Can not see fifa awarding 2030 World Cup to England
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Experience of a neutral at the game from another forum.
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I was at the match last night with my 12-year old son, and while we enjoyed the game, the rest was utter chaos. My son and I arrived at our entrance point (Entrance 1) in plenty of time, and joined a sea (the shapeless mass couldn’t be described as a queue) of thousands of bodies swarming towards the entry points. Once you were absorbed by the throng there was no way back - people were crushing in from all sides. I almost went hoarse from shouting at people not to push forward - there were loads of children in the middle of the scrum and I genuinely thought there was a danger of another Hillsborough the way things were going -, but to no avail. I can only hope no-one got hurt.
There were lots of decent England fans amongst the crowd, but the rogue element was high. ‘Fans’ were pushing from all directions with no regard for the safety of those caught in the middle; other ‘fans’ were throwing beer over the crowd, soaking everyone, with cans and bottles flying everywhere. Yet more ‘fans’ were scaling the walls in their dozens to get into the stadium without passing the entrance points. All this behaviour would be imbecilic at the best of times, but as we emerge from a pandemic it was almost beyond belief.
After nearly an hour of being crushed from all sides, we were finally swept through the entrances by the sheer pressure of the crowd, by which time the stewards had more or less given up trying to activate the match tickets (let alone check Covid certification etc.). I got my ticket checked (only by holding my phone out in the general direction of a scanner, not due to any intervention by a steward), but my son was pushed over the mess of bent and fallen barriers by the pressure behind, with no chance to get his ticket scanned.
Once inside, we realised that it was a a two step activation process, with the second step to be triggered at the turnstiles, so if you hadn’t had your ticket activated at the entrance point you couldn’t access the QR code needed to get in at the turnstile. We pushed back against the crowd to get back to the entrance point, but the stewards were unable to help, and we finally discovered helpful UEFA staff who were able to activate my son’s phone, and we were eventually able to join the lengthy queues at gate G. Of course the result of hundreds (perhaps thousands) of people swarming in at the entrance points without getting their tickets activated meant huge delays at the turnstiles.
In the time we queued at Gate G (at least 30 mins) there were no less than FOUR occasions where people within the stadium flung open the fire doors and large numbers of ticketless idiots swarmed towards the open doors. Able-bodied people were also trying to storm the disabled access points. Simply beyond belief. The Times today estimated that 400 fans got into the game without tickets. From what we saw and experienced, I suspect their estimate is on the (very) low side.
The complicated entrance protocols (three-pronged checks on Covid certification, match tickets and ID, none of which actually happened for us as we were swept past the entrance barriers) were always going to cause severe delays and in the context of a 75% crowd might just about have been workable, without the substantial Neanderthal contingent attempting to force their way in.
The police presence was surprisingly low key for a match of this scale (there were no police at all within the stadium perimeter), and the stewards were either incapable, unwilling or simply too overpowered to fix the problem. It took ages to close the doors, and they were soon thrown open again. This looked like co-ordinated criminal behaviour by an determined element of idiots, though The Times is reporting today that stewards were opening fire doors to evict intruders, then being overpowered by a fresh surge of non-ticket holders.
Once inside the stadium it was almost inevitable that our seats would be occupied by non-ticket holders. Luckily they moved when asked, but it was clear that the section we were in was not 75% full, in line with the overall 75% capacity limit, but was actually close to 100% (or more) with 4 people standing in the 3 seats in front of us and people standing in the back and in the aisles.
Contrary to media reports, the rogue behaviour we witnessed was not committed by a ‘tiny minority.’ It was a minority, but a very significant one. To be fair, there were many England fans who were absolutely disgusted by the behaviour of their compatriots, and there were loud choruses of boos every time a fire door was thrown open, with packs of idiots surging towards it. There were numerous England fans around me who were asking if my son (and other kids) was ok during the crushes.
To be honest, I feel sorry for the majority of England fans whose reputation is constantly trashed by the abject behaviour of the idiotic minority. Those fans are an utter liability, and if I were English I’d have given up supporting the national team by now.
FWIW, I didn’t hear any booing of taking the knee (only applause) or any sign of racist abuse where I was, but the constant booing of every Italian touch was utterly tedious. The England songbook was disappointingly limited - they only seem to have two songs - one about the massive size of Harry Maguire’s head and the other about ‘Scotland getting battered everywhere they go’ (apart from at Wembley presumably).
Quite a contrast between the antiseptic experience of nursing a cup of lukewarm after for 3 hours before the Scotland v Czech Republic game at Hampden and last night’s chaos in London. I generally find that an enjoyable football experience falls somewhere between the two extremes.
As far as the game itself goes, Italy were deserved winners. It was a decent effort from England, but they were outclassed - players of the quality of Insigne are an joy to watch and Italy’s centre back pairing (Chiellini and Bonucci) are a cut above. The first touch of every Italian player was a sublime, and they absolutely bossed the match and thoroughly deserved to win."
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