Retha Grobbelaar

Johannesburg – FIFA have pointed the finger of blame squarely at South Africa for the stampede in a World Cup warm-up game at the weekend.

Sepp Blatter, president of FIFA, told journalists in Sandton on Monday that there will definitely not be a stampede during the tournament. He added that the host country is responsible for safety.

“FIFA as organisers also have to take steps to ensure a safe tournament, but football associations and FIFA don’t have a police force at their disposal. That is always in the hands of the country in which the game is being played,” said Blatter.

Sixteen people, including two police officers, were injured in a stampede at a warm-up game between Nigeria and North Korea at the Makhulong Stadium in Tembisa on the East Rand on Sunday.

FIFA secretary-general Jér?me Valcke said that police had informed them of the incident immediately.

“We are always in contact with the police. It was unnecessary for us to tell the police that they had to be better at World Cup stadiums than was the case yesterday (Sunday),” said Valcke.

He added that the organisation of the tournament is better than for the warm-up game.

The police said in a statement on Monday that the friendly match had been organised by a private company and that the teams apparently handed out tickets outside the gates.

“A number of fans wanted to enter the stadium without tickets. Police immediately initiated crowd control measures, but the people got out of hand and forced the gates open twice,” the statement read.

“Police did everything in their power to limit the injuries.”

A police officer was seriously injured and is in a stable condition. The other police officer sustained light injuries. Fourteen fans sustained light injuries.

National spokesperson Brig. Sally de Beer said that there should be collective responsibility for the incident.

Meanwhile, Valcke said that between 97 and 98% of the three million tickets for the 2010 tournament would be sold.

“We’re selling 5000 tickets per day. I’m not saying that all the tickets will be sold, but the attendance will be good.”