54,252 at the 1977 Old Firm Scottish Cup Final

[Stevie A]

This was obviously a very disappointing attendance for such a high profile game. Indeed the last three Old Firm Cup Finals to that, in 1973, 1971 and 1969, drew crowds of 122,714, 120,092 (103,332 for the midweek replay) and 132,870 respectively. Now, I know there some circumstances relevant to this paltry turnout in '77 like live coverage for the first time in about twenty two years, torrential rain on the day and all day drinking in pubs, that had only been introduced the previous year, that meant folk could simply watch the game in the boozer. What I'm asking is did this attendance cause eyebrows to be raised or questions to be asked? It really was a piss poor showing by two massive supports, and I've never fully, truly understood why. Okay, Rangers had had a poor season, but that had never stopped big crowds at these games in the past. I'm just interested in what any Bears of that era thought about it. Only 54,252 at this game must've sent shockwaves through the SFA, surely? Was anything said by the media about it?

[BMCCOLL]

The Herald's take on it on page 16...

http://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=G ... page&hl=en

[Scottish]

The weather probably did have a lot to do with it as The Herald suggests. The worst final so affected was the first League Cup Final on April 5th 1947. Several league matches were abandoned that day as heavy rain covered Scotland and the attendance for Rangers v Aberdeen at Hampden was 81,284. As 123,696 tickets had been sold that represents a much bigger drop (approximately one-third) compared to 1977 (approximately one-fifth) and no live TV either back then. Two weeks later there were 80,640 present for the Scottish Cup Final between Aberdeen and Hibs out of 84,085 tickets sold.

Incidentally, my figure for the 1977 game, taken from the Hampden gate book, is 54,037.

[lbb]

Does anyone else have problems viewing the Herald and Times archives? I can view the page okay but when I try to zoom in on a particular section, the page breaks up.

[HibeeJibee]

Same thing always happens... I don't know if its something inherent in the way its stored, or if it affects certain browsers. If you zoom in again, it all comes back together.

[Scottish]

Same for me. Double clicking twice or zooming twice does the trick.

[BMCCOLL]

if you scan over a page it highlights certain headlines, clicking on this then using the pan out feature keeps the pages intact

[Stevie A]

The weather probably did have a lot to do with it as The Herald suggests. The worst final so affected was the first League Cup Final on April 5th 1947. Several league matches were abandoned that day as heavy rain covered Scotland and the attendance for Rangers v Aberdeen at Hampden was 81,284. As 123,696 tickets had been sold that represents a much bigger drop (approximately one-third) compared to 1977 (approximately one-fifth) and no live TV either back then. Two weeks later there were 80,640 present for the Scottish Cup Final between Aberdeen and Hibs out of 84,085 tickets sold.

Incidentally, my figure for the 1977 game, taken from the Hampden gate book, is 54,037.

I'm told there were approximately 70,000 tickets sold for the '77 Final. Have you any information on that?

[Scottish]

Check the link to the Herald further up the thread. The article specifically cites the SFA saying around 70,000 tickets had been sold.