Investigation launched after 6,000 fans miss Soweto Derby at FNB Stadium

Stadium Management South Africa is investigating how about 6,000 supporters were left outside FNB Stadium during Saturday’s sold-out Soweto Derby.

Tickets for the match were sold within six hours, but thousands of people were unable to enter the venue despite 88,000 fans already being inside.

The disruption occurred as Orlando Pirates defeated Kaizer Chiefs 2-1 in a tactical Betway Premiership contest, securing three points and derby bragging rights. However, the scenes outside the stadium overshadowed the match itself.

Bertie Grobbelaar, director of Stadium Management SA, said the organisation was awaiting reports that would establish why so many people had been unable to get in.

“We will get all of the feedback today [Monday]. The gates were closed with 88,000 people inside the venue, and we still had about 6,000 on the outside,” Grobbelaar told KickOff exclusively.

Grobbelaar said the problems outside the stadium included damage to property and raised concerns about whether everyone who remained in the precinct had a valid ticket.

“They damaged our property, but they were outside; on the outside we had a lot of issues. So, it means again, we had people without tickets in the precinct. That is my concern. And we’re still gonna have a debrief about all of that. On the inside, I think it all went well. It was well managed on the inside, but definite issues on the outside,” he said.

He added that the ticketing information would have to be checked before any conclusions could be reached about those who were unable to enter.

“If the people who were outside had tickets or not, we will need to find out from the ticketing agency how many legitimate tickets were scanned. We need facts; we can’t speculate,” he said.

The investigation will therefore involve Stadium Management SA and the ticketing agency, with the number of valid tickets scanned expected to help clarify how many genuine ticket holders were locked out.

The organisation’s initial assessment is that the event was well controlled inside FNB Stadium, while the major difficulties took place beyond the turnstiles.

The next Soweto Derby is scheduled for 13 March next year. By then, Stadium Management will hope to have addressed the issues that disrupted an otherwise memorable occasion.