The cricket world and India faced a massive tragedy 26 years ago when a stand extension that was newly built collapsed during the lunch break that saw nine people killed.
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In sports, there have been many instances of riots occurring in the stands. Sometimes, stadium infrastructure cannot withstand the heavy volume of fans, thus causing a tragedy. The Hillsborough disaster of the 80s is one of the most notable instances of a stadium tragedy on the football field. Often, in football, there have been many instances. In 1964 and 1971, there were deaths due to either riots or crowding. In cricket, there have been very few instances of people dying in the stadium either due to riots or infrastructure woes.
However, one particular instance happened in November 1995 which proved to be deadly. At that time, the 1996 World Cup was around the corner. Stadiums were being upgraded to modern facilities in all the major cities of India. The old, archaic Nehru stadiums and other government-run stadiums did not have the facilities that modern athletes needed. Thus, a revamp of the stadium was taking place. It was in this period that a tragedy occurred.
The setting was the 1995 ODI series between India and New Zealand at the cricket stadium in Nagpur. New Zealand chose to bat and India did themselves no favours. Sachin Tendulkar dropped Nathan Astle on 20 and he went on to score a brilliant century. Aided by fifties from Martin Crowe and Chris Cairns, New Zealand went on to score 348/8, at that time their highest-ever total in ODI cricket. The lunch break soon followed.
That break set about a chain of tragic events. At the Nagpur stadium’s East Pavilion, there was a movement of fans. People from the third tier were coming down to the second tier and vice versa. It was in this movement that the new staircase collapsed. The sheer volume of people meant that the structure could not take it.
A total of 13 people died, with some falling very high to their deaths. 70 people were injured. Shockingly, the authorities did not inform the players about it. Since they feared a riot, the matter was hushed up. India lost the match by 99 runs despite Sachin Tendulkar’s blazing fifty. Eight died on the spot while five others died in the hospital.
The investigation began. According to reports at that time, the wall was built without any reinforcement. The architect and the contractor were both charged with negligence along with two other people. The matter was hushed up as much as it could be. After the match, the construction began and the venue hosted some important games in the 1996 World Cup.
Shockingly, the matter was buried in the files of the VCA office in Nagpur. With the new stadium in Jamtha now getting built, the old stadium’s time was now up. Every stadium in India is now modern with all the facilities available. But, it took a tragedy to make the authorities realise the need for better standards. In the past, Indian stadiums were plagued by overbooking, black marketing of tickets and also rioting.
The 1969 Test series against Australia saw rioting in places like Mumbai and Kolkata. In Mumbai, a wrong decision saw fans burn down one section of the stadium. They also hurled bottles at the Australian dressing room. The same was true at Kolkata. One wrong rumour saw the Communist Party of India riot in the city over the tense issue of Vietnam in that year. It was by divine luck that nobody was killed in those incidents. But, the Nagpur tragedy is hardly referred to nowadays. Fans and players alike now adopt a forget and move on approach. The lessons might have been learnt, but it came at a prize.
