It seems there’s no love for SA’s soccer fans

Trip to England reveals what we could do differently

As we mark exactly two months since the FNB Stadium tragedy that killed two people and injured scores, it is worth wondering how others elsewhere cope with crowd control.

Having attended three games in England – one as a member of the media and two others as a fan – left me wondering if more lives could have been spared back home had there been an implementation of security measures seen there.

A good start would be the public transport system, used so diligently during World Cup 2010 but surprisingly cast aside afterwards.

On Monday we attended the Arsenal-West Brom match at the Emirates and, just like the previous match featuring West Ham and Tottenham, you were greeted by empty seats an hour, or even 15 minutes before kickoff. By kickoff, only a handful of seats would be unoccupied. This is because while fans may be delayed outside for whatever reason, they know their seats will not be taken.

In the unlikely event that someone is occupying the seat, the bearer will flash their ticket, which has printed details of where they are required to sit.

Another “culture” I noticed is that of people walking to the stadium, instead of driving themselves there and causing a log jam, which, in our local games, can lead to panic.

For the Manchester City v Shakhtar Donetsk match, we used a metered taxi. As taxis have dedicated lanes, we were dropped off a few metres from the Etihad, but private vehicles had to park kilometres away.

The only log jam we experienced was after the final whistle, when we found a long queue in trying to board a train back to the hotel. But even then it was brief.

While we did encounter ticket “scouts” who promised entry to the venue at a “cheaper” price – one of the said causes of the FNB Stadium disaster of July 29, for which we still await a report two months later – it would have been impossible to gain entry with a “fake” ticket.

Tickets are scanned individually, making it impossible for “a group of fans” to march from “gate to gate with fake tickets” trying to “force entry”, as it allegedly happened at FNB, leading to people being trampled as the “ticketless overpowered security”.

As I sat among the thousands at the Emirates and the Etihad, I wondered how, if there were to be an unfortunate incident of a mass brawl or stampede leading to injury or death, it would be handled.

Would we have to wait for an answer for two full months, or seven, as is the case with the brawl that happened at Loftus Versfeld in February? Does anybody care about the fans or their safety at our stadiums?