A judicial investigation will look at how some 3,000 supporters with valid tickets were denied entry to the Argentine-Brazil football match on Saturday because the stadium was full. Two videos – one filmed outside the stadium before kick off and the other during ticket sales a day earlier – will form a key part of the case, reports Clarín.
The first video shows Rosario Central’s barra brava (hooligan firm) talking with police shortly before the group seem to enter the stadium without tickets. Many of the barra brava were wearing club colours – which are banned for international matches.
The second video – shown on Clarín‘s website – catches one man buying tickets at five seperate windows, despite an official limit of two per person and a strong police presence. Two police guards were also arrested on the Wednesday before the game for touting tickets.
Press spokesman for the Argentine Football Association (AFA), Raúl Steimberg, said that access to the stadium was under the control of local government and police.
However, Municipal Secretary for Government in Rosario Horacio Ghirardi said the blame lies with the (AFA), reports local paper 30 Noticias. “AFA is fully responsible for anything to do with the printing, sale and distribution of tickets, and control of their entry into the stadium… if there were unauthentic tickets, or people who entered with false tickets, the court should investigate it, and it is AFA’s job to respond to this as any organiser of a public spectacle should”.
Ghiradi added that those with valid tickets that were prevented from entering the stadium should be given a full refund.