Football in SA has previously suffered stadium tragedies that could easily have been avoided, and preventing another one should be our highest priority.
This is why we have reported on the new ticketing system trialled this week by Stadium Management SA (SMSA) in the match between Kaizer Chiefs and Golden Arrows.
According to the company, the system will help curb the prevalence of fake tickets at big football matches, something which raised alarm at last year’s Soweto derby between Chiefs and Orlando Pirates at FNB Stadium.
Then, it was reported that over 110,000 fans crammed into the venue, when only 89,000 had been budgeted for. That means well over 15,000 people were suspected to have used fake tickets to access SA’s biggest football spectacle. The stadium has a capacity for 94,736 spectators.
Luckily, the event passed off without any major problems, except for the usual complaints about traffic congestion before and after the match.
SMSA tried a new company to do the ticketing, but that seemingly hasn’t worked either; hence, yet another new system was being tried this week.
Alas, as we reported, it has too many glitches. Scanners which were supposed to help improve the flow of spectators into the stadium were not working properly, and some of the security personnel had no clue what exactly was required to allow people in.
It was not a good start for a system that SMSA hopes will be fully implemented for the derby at the end of February.
We call for extreme caution in rolling out this system. Some fans told us they feared a stampede could ensue in a bigger match if the gremlins are not resolved. We understand SMSA’s need to go fully digital and catch up with other sporting codes. But football has experienced the biggest sporting tragedies in the country.
These include the Ellis Park stampede in 2001 and the Orkney Stadium stampede in 1991. But even more recently, in 2017, at another Soweto derby at Soccer City, two fans sadly lost their lives as a group of fans without tickets forced their way into the stadium.
We fear this could recur if the system doesn’t guarantee easy and safe access into the stadium. Fans, as we saw this week, could end up being frustrated and try and force their way in — a sure recipe for disaster.
It’s all well and good to try a new ticketing system, but let’s first ascertain that no life will be endangered if it does not work properly.
Sowetan
