Fans Hurt At World Cup Warm-up Game
Sixteen people, including two policemen, have been injured after a crush outside a South African ground hosting a World Cup warm-up game.
Several fans fell under a rush of people outside the Makhulong Stadium in the Johannesburg suburb of Tembisa.
Entry to the friendly between Nigeria and North Korea was free, and many more than the 10,000 capacity turned up.
Football’s world governing body FIFA has said it was not involved in any ‘operational’ aspect of the fixture.
The first crowd surge came when the stadium gates were opened to allow fans entry. Police soon closed the gates, but when they were re-opened, a second rush occurred, with more people falling over.
The crowd was mainly made up of local South African and travelling Nigerian fans.
Police said that hundreds of them were also holding photocopies of tickets and tried to break down the gates after the match had started and police had closed them.
In a separate incident the game was then stopped for five minutes in the second half when a railing collapsed inside the stadium.
The venue is not a World Cup venue, but the incident is likely to heighten security even further ahead of the World Cup opener between South Africa and Mexico at Soccer City on Friday.
