WORLD CUP QUALIFYING DEATH OF AFRICAN FANS:IVORY COAST midfielder Yaya Toure has urged his team-mates to give their all to reach the 2010 World Cup as a tribute to the fans who died on Sunday night before their qualifier victory over Malawi.
The tragedy, which left at least 22 people dead and 132 injured, occurred when a wall collapsed at the Felix Houphouet-Boigny stadium in Abidjan shortly before Ivory Coast beat Malawi 5-0 in a World Cup qualifying match.
The situation escalated as panic set in with nearly 50,000 fans in and around the 35,000-capacity stadium.
Toure, who was not playing because of injury, has expressed his condolences to his fellow countrymen. “It’s a very great tragedy,” the Barcelona player told Spanish daily Sport. “We are all conscious that this is something very difficult and I want to send a message of solidarity. It’s a very serious situation, very difficult for us and also for the world of football because it is not the first time it has happened.
“After the game I spoke with Didier Drogba, my brother – Kolo Toure – and the coach. It’s all very difficult because they are Ivory Coast supporters and we know them very well. Behind the victory was a tragedy. We have to go as far as we can in this competition for all the people who died.”
A crisis meeting between the Ivory Coast Football Federation (FIF) and ministers of the Interior and Sport was held immediately after the tragedy, one of the worst that has happened in a stadium in Africa.
Earlier, FIF president Jacques Anouma had pleaded for calm as investigations into the tragedy got under way. “We can only deplore what happened,” Anouma told Ivory Coast newspaper Le Patriote. “We are obliged to wait until the end of the enquiries that the Minister of Security himself has ordered so that we know what happened. We really can’t understand what happened at a match where everyone was warned it was a sell-out. We give our condolences to the families of the victims and we wish a speedy recovery to the injured. What I ask of Ivorians is not to start useless arguments, but to ensure these kind of things don’t happen again.”
Anouma also called on everyone in the country to do their bit to ensure it never happens again. “We’re waiting to see the report from the police and the person in charge of security for FIFA to see exactly what happened,” he continued. “I think now each one of us need to take on board our own responsibilities. We organise ourselves with partners and everybody at their own level has to do their own work. That’s all I ask.”
He added: “What I’m calling partners are the doctors, the forces of order, the organisers, even the population itself, and they have to respect the rules. We have to ensure for the next matches we talk even more about the security measures. That would allow us to avoid this type of drama and ensure it is never repeated. That’s the next battle.”
FIFA released a statement yesterday expressing their condolences. They also asked for a full report into what happened. “On behalf of FIFA and the worldwide family of football, I wish to express extreme sorrow and extend our condolences to the Ivorian football community and, most importantly, to family, friends and loved ones following the tragic deaths in Abidjan yesterday,” said FIFA president Sepp Blatter.
“FIFA is in contact with the Federation Ivorienne de Football and have requested a full report from them, as well as the local authorities to establish the sequence of events that happened outside the stadium before the match.”
