Fulham have defended themselves against accusations that supporters were placed in serious danger because of bad crowd management at Monday night's friendly between Brazil and Ghana at Craven Cottage. According to The Guardian, there were chaotic scenes outside the ground before kick-off as thousands of people - including many who had pre-ordered tickets and those who had come to pay on the night - found themselves in a bottleneck that, according to some of those in attendance, raised real fears of being crushed.
Fulham deny that their organisation was flawed and insist that there was the right level of stewarding and policing. The club says that the congestion was caused by fans who were so intent on revelling outside the stadium that they "refused to go into the ground on time" despite appeals to do so.
"The operational level for this match was the same as for a Premier League game," said Sarah Brookes, Fulham's head of communications. "We had exactly the same numbers of stewards and police.
"The fundamental problem was that people didn't want to go into the ground when they arrived at the Cottage. They wanted to stay and party in the streets and that caused congestion, which meant that some people had difficulty picking up their tickets. We had loudhailers appealing for people to go into the ground but they refused. You can't physically pick people up and force them to go in. We were a victim of people not wanting to go in to the stadium on time."
"The flow-rate [of people going into the ground] at 7:30pm [15 minutes before kick-off] was 266-per-minute, whereas for a Premier League game it would be between 500 and 600. That's why there were only 11,500 people in the ground at kick-off."
The club also suggested that the gravity of the congestion has been exaggerated and that, as far as it is aware, there was no threat to public safety. "I looked outside before kick-off to see why more people weren't coming in," said Brookes. "I didn't see anything that alarmed me hugely although I do see why some people could have been concerned. There were a lot of people with musical instruments and vuvuzelas and so on and if you're not used to that environment it might be unsettling."
Some fans have also reported arriving at their seats to find them already occupied by people who also had tickets for the same seats. Fulham say that is impossible.
"We're not aware of any reports of duplicates," said Brookes. "No one could have got into the ground with a forgery, our system prevents that."
