Security ‘acid test’ for FIFA as fan dies in friendly match between Nigeria and North Korea,
FIFA
A stampede by thousands of fans as Nigeria National team, the Super Eagles met their North Korean counterparts in a pre- tournament friendly has ended in the death of a football fan, sparking fears about Police preparedness for the World tournament.
About eight more were seriously wounded as they were nearly crushed to death Police lost control of the crowd as the two nations set to meet in a friendly match.
ans enthusiasm about the World Cup attains an uncontrollable level as more and more passions are building up for the tournament starting next weekend. FIFA officials few weeks ago had denounced ewhat it called lack of ticket sales alleging low zeal towards the World Cup.
EMNnewscom in its reaction had warned the World body not to rush to judgement as the situation would change with the tournament getting closer reminding of the ‘gate ticket’ culture of Africa.
We warned FIFA to get prepared for a big rush towards the commencement of the tournament. In Sunday’s ensuing stampede, one police officer suffered critical injuries and another minor wounds while at least 14 supporters were taken to hospital after being crushed during the game between North Korea and Nigeria.
The chaotic scenes occurred just 24 hours before England’s opening friendly game at their training ground in Rustenburg this afternoon. Women and children were pulled from beneath a pile of crushed fans amid claims that police officers were overwhelmed by the number of supports and were unable to control the crowd.
What had started as a day of celebration as Sepp Blatter, the Fifa president, handed the World Cup trophy to Jacob Zuma, the South African president, ended with renewed concerns about the ability of Africa’s first host country to police the competition.
Fifa, football’s world governing body, was quick to make clear that it was not involved in the organisation of the unofficial warm-up game.
South Africa 2010
Executives heard a full report from South African police within hours of the incident and gave a reassurance that it would not happen at any of the official World Cup matches. However, Fifa will find it hard to wash its hands of the responsibility for assuring suitable policing is in place for the main matches.
A spokesman said: “Fifa and the organising committee would like to reiterate that this friendly match has no relation whatsoever with the operational organisation of the 2010 Fifa World Cup, for which we remain fully confident”.
Trouble started when thousands of ticketless fans joined queues outside the Makhulong stadium in the township of Tembisa on the outskirts of Johannesburg.
The stadium, which is the official training ground for the North Korea team, has a capacity of 15,000 but only 8,000 free tickets were distributed to fans. Shortly after the 4pm kick-off thousands of Nigerian fans and local supporters were still waiting outside the stadium, many of them without tickets, or carrying crude photocopies.
According to witnesses, those at the front of the queue were crushed against a set of double gates in the corner of the ground by the main strand.
South Africa Police Service
Police appeared to open the gate, causing a stampede in which one officer was severely injured. As the crowd surged forward some fans were tripped and trampled by those behind.
The gates were then closed, causing another crush.
The police’s actions were reminiscent of events at Sheffield Wednesday’s Hillsborough Stadium in 1989 which led to the deaths of 96 Liverpool fans.
Tiisetso Teffo, 17, said: “The Nigerian fans had been drinking, they were aggressive. The police just opened the gates, they stood by letting anyone in. They were not checking tickets.” Tiisetso, a Manchester United fan like many of the township’s impoverished residents, said the police seemed unable to cope with the crowd.
“Then they closed the gates and everyone was crushed again,” he said. Japhta Mombelo, who was also caught up in the crush, said: “The crowd just overpowered me and I fell down and people just fell over me”.
Princess Mbali, who was wearing a green South African shirt, said: “When we were coming in they were just stepping on us. I thought I was dying.” Around £3 million was spent upgrading the Makhutong Stadium as a training venue for the World Cup.
The Nigerian and North Korean teams were lining up for the national anthems when the second surge happened.
They had no idea what was going on until the end of the game. Many of the injured fans were taken to the nearby Tembisa Hospital were doctors and nurses struggled to cope with an influx of patients with crush wounds, cuts and severe bruising. Lieutenant Colonel Eugene Opperman, of the South African police, said there would be a full investigation.
“This was a clearly a challenge for everybody,” he said. “It was unfortunate that people had been drinking liquor and that inflamed things.” Asked about England’s game today against local side Platinum Stars, he said: “The police will do their best.”
Nigeria defends stadium choice claiming they had no other choice!
Meanwhile, Nigeria officials say they had no choice but to play Sunday’s friendly against North Korea at the 12,000-capacity Tembisa Stadium because all of the bigger venues in South Africa had been handed over to FIFA.
Fourteen people were injured in a stampede when a surging crowd broke through the gates of the stadium, and questions have been asked as to why Nigeria, with a large number of citizens in Johannesburg, chose to play the game at the small stadium on the outskirts of the city.
“We had no choice,” the federations’s Taiwo Ogunjobi explained to KickOffNigeria.com. “That was the only venue available to us. FIFA had taken control of all the stadia we could have used and we had to settle for this one because we needed to play this match.”
The Nigeria Football Federation claimed nobody was killed in the incident as aginst foreign Media that said one person was killed.
Ogunjobi attributed the good fortune of the so called no death victim to divine intervention.
“At the end of the day, we thank God nobody died. It is a football match and because it was free, a lot of people came in, especially on the covered sides.”
Ogunjobi declined to comment on the distribution of match tickets, which were handed out free at the single open gate to fans, and led to congestion at the entrance.
Nigeria team media officer Idah Peterside added that the game was not organised by match agents as erroneously reported.
“It was organised by the two FAs, there was no match agent involved,” he told KickOffNigeria.com.
An investigation is being launched by the South African Police Service.
Source: The Times& AFP
Related Posts
Short URL: http://www.emnnews.com/?p=3366
Posted by 
