Indonesia is still in tears after more than 130 people lost their lives after a football match.
One of the biggest tragedies in the history of sports happened at a football match in Indonesia after the referee’s final whistle of the duel between the hated rivals Arema and Persebaya.
The incident broke out after the home team lost 3:2 in the East Java derby when over 40,000 fans entered the field. In an interview for our portal, former Montenegrin football player Balsa Bozovic (who played for Arema) spoke about the aforementioned derby and how Indonesians perceive football…
Indonesia is in tears, the world is shocked, and the details of the terrible tragedy are slowly being revealed. Namely, the delay in unlocking the gates at the stadium caused a disaster in which at least 130 people lost their lives, the Football Association of Indonesia announced.
The football club there emphasizes that the executive director and security coordinator of the Arema club, the host of the match, have been suspended for life because they did not issue the command to unlock the gates in a timely manner.
“The gates were closed,” said Erwin Tobing, head of the Disciplinary Commission.
There were not enough workers and security guards in the stadium, so only a few people were ordered to open the gates, and they did not manage to reach the gates when the spectators caused a stampede and began to run away from the tear gas fired by the police in an attempt to control the crowd.
The spokesman of the Football Association of Indonesia, Ahmad Riyadh, stated that the gates of the stadium had to be unlocked 10 minutes before the end of the match as a precaution, but even seven minutes after the referee’s final whistle some gates were closed!
Otherwise, it is also the recommendation of FIFA and the Asian Football Federation that exits to stadiums must be unlocked at all times during the match for security reasons. However, these rules are not necessarily important for domestic leagues, although they are a safety standard, as well as a recommendation against the use of tear gas in order to control fans.
It is obvious that the police in Indonesia are bearing the enormous consequences of the tragedy…
