On 10 September 1985, the Welsh and Scottish national teams played each other during the qualifying stages of the 1986 FIFA World Cup at Ninian Park, the home of Cardiff City.

The game was played against the backdrop of escalating football hooliganism; English clubs had been banned from European competition as a result of the Heysel Stadium disaster over three months prior, and fears were being raised, notably by Scotland's manager Jock Stein, that the British government, led by Margaret Thatcher, was seeking to lead a "crackdown" on football supporters generally, and that trouble at the highly charged game at Ninian Park would give them an excuse to extend this from just England to the other Home Nations.

Scotland's celebrations at gaining the point they needed from the game were marred by the collapse of Jock Stein moments before the final whistle, and his subsequent death in the treatment room of the stadium.

[2] The British Home Championship had ended in the 1983–84 season, with England having announced their decision to withdraw from the competition on 19 August 1983, citing an increasingly congested international fixture list, and waning interest from supporters, especially for the games against Wales and Northern Ireland.

As a way of retaining the tournament, Alun Evans, the Secretary of the Football Association of Wales (FAW), had proposed making it biennial instead of annual, with the top two contesting a final game.

[1] In his programme notes for the first game of the 1984 tournament, Harry Cavan, the president of the Irish Football Association, said "We are gravely disappointed and sad that 100 years of genuine friendship, sporting traditions and close co-operation seems to have been sacrificed for financial expediency.

The National Stadium at Cardiff Arms Park had opened the previous year, but was then for the exclusive use of the Welsh Rugby Union; there was no football game played there until 1989.

[11] Stein was not helped by the fact that a number of his senior players, including Graeme Souness (his captain), Kenny Dalglish, Alan Hansen and Steve Archibald would all miss the game through injury or suspension.

[21] Despite his enthusiasm for the job and for football, the strain on Stein, combined with his poor health, had led to him indicating that he would step down after the World Cup finals in Mexico.

[23] Although this did not affect England in international football (though there were discussions in regards to their participation in the 1988 European Championships[24]), nor did it have any implication for either the Scottish Football Association (SFA) or FAW over their clubs' participation in Europe, there were fears, voiced by Jock Stein among others, that any trouble by supporters at what would be a highly charged game in Cardiff, with not only what was riding on the result, but also that it was a Home International, would provide an excuse for the British government, under Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, to extend the measures it was putting in place to crack down on hooliganism in England to Scotland and Wales.

[30]Nevertheless, Stein appeared to be in good spirits; during the warm-up, Wales goalkeeper Neville Southall found that the Scottish fans in the crowd kept all of the balls he and Eddie Niedzwiecki were using.

[21] So, Stein had set his team up with a line of five defenders at the back; this allowed Richard Gough to remain close to Hughes, with McLeish, Roy Aitken, Maurice Malpas and Willie Miller providing defensive cover.

[33] However, despite the defensive line employed by Scotland, they were unable to prevent Wales taking the lead after thirteen minutes, when Peter Nicholas made a low cross, despite the attention of both Aitken and Steve Nicol, for Hughes to score past goalkeeper Jim Leighton.

In the dressing room, Leighton admitted that the reason he had missed the cross at the end of the first half, which led to the last-ditch save at the feet of Mark Hughes, was that he was shortsighted and had lost one of his contact lenses.

[36] As a consequence, the fact that the goalkeeper even needed lenses was something that his teammates, Alex Ferguson (who was also Leighton's club manager at Aberdeen) or, most importantly, Jock Stein did not know.

[37]Richard GoughDuring the half-time interval, Stein gave Gordon Strachan notice that he planned to bring him off during the second half and replace him with winger Davie Cooper.

[35] The situation with Leighton meant that Scotland were forced to make a half-time substitution, replacing the goalkeeper with Alan Rough, whose last international had been against the Soviet Union during the 1982 World Cup finals.

[33] As a consequence, with an hour of the game gone, Stein made his second and final substitution, withdrawing Strachan and replacing him with Davie Cooper on the left-hand side.

The ball was nodded down by Graeme Sharp into Speedie's path; his shot, which appeared to be heading over the crossbar, struck defender David Phillips on the elbow and led to the Dutch referee awarding Scotland a penalty.

Immediately, Mike England made a substitution, withdrawing midfielder Robbie James and bringing on forward Steve Lovell in an effort to regain the advantage.

[37] Both Professor Stewart Hillis, the Scotland team doctor (who was also Stein's consultant), and Welsh manager Mike England stated that there appeared to be nothing wrong at this point.

[44] Reports were sketchy initially – television pictures broadcast on ITV showed Stein, who appeared to be both conscious and alert, being carried down the tunnel by a number of police officers, with commentator Brian Moore speculating that he had been overcome with the emotion of the result.

[30] In the treatment room, Stein, who had remained conscious throughout, was on the table being supported by Ernie Walker and Bill Dickie, two senior members of the SFA, while the on site medical team led by Stewart Hillis tried to keep his heart beating.

[37][47] The death of Jock Stein cast a pall over the Scottish team that had gained the point they needed to ensure their continued participation in qualification for the World Cup.

The squad returned to Edinburgh the same night, reflecting on the loss of their manager, while the depth of feeling from the Scotland fans was summed up when one said: We'd rather be out of the World Cup and have Big Jock back.

[51] However, the lack of time available in the lead up to the play-off meant finding a permanent replacement would prove difficult, and so Ferguson was officially appointed on 1 October at least until after the World Cup.

Ferguson remained in charge through the remainder of the 1985–86 season and into their World Cup campaign, which saw them eliminated in the group stage, gaining only a single point, before stepping down at the end of June 1986, to be replaced by the SFA's Director of Coaching Andy Roxburgh.

[55] Mike England was convinced that choosing Ninian Park as the venue was a factor in Wales failing to secure the win they needed, given the team's record when playing at Wrexham, and has criticised the FAW for making the choice.

On 16 October, Hungary came to Ninian Park and won 3–0, while on 21 April 1986, Wales's final home game that season saw them gain a 0–0 draw against Uruguay at the Racecourse Ground in Wrexham.

[62] In 2010, to mark the 25th anniversary, the original plaque was removed and taken to the Celtic museum at Parkhead in Glasgow, and was replaced at the Cardiff City Stadium by a replica bearing the same inscription.