March 9, 1946: The Burnden Park Disaster

Burnden Park, Bolton, circa 1946

March 9, 1946, 80 years ago: A 2nd-leg tie of the Football Association Cup Quarterfinal is played at Burnden Park, a soccer stadium in Bolton, in what is now Greater Manchester, in the North-West of England. It ends in disaster -- and not because of the game itself.

This was the 1st FA Cup tournament held after World War II, and every round from the First Round Proper to the Sixth Round (the Quarterfinal) was held over 2 legs, 1 at each team's ground. (At the time, "stadium" seemed too grand a word for many of the venues in question). In the 1st leg of this round, at the Victoria Ground in Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire, Bolton Wanderers beat Stoke City 2-0.

For the return fixture, a crowd estimated at 85,000 people crammed into Burnden Park, a ramshackle structure built in 1895. Unlike in American baseball, there was no building boom in English football when concrete and steel stadiums became viable early in the 20th Century. Many of the old wooden structures were still in place as the Century neared its end.

And the crowds were bigger than ever, following the suspension of Football League and FA Cup competition at the dawn of the 1939-40 season, as the British Empire entered World War II. Buildings like Burnden Park were simply not designed with that many people in mind. Indeed, the gates were closed at 2:40 PM, 20 minutes ahead of the traditional English football kickoff time, because the stadium stewards didn't think any more people could fit in.

Shortly after the 3:00 kickoff, fans started spilling out of the Railway End, the stadium's north end, onto the pitch (the field). The referee, George Dutton, stopped the game, and had the pitch cleared. But two of the standing-room barriers on the End collapsed, and the crowd fell forward, crushing those underneath.

Unaware of this occurrence, Dutton restarted the game. But a police officer came onto the pitch to tell him that a fan had died. Dutton called over the Captains, Harry Hubbick of Bolton and Neil Franklin of Stoke, told them, and the players left the pitch.

After half an hour, in which the dead and injured were carried out, the game was restarted. Stanley Matthews, the Stoke superstar known as "The Wizard of Dribble," said that he was sickened by the decision. Not surprisingly, the game had little urgency, and ended 0-0. Thus, Bolton won 2-0 on aggregate, and advanced to the Semifinals.

It was later determined that 33 people had died, with over 400 injuries. It was the worst stadium-related disaster in British history, and it remained so until the Ibrox Park disaster in Glasgow, Scotland in 1971. It has also been surpassed by the Hillsborough Disaster in Sheffield, Yorkshire in 1989.

The FA Cup Semifinals were played on March 23. Bolton went to Villa Park in Birmingham, home of Aston Villa, and were beaten 2-0 by Charlton Athletic of South-East London. At Hillsborough Stadium, where the aforementioned 1989 disaster would occur, Birmingham City and East Midlands team Derby County played to a 1-1 draw. A replay was held on March 27 at Maine Road, home of Manchester City, and Derby won that game 4-0. The Final was played on April 27, at the original Wembley Stadium in West London, and Derby beat Charlton, 4-1 in extra time. There were no security or safety incidents at any of these games.

A benefit match for the Burnden Park victims was held on August 24, 1946, at Maine Road. The national teams of England and Scotland played to a 2-2 draw.

Following the Hillsborough Disaster of 1989, it was ruled that all British stadiums would be converted to all-seater. This doomed most of the old stadiums that hadn't already been modernized, as it became cheaper to build an entirely new stadium than to fix up and maintain the old one. Conversion to all-seater left Burnden Park with a capacity of around 25,000.

Burnden Park, near the end

In 1997, Bolton Wanderers moved to what's now known as the Toughsheet Community Stadium, with a seating capacity of 28,723. Burnden Park was demolished in 1999, and an Asda supermarket is now on the site.

April 28, 1923: Wembley Stadium Opens

April 28, 1923, 100 years ago: The Empire Stadium opens, in Wembley, West London. It was renamed Wembley Stadium in 1927. The 1st event is the Football Association (FA) Cup Final. West Ham United, from the East End of London, crosses town to face Manchester-area team Bolton Wanderers.

The official capacity of the stadium was 125,000, making it the largest in the world at the time. But so many people came in that many were standing on the field -- or, as they say in Britain, the pitch -- thus threatening to make it impossible to play the game. Some sources have the total at 300,000 -- probably an exaggeration, but it may still have been the most people who ever attempted to attend a sporting event on planet Earth.

Finally, mounted policemen were brought in, to clear the crowd from the pitch. George Scorey, a London policeman, was not on duty that day, but answered a call for emergency assistance at the stadium. He mounted his horse, Billy, and drove the crowd back. Although Billy was gray, this event became known as "The White Horse Final," as most people in the British Empire saw the newsreel in black and white, and saw Scorey on Billy as a heroic "man on a white horse."

The game began 45 minutes late, with fans standing around the pitch, kept back by the mounted cops and a string fence. Bolton forward David Jack scored the stadium's 1st goal just 2 minutes into the game, and Jack Smith added another in the 53rd minute, giving the Wanderers a 2-0 win.

After the game, a tradition was born: The Bolton players climbed the 39 steps from the pitch to the royal box, and their Captain, forward Joe Smith, received the FA Cup from none other than King George V, father of the eventual King Edward VIII and King George VI, grandfather of Queen Elizabeth II, and great-grandfather of King Charles III.

The original Wembley opened 10 days after the original Yankee Stadium opened in New York, and 3 days before the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum opened. The Twin Towers at its front gate became iconic long before anyone thought to design New York's World Trade Center that way, and its roof was extended around the ends in 1963.

It hosted the FA Cup Final every year until it closed in 2000. It was the main stadium for the 1948 Summer Olympic Games. It hosted the Finals of:

* The 1963 European Cup: AC Milan of Italy defeated Benfica of Lisbon, Portugal.

* The 1966 World Cup: England won on home soil over West Germany.

* The 1968 European Cup: Manchester United defeated Benfica.

* The 1971 European Cup: Ajax Amsterdam of the Netherlands beat Panathinaikos of Athens, Greece.

* The 1978 European Cup Final: Liverpool beat Brugge of Belgium.

* The 1992 European Cup Final: FC Barcelona beat Sampdoria of Genoa, Italy. And...

* The 1996 European Championship: Germany beat the Czech Republic.

It also hosted 9 NFL preseason exhibitions between 1983 and 1993, the London Monarchs of the World League of American Football in 1991 and '92, and home games in the UEFA Champions League of soccer team Arsenal in the 1998-99 and 1999-2000 seasons, due to their North London home field, Arsenal Stadium, a.k.a. Highbury, seating only 38,000.

The last event was a match between the national soccer teams of England and Germany, a Group Stage match for qualification for the 2002 World Cup, and a restaging of the stadium's most famous event, the 1966 World Cup Final (when Germany was still West Germany). This time, the Germans emerged victorious, 1-0.

The stadium was soon demolished. A new, 90,000-seat Wembley Stadium suffered serious construction delays, finally opening on March 9, 2007.

March 9, 1946: The Burnden Park Disaster

Burnden Park, Bolton, circa 1946

March 9, 1946, 75 years ago: A 2nd-leg tie of the Football Association Cup Quarterfinal is played at Burnden Park, a soccer stadium in Bolton, in what is now Greater Manchester, in the North-West of England. It ends in disaster -- and not because of the game itself.

This was the 1st FA Cup tournament held after World War II, and every round from the First Round Proper to the Sixth Round (the Quarterfinal) was held over 2 legs, 1 at each team's ground. (At the time, "stadium" seemed too grand a word for many of the venues in question). In the 1st leg of this round, at the Victoria Ground in Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire, Bolton Wanderers beat Stoke City 2-0.

For the return fixture, a crowd estimated at 85,000 people crammed into Burnden Park, a ramshackle structure built in 1895. Unlike in American baseball, there was no building boom in English football when concrete and steel stadiums became viable early in the 20th Century. Many of the old wooden structures were still in place as the Century neared its end.

And the crowds were bigger than ever, following the suspension of Football League and FA Cup competition at the dawn of the 1939-40 season, as the British Empire entered World War II. Buildings like Burnden Park were simply not designed with that many people in mind. Indeed, the gates were closed at 2:40 PM, 20 minutes ahead of the traditional English football kickoff time, because the stadium stewards didn't think any more people could fit in.

Shortly after the 3:00 kickoff, fans started spilling out of the Railway End, the stadium's north end, onto the pitch (the field). The referee, George Dutton, stopped the game, and had the pitch cleared. But two of the standing-room barriers on the End collapsed, and the crowd fell forward, crushing those underneath.

Unaware of this occurrence, Dutton restarted the game. But a police officer came onto the pitch to tell him that a fan had died. Dutton called over the Captains, Harry Hubbick of Bolton and Neil Franklin of Stoke, told them, and the players left the pitch.

After half an hour, in which the dead and injured were carried out, the game was restarted. Stanley Matthews, the Stoke superstar known as "The Wizard of Dribble," said that he was sickened by the decision. Not surprisingly, the game had little urgency, and ended 0-0. Thus, Bolton won 2-0 on aggregate, and advanced to the Semifinals.

It was later determined that 33 people had died, with over 400 injuries. It was the worst stadium-related disaster in British history, and it remained so until the Ibrox Park disaster of 1971. It has also been surpassed by the Hillsborough Disaster of 1989.

The FA Cup Semifinals were played on March 23. Bolton went to Villa Park in Birmingham, home of Aston Villa, and were beaten 2-0 by Charlton Athletic of South-East London. At Hillsborough Stadium in Sheffield, Yorkshire, where the aforementioned 1989 disaster would occur, Birmingham City and East Midlands team Derby County played to a 1-1 draw. A replay was held on March 27 at Maine Road, home of Manchester City, and Derby won that game 4-0. The Final was played on April 27 at the original Wembley Stadium, and Derby beat Charlton 4-1 in extra time. There were no security or safety incidents at any of these games.

A benefit match for the Burnden Park victims was held on August 24, 1946, at Maine Road. The national teams of England and Scotland played to a 2-2 draw.

Following the Hillsborough Disaster of 1989, it was ruled that all British stadiums would be converted to all-seater. This doomed most of the old stadiums that hadn't already been modernized, as it became cheaper to build an entirely new stadium than to fix up and maintain the old one. Conversion to all-seater left Burnden Park with a capacity of around 25,000.

Burnden Park, near the end

In 1997, Bolton Wanderers moved to what's now known as the University of Bolton Stadium, seating capacity 28,723. Burnden Park was demolished in 1999, and an Asda supermarket is now on the site.

Jets Slay the Big Cheating Dragon; Nat Lofthouse, 1925-2011

Hey, Bill Belichick! Yogi Berra called! He said, "It's over!"

Jets 28, Cheatriots 21. Gang Green have slain the big cheating New England dragon.

And they did it my way, as suggested in my previous post. Which includes the 2007-08 Giants' way: They got in the smug face of Tom Brady. And the kicking game did make a difference, but not in the way I expected: The Pats tried 2 onside kicks late, but they both failed. The first one, it was really sweet that it was Antonio Cromartie who recovered it to set up the last Jet score. Cromartie being the one who called Brady an asshole. Which... he is.

Big step up for Mark Sanchez. Pinocchio, you're a real life Playoff quarterback now.

Big step up for Rex Ryan. He can say whatever he wants now. So can any of his players.

Biggest Jet win since... oh, January 12, 1969. They are now 1 win away from the AFC Championship and a trip to Super Bowl XLV.

True, it's in Pittsburgh, and the Steelers have won 2 of the last 5 Super Bowls. But, in the last 2 seasons, the Jets have won road Playoff games in Cincinnati, San Diego, Indianapolis and Greater Boston. Who's to say they can't win one in Pittsburgh? (Troy Polamalu and Ben Roethlisberger, that's who, but they may not have as much say over this as they might think!)

Sometime this week, I want to do a post on "biggest moments in the New York vs. New England sports rivalry." This was, easily, the biggest in football, even bigger than Super Bowl XLII -- for the simple reason that the Jets are in the same Division as the Pats and play them twice a season (3 times this season), while that is not true of the Giants. The Giants cared less about messing up New England, and more about winning for New York. They would have been just as happy to beat the San Diego Chargers, the team the Pats beat in that season's AFC Championship Game.

Is this the end of the line for the Belichick-Brady Patriots? Hardly. Aside from Brady, they're really a young team, and they did win the Division. Lest we forget, Brady is 33 years old. That's not old for a quarterback. Right, Brett Favre?

But if the Jets had shed some of their reasons to be afraid of the Pats before, they've shredded the rest tonight.

*

The Jets move on to their 4th AFC Championship Game -- their 5th if you count the 1960s AFL as the direct ancestor of the AFC. (There were previous American Football Leagues in 1926, 1936-37 and 1940-41.)

This will be the 15th AFC Championship Game appearance for the Steelers, breaking the record for AFL/AFC Championship Game appearances they jointly held with the Oakland (Los Angeles from 1982 to 1994) Raiders. The Steelers were in the "old NFL" from 1933 to 1969, but never appeared in an NFL Championship Game until they started to be called "Super Bowls." The Chargers have been in 9. The Patriots, Denver Broncos, Buffalo Bills and the Houston Oilers/Tennessee Titans franchise have been in 8. The Miami Dolphins have been in 7. The Baltimore/Indianapolis Colts have been in 6 -- although that number rises to 10 if you count NFL Championship Games prior to the 1970 merger. The Jets, as I said, are entering their 5th. The Kansas City Chiefs have been in 4 (including 1 as the Dallas Texans). The Cleveland Browns have been in 3 -- although that number rises to 14 if you count NFL Championship Game appearances (1950-69) and a whopping 18 if you count All-America Football Conference Game appearances (1946-49). The Cincinnati Bengals and Baltimore Ravens have been in 2. The Seattle Seahawks have been in 1 AFC and 1 NFC Title Game. The Houston Texans, in 9 full seasons now, have not yet made the Playoffs.

Records in Conference Championship Games

Counting only NFL (1933-69), AFL (1960-69) or AFC (1970/71-2009/10).

TEAM W-L PCT. SUPER BOWL RECORD
1. Cincinnati Bengals 2-0 1.000 0-2
2. New England Patriots 6-2 .750 3-3
3. Kansas City Chiefs 3-1 .750 1-1
4. Denver Broncos 6-2 .750 2-4
5. Buffalo Bills 6-2 .750 0-4
6. Miami Dolphins 5-2 .714 2-3
-. Baltimore Colts 4-2 .667 1-1
7. Baltimore Ravens 1-1 .500 1-0
8. Pittsburgh Steelers 7-7 .500 6-1
9. Indianapolis Colts 2-2 .500 1-1
10. Tennessee Titans 1-1 .500 0-1
11. Oakland Raiders 5-9 .357 3-2
--. Houston Oilers 2-4 .333 0-0
12. Cleveland Browns 4-10 .286 0-0
13. New York Jets 1-3 .250 1-0
14. San Diego Chargers 2-7 .222 0-1
--. Seattle Seahawks 0-1 .000 0-0
15. Jacksonville Jaguars 0-2 .000 0-0
16. Houston Texans 0-0 .--- 0-0

Notice that stat? While the Steelers are 6-1 in Super Bowls, they're only 7-7 in AFC Championship Games. What's more, since the end of the Terry Bradshaw years, they're 3-5 in said games. How scary does that Steeler mystique look now?

Maybe the Jets really can go all the way.

*

Nat Lofthouse died yesterday. He was an all-time legend in his sport. He was even one of the legends of Yankee Stadium. And yet, most Americans have never heard of him.

Nathaniel Lofthouse (no middle name) was born on August 27, 1925 in Bolton, then in Lancashire, now in Greater Manchester, England. He was signed by his hometown soccer club Bolton Wanderers as a teenager, and made his debut as a centre forward on their youth team on September 4, 1939 -- the day after Britain declared war on Nazi Germany.

He played for Wanderers until 1943, until, turning 18 years old, he was drafted as a "Bevin Boy." These were 48,000 men, aged 18 to 25, most drafted, some volunteered, to work in England's coal mines to produce for the war effort.

They were named for Ernest Bevin, a former trade union official and a key figure in Britain's Labour Party, brought into the coalition government by Prime Minister Winston Churchill (himself the Leader of the Conservative Party) as Minister of Labour and National Service. The War over, Labour won the ensuing election, and Prime Minister Clement Attlee named Bevin his Foreign Secretary (equivalent in our government to Secretary of State). The native of Somerset in the West Country should not be confused with Aneurin Bevan, the Welshman who served as postwar Minister of Health and created the country's National Health Service.

When the Football League resumed after The War, on August 31, 1946, Nat finally made his League debut for Bolton, just after his 21st birthday. Although they lost 4-3 to West London club Chelsea, he scored twice as Bolton's Number 9, proving he was ready. Over the next 14 seasons, he would make 452 appearances, scoring 225 goals.

In one of their occasional bouts with myopia, the England national team didn't select him for a senior international match until 1950, by which point he was already 25 years old. (He did not play in the famous 1950 World Cup defeat of England by the U.S. in Belo Horizonte, Brazil.) It was a 2-2 draw with Yugoslavia, and Nat scored both goals.

On May 25, 1952, England played Austria in Vienna. Nat scored England's 2nd goal, but was elbowed in the face and tackled from behind. Had he not scored, it would surely have been a penalty. England went on to win 3-2, and the English newspapers nicknamed him The Lion of Vienna.

In 1953, he was named England's Footballer of the Year, and got Bolton into the FA Cup Final, scoring in only the 2nd minute of the game. But destiny was on the other side, as the sun finally shone on Blackpool and their 38-year-old legend Stanley Matthews. Two months later, on June 8, 1953, Nat scored 2 goals as England beat the U.S. team 6-3 at Yankee Stadium. He scored 3 goals for England in the 1954 World Cup.

In 1958, age 32, he got Bolton back into the FA Cup Final, against Manchester United, who were lucky to get there, as they had suffered the Munich Air Disaster 3 months earlier, losing 8 players to death and 2 others to career-ending injuries. This time, it was Bolton's moment in the sun, as Nat scored early in each half to give them a 2-0 win. It remains the club's last major trophy, 53 years later.

With the FA Cup

Despite 7 of the 8 United players lost at Munich having played for England, and thus not available (the other, Billy Whelan, was from Ireland), Nat was not selected for the 1958 World Cup, and made his last appearance for England later that year. He retired in 1960 due to an ankle injury. He became their assistant trainer, chief coach, and manager for most of the 1968-69 and 1969-70 seasons. He was also briefly their manager in 1971 and 1985, and was named club president thereafter.

In 1947, he married Alma Foster, and were together until her death in 1985. They had a son named Jeff and a daughter named Vivien. In 1994, he was awarded an OBE, the Order of the British Empire. In 1997, Bolton left their longtime home, Burnden Park, and a stand at their new Reebok Stadium was named the Nat Lofthouse Stand.

With his OBE medal

He died yesterday, at a nursing home in Bolton. He was 85 years old.

UPDATE: Nat Lofthouse was buried at St. Peter Churchyard in Bolton. A statue of him was dedicated outside the Reebok Stadium on August 24, 2013, 3 days before what would have been his 87th birthday, moved up to coincide with a Bolton home game.

He remains one of the most honored (or, should I say, "honoured") players in English "football" history.