Football’s forgotten tragedy

On the walk to Ayresome Park, they found a penny lying on the pavement. Manchester United were in

town. Middlesbrough were gearing up for their biggest crowd of the season and, when Irene Roxby picked up the

coin, she turned to her husband, Norman, and their son, Colin, to say it might bring their team some luck.

Perhaps you know the old saying about it being good fortune to find a penny.

Find a penny, pick it up
All day long, you’ll have good luck.

What happened at Middlesbrough’s former ground that day — January 12, 1980 — ended instead in the kind of

tragedy for which that decade in football became notorious, involving a dangerous crush, a wall collapse and the

spectre of hooliganism inside and outside a decaying stadium.

Except the likelihood is you might not be aware about the dreadful events of that winter’s afternoon on Teesside. It is

football’s forgotten tragedy — rarely spoken about, a story that has been lost in time and is never commemorated,

even though it is the 40th anniversary this weekend.

The family have shared a few tears this week as they have gone over what happened after the final whistle, piecing

together the details of the crush that formed in the away end and the moments leading to the wall giving way.

Norman, 51, and Irene, 52, both season ticket holders, were the innocent victims who happened to be walking past,

in the wrong place at the wrong time, while the away supporters, held back by police, were waiting to get out.

There are varying accounts of what happened next, some United fans saying there was an attempt to confront

Middlesbrough fans outside, others claiming they were trying to get away from an excited police horse. The only

certainty is the weight of pressure brought down the wall and that, for the Roxby family, there were dreadful

consequences.

Colin, who died 12 years ago, was 33 at the time and among the photographs Joan has on display at her home in

Stockton-on-Tees, there is one of their wedding day in March 1968, with her husband standing beside his parents.

She has given The Athletic permission to use it today.

“They were football mad,” she says. “They always went together. They had season tickets and they loved going to

games. I just remember that day it was starting to get late and thinking, ‘Where is Colin? What time are they coming

back?’ When he did come in, his first words were, ‘I can’t find my mum and dad and it’s on the news that two people

have been killed.’

It was Colin who one day told Joan about what happened on the walk to Ayresome Park and his mother picking up

the penny from the floor.

“It was meant to be good luck,” she reflects, and the tears come again. “She picked it up and said, ‘I’ll put it in my

pocket and Middlesbrough might win.’ We used to do that as a family but I don’t anymore. Ever since that game, I

don’t pick anything up. We stopped doing it that day.”

After being contacted by The Athletic, Middlesbrough got in touch with the family of Norman and Irene Roxby to

pass on the club’s sympathies and re-open lines of communication. Yvonne Ferguson, the club’s head of supporter

relations, rang Mike Smith on Thursday and the family has been invited to the home game on Saturday

against Derby County, which they are expected to attend. Middlesbrough also intend to carry a tribute in a future

match-day programme.