15 Injured in Pre-world cup match in South Africa

With less than a week to the soccer world in South Africa, an incident that will raise concerns about the security measures put in place by the South African authorities has happened.The incident happened on Sunday the 6th of June, 2010, when Nigeria played North Korea in a friendly. The incident saw Thousands of soccer fans stampeded outside the stadium before the match, leaving 15 people injured, including one policeman who was seriously hurt. Since the incident happened, there has been a lot of buck passing between FIFA, the local organising committee and the Nigerian Football Federation.

A southafrican man displays injuries he sustained from the stampede

Nigeria media officer Idah Peterside said that FIFA and World Cup organizers were not responsible, adding the match “was organized by the two FAs.”

In a statement FIFA quoted:
“FIFA and the LOC (Local Organizing Committee) would like to reiterate that this friendly match has no relation whatsoever with the operational organization of the 2010 FIFA World Cup, for which we remain fully confident”

Several fans fell under the rush of people outside Makhulong Stadium in the Johannesburg suburb of Tembisa. The mayhem happened only five days before the start of the World Cup, the first to be held in Africa.Lt. Col. Eugene Opperman, a police spokesman, said tickets for the game were given out for free outside the stadium.

“What then occurred was large groups of people gathered outside the gates wanting to come in and wanting to get free tickets. Unfortunately in the process, the gates were opened and there was a stampede,” Opperman said.

With the western press using the incident as an opportunity to ridicule the readiness of the SouthAfrican authorities, we sincerely hope that South Africa will prove to the world that they can host a successful world cup without any major disaster happening.