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Liberia: Soccer Fans Die at World Cup Match
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2 June 2008
Posted to the web 2 June 2008
Boakai Fofana
Monrovia
At least eight people died of suffocation caused by overcrowding at the stadium where Liberia faced the Gambia in a soccer match Sunday, according to published news reports in Monrovia today.
The Lone Stars of Liberia were playing their counterparts from the Gambia at the Samuel Kanyon Doe (SKD) Sport Complex in Monrovia. The game was an African Nations Cup/World Cup qualifying match
The stadium seating capacity is about 35,000 but security guards could not contain thousands more who flooded the stadium. The match was Liberia's first game in the qualifying series and expectations for what many regard as a new team – especially with the hiring of the German coach, Antoine Hey – have been building for weeks.
Authorities at the Liberia Football Association are blaming "criminal elements" who produced duplicate tickets for the overcrowding of the stadium. Football lovers started arriving hours before the game started and it became apparent long before kick-off that there would be problems in controlling the crowd.
Local radio stations were told before the match to ask those en route to the stadium to turn back. It is not clear whether this call was heeded – there were already thousands of people outside the stadium, waiting to enter.
In the stadium itself, the crowd became rowdy, pushing and shoving. There were many cries for "water" when the heat from the midday sun set in. The showers of rain that fell did not alleviate the problem and fire trucks had to be called upon to help
The game itself ended in a 1-1 draw.
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With another game scheduled for the stadium, many are calling on the authorities to treat Sunday's tragedy as a wake-up call to plan better.
At this momemt we offer silent to our dear loving comrades, citizens and lovers of football (soccer) who die in support of african teams as a whole. What a sad momemt for Liberia and even our dear visiting team from the Gambia. I say, may those who die souls rest in perpetual peace and pray that the Ellen Johnson Sirleaf's government will and should provide funeral expenses to their families as they died in support of the Lone Star team.
SKD Stadium Tragedy
First, I extend my sympathy to the families of those who lost their lives in the soccer studium tragedy. But, there we go again! When will we learn not to put all blames of mishaps on the President of Liberia? In every society, there are bureacracies. I think the issue of the lost of lives or any incidents at that sporting event should be directed to the agency or agencis that is/are responsible to make sure that everything goes right. Instead, the anonymous person who wrote the comment is placing the fault on the Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf's Government... [Read Full Text]
Fellow Liberians, the SKD unfortunate situation is a repeating test of our govt's responsibility, public welfare,and justice. This incident first occured during during the late 1990s and no action was taken to retify the threat. It is our Government's duty through the sports ministry to determin the carring capacity of the stidum and the police to ensure that overcrowding is prevented. Dear Liberians in order for us to move forward, we need to hold people accountable for their mistakes to ensure that we do not have a reoccurance. Making execuses and taking appoligies from our government will not make the... [Read Full Text]
what happend yesterday was complete mess! the Liberian police is a criminal hade out, they're responsible for what happen to our brothers. those guys recicle the tickit.
SKD Studium Tragedy
Note to the writer. Please tell your readers why the Liberian Police are considered "criminal hide out" and are responsible for the incident at the stadium? Were they are the ones that sold the fake admission tickets to the game that caused admission to the game to exceed it's allowed capacity? Do they have enough man-power for crowd control?
Next time please think about this before you pass on the blame. Thank you.
To those of us who attended the match, it was very obvious that the LNP played a role. Why have the LNP take tickets? Many of the tickets outside the stadium were being resold by LNP officers who had taken tickets at the gate. Just another example of basic levels of corruption that pervade the LNP. The LNP and Nigerian Peacekeepers were of course overpowered by the crowd, but what a complete embarrassment for the country, especially following the Akon concert.
A lot of things occured yesterday (1/6/08) in Liberia. Two of those things are worth talking about. Item: Soccer fans came out to morally support the Lone Star team of Liberia. The soccer fans of Liberia were energized to come out in droves because the country's national team took a beating previously by playing soccer matches with Cameroon, Equatorial Guinea and others just a few months ago. The fans came out in droves to let the Gambians know that the home team would not settle for a defeat! That messsage was sent out loud and clear! Previously, the reason the... [Read Full Text]
Another more sad day in the history of our nation when everyone is trying to catch up from the just ended Civil war of our country, only to be clouded with another day of grieving and sadness. The sudden death of our fellow patriots and relatives who went all out to support the National soccer team could not see the ending of their desire; seeing the Lone Star winning. Blame game! as usual,is beginning to show its ugly head again, but this is not the issue abyss and... [Read Full Text]
This was a sad day in Liberia and to the entire soccer world.I whould have been one of those person but i survived by the grace of God.
Beside this being a sad event this should be a message accross Africa that we need security protect our people from those unexpected disasters.
Emmanuel Togba Monrovia,Liberia
What a sad tragedy again for my dear loving country and fellow Liberians.From salt Lake City,UTAH,I bring Liberia and the families of our comrades that died during the significant match between the Lone star of Liberia and the Gambian national Team,my depiest condolences.And may their souls rest in forever perfect peace.My one and only piece of advise to the Lone Star is,I hope this will serve as a sign and courage for not only the families but also Liberian that the Lone Star,will take whatever it requires to bring liberians the victory that we deserve. Finally,I sincerely plead to the... [Read Full Text]
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