SEA GAMES 2011: TRAGIC END TO A SIZZLING FOOTBALL FINAL

JAKARTA (22 Nov 2011) – Whenever lives are lost during sporting events, it immediately casts a dark cloud over the entire competition. This is because it is always tragic when lives, especially young ones are lost. Jakarta Police have identified one of the dead as 21-year-old Reno Alvino while other victim has not yet been identified.

According to reports here, Reno and the other person were amongst many who were caught in a crush of fans at the stadium. Many others were injured in the incident.

Prior to that, fans had set fire to a ticketing booth in the afternoon before the match after waiting in line for hours. The fans had been lining up since early in the morning but the ticketing booths closed at noon for what many thought was for lunch. Apparently the tickets were already sold out at that point but there were no announcements.

Police moved in quickly to calm the situation. In all, the police and security personnel did a good job controlling the hordes of fans around the Senayan Complex, not just for the final but throughout the competition.

According to reports here, the crowd problem was compounded by the thousands of fans who were without tickets. They were already 80,000 plus fans with tickets.

PSSI (Indonesian Football Association) have stepped up to help the families of the deceased with some financial assistance.

“We are deeply saddened by this incident. As a responsible organization, we have decided to help the families affected with some financial aid although we will not be announcing the quantum,” said Tri Goestoro, the general secretary of the PSSI.

“We will also be visiting the hospital to look into the fans that were injured last night.”

SEA GAMES 2011 SEMI-FINALS and FINAL RESULTS