Over-capacity crowd leaves FUFA naked

PACKED: Namboole stadium was filled to the rafters. PHOTO: EDDIE CHICCO

By Andrew Mwanguhya and Ismail Dhakaba Kigongo


Posted Tuesday, June 7 2011 at 00:00

Lugogo

Local football governing body Fufa finds itself on the spot following inadequate organisation at the gates at Namboole stadium on Saturday when Uganda Cranes beat Guinea Bissau 2-0 to edge ever closer to next year’s Africa Cup of Nations.

Whereas officials insist that only 40,000 tickets were printed and sold out, it was clear that the crowd was much bigger – nearly 60,000 at the 40, 200 capacity ground. Both Namboole chairman Jim Mugunga and Samuel Mpiima, the Fufa marketing coordinator, agree that they were overwhelmed. “Exactly 40,000 tickets were printed in South Africa – 35,000 of them went for Shs15,000 and the 5,000 VIPs for Shs30, 000,” Mpiima told Daily Monitor.

Clarifying on ceding control of gates, security and protocol, Mugunga differed on the number Fufa agreed upon with the stadium managers. “Our agreement had that 35,000 people would come in which is within the limit. We trusted our partners to do the job 100 per cent,” the stadium boss said.

Last week, Police arrested three fraudsters in possession of forged tickets. “Counterfeits are also part of the problem. There is need for a better audit of all this.”

This newspaper saw many people getting in without any security checks. Tickets were not torn and these were re-sold just outside the gates. On match day morning, several VIP tickets, different from the ones sold last week, were being bought mainly at Shell Capital.

Mpiima explained this. “We had only printed only 3, 000 VIP tickets yet the area seats 7,000 but those were sold out by Thursday so there was need for more.” “I authorised printing of a further 2,000 to take the total number at VIP to 5,000. Contrary to reports, none of the tickets was printed here.”

For a naked eye, all these totals were exceeded. Chaos was never far away as people stood in all the entrances to the terraces with not even standing room left. There was a near-stampede at the entrance with hundreds forcing their way as the dignitaries’ motorcades entered. “It’s very hard to rule out unscrupulous people in Uganda. Some even connive with the stadium people to come in on the night before the game,” decried Mpiima

It’s hard to tell the exact number inside after Fufa refused to use the Namboole turnstiles offered to them to ascertain the size of the crowd.
Over the past few years, Zambia, Ivory Coast and Ghana have had fatal stampedes at national stadium gates. Is Uganda learning anything from such events? “You can never prepare enough for calamities. As a stadium, we have our own fighting equipment and also use police. There are evacuation doors too,” Mugunga explained. Fufa clearly has to address issues of stadium access and a ticket print ceiling.