Liverpool, supporters’ group and independent journalists are calling for an investigation into the issues faced by fans trying to get into the Champions League final on Saturday night.
The match between Liverpool and Real Madrid was delayed by 36 minutes because of what organisers called security issues. In reality, thousands of people had been queuing outside the Stade de France stadium in Paris for hours. However, the turnstiles at the Liverpool end became blocked when hundreds of fans who had bought fake tickers turned up only to find they did not work at the turnstiles.
As numbers continued to build up, the police dispersed them using tear gas and pepper spray, which were used indiscriminately regardless of age or gender. Several fans had to be treated medically after suffering ill-effects from the gas.
Some observers believe that another major stadium tragedy was averted more by luck than judgement, and attempts to blame the issues on fans, the vast majority of whom queued stoically to try and get in, was wholly misplaced.
There have been suspicions that the French authorities took a a hard line only because it was an English team, particularly Liverpool, involved in the final again, 37 years after the Heysel Stadium disaster. The latest problems come less than two weeks after the organisers failed to lay on enough water for fans of Eintracht Frankfurt and Rangers who attended the Europa League final in Sevilla, despite the temperature reaching above 40 degrees in the stands.
It was a sad reminder, yet again, if it were needed, how little UEFA and football’s governing bodies care for the fans who, at the end of the day, help support their very existence. In 2022, they no longer deserve – if they ever did – to be treated like animals, and be subjected to police brutality and heavy-handed security actions.
France should be stripped of hosting rights for all major tournaments until they can prove that it can stage an event safely and with proper respect shown to all those attending. Money talks, though, so such calls will likely fall on deaf ears.