The Burnden Park Disaster

The Burnden Park disaster occurred on March 9, 1946, at the Burnden Park football stadium, then the home of Bolton Wanderers. The crush killed 33 people and injured hundreds of Bolton supporters. Until the Ibrox Park disaster in 1971, it was the deadliest stadium-related disaster in British history. The game, an FA Cup Sixth Round second-leg tie between Bolton Wanderers and Stoke City, was allowed to continue with no goals scored. The disaster prompted the Moelwyn Hughes report, which advocated for stricter crowd control.

The crowd was estimated to number more than 85,000 people. The only way into the ground's Bolton end, which had no roof, was from the Manchester Road end. The disaster occurred at the Railway End of the ground, which, like many other post-war grounds, had rudimentary facilities. The bank was simple, consisting of dirt with odd flagstones for steps. Although there was space on the Burnden side of the ground, the Ministry of Supply had requisitioned a portion of the stand, which had not yet been returned to normal use following the war. Furthermore, the turnstiles adjacent to the Burnden Stand at the east end of the Railway Embankment had been closed since 1940.

Rather than purchasing tickets in advance, fans paid at the turnstiles at the time. As a result, the end became crowded and overcrowded, and the turnstiles were closed at 2:40 p.m. This did not stop more people from entering the ground, with people climbing in from the railway, climbing over the closed turnstiles, and entering through a locked gate when it was opened. Many fans were pushed along the side of the pitch, around the far end, and eventually right out of the ground during the melee, ending up in the car park unable to watch the game.

The crowd began spilling onto the pitch shortly after the game began, and the game was temporarily halted while the pitch was cleared. However, two barriers collapsed at this point, and the crowd fell forward, crushing those beneath. The game was restarted, but it was quickly halted again when a Bolton Borough Police officer came onto the pitch to inform the referee, George Dutton, of a fatality. He then informed the two captains, Bolton's Harry Hubbick and Stoke's Neil Franklin, and the players left the pitch.

The dead and injured were removed from the railway end terrace, with those who died lying along the touchline and wrapped in coats. The game was restarted a little less than half an hour after leaving the pitch, with a new sawdust lined touchline separating the players from the corpses. At the end of the first half, the players switched ends and began the second half. Stanley Matthews, who was on the Stoke team, later expressed his disgust that the game was allowed to continue.

Date: 9 March 1946; 76 years ago
Location: Bolton, Lancashire, England
Cause: Overcrowding of banking terraces causing a stampede
Deaths: 33