat the San Francisco Warriors, 122-116 in overtime at the Cow Palace in the San Francisco suburb of Daly City, California. The next season, the Warriors moved across San Francisco Bay, into the Oakland Coliseum Arena, and renamed themselves the Golden State Warriors.

* And the Chicago Bulls beat the Portland Trail Blazers, 136-113 at the Portland Memorial Coliseum. Bob Love of the Bulls led all NBA scorers on the day with 36 points.

There were 4 games played in the American Basketball Association:

* The New York Nets lost to the Carolina Cougars, 118-99 at the Greensboro Coliseum.

* The Virginia Squires beat the Pittsburgh Condors, 137-126 at the Hampton Coliseum.

* The Indiana Pacers beat the Kentucky Colonels, 134-132 at Freedom Hall in Louisville. In a losing cause, Dan Issel, who had starred at the University of Kentucky before playing for the Colonels (and later for the NBA's Denver Nuggets), scored 44, more than any other NBA or ABA player that day.

* And the Utah Stars beat the Texas Chaparrals, 134-109 at the Salt Palace in Salt Lake City. The Stars would win the ABA Championship that season, but would not be among the 4 ABA teams invited to join the NBA season. Those would be the Nets, the Pacers, the Nuggets, and the Chaparrals, who became the San Antonio Spurs in 1973.

There were 6 games played in the NHL that day:

* The New York Rangers beat the Pittsburgh Penguins, 3-1 at the Civic Arena in Pittsburgh. Jim Neilson, Arnie Brown and Pete Stemkowski scored for the Broadway Blueshirts.

* The Chicago Black Hawks beat the Philadelphia Flyers, 3-1 at The Spectrum in Philadelphia.

* The Montreal Canadiens beat the California Golden Seals, 5-3 at the Montreal Forum. Based in Oakland, the Golden Seals became the Cleveland Barons in 1976, and were merged with the Minnesota North Stars in 1978. They remain the last team in the North American "Big Four" sports leagues to close up operations.

* In the 1st game of the Saturday Hockey Night In Canada doubleheader on CBC, the Toronto Maple Leafs walloped the Detroit Red Wings, 13-0 at Maple Leaf Gardens in Toronto. Norm Ullman, Darryl Sittler, Billy MacMillan and Paul Henderson each scored 2 goals; and 1 each was scored by Mike Pelyk, Dave Keon, Garry Monahan, Brian Spencer and Jim Harrison.

* The Minnesota North Stars and the Los Angeles Kings played to a tie, 3-3 at The Forum in the Los Angeles suburb of Inglewood, California.

* And in the 2nd game of the Hockey Night In Canada doubleheader, the St. Louis Blues beat the Vancouver Canucks, 3-1 at the Pacific Coliseum in Vancouver. The 1970 expansion, including the Canucks, enabled the CBC to stage these prime-time doubleheaders: One in Eastern Canada, one in Western Canada, both starting at 7:00 PM local time.

Actors Taye Diggs and Renée Elise Goldsberry, both Broadway stars, were born on this day.