Colin Stein (born May 10, 1947, in Philipstoun, West Lothian) is a former Scottish football player.
He played for Hibernian and Rangers and Scotland during the 1960s and 1970s. He also had a spell in England with Coventry City. He is the last player to score a hat-trick while representing Scotland at international level. He won a total of 21 caps at international level, scoring 9 goals.
He played an important part in Rangers winning the Cup Winners Cup in 1972, when they faced what is commonly acknowledged as one of the toughest routes to a European final any team has encountered.
On January 2, 1971, during an Old Firm match at Ibrox, Stein scored an equaliser in stoppage time to salvage a draw for Rangers after Celtic had taken the lead in the 89th minute. Minutes later after full time, barriers on Stairway 13 at Ibrox gave way, causing a chain-reaction pileup of spectators that killed 66 and injured over 200 in what would be remembered as the second Ibrox disaster. Initially, it was speculated that Rangers supporters who had left the ground turned back upon hearing the crowd roar at Stein’s goal, leading to the disaster. The official inquiry into the tragedy conclusively proved that all the spectators were moving in the same direction at the time of the collapse. Nonetheless, the myth surrounding Stein’s goal was widely believed for many years after the disaster.
