Today marks 16 years since the blackest night in South African football happened at Ellis Park Stadium in the evening of Wednesday 11 April 2001, when 43 fans lost their lives during a match between Kaizer Chiefs and Orlando Pirates.
In addition to the deaths, 250 people were injured as people poured into the stadium that was already full to capacity.Several children were among the dead in a sad event where twenty nine people died inside the stadium and a further fourteen died outside the 60,000 capacity facility.
At the time when the accident happened the score was 1-1 and the referee forced to abandon the match after 38 minutes, following a stampende as fans with tickets, but locked out of the ground, tried to force their way into the stadium.
“There was lots of cheering and the fans were happy but things changed after the Pirates scored its goal as that is when everything happened,”
“The stadium was full. There was no place to stand. The people were pushing toward the fence (around the field), and the fence collapsed and the people in the back stepped on those in front,” narrated one of the security guards who was at the scene.
Security guards reportedly had earlier fired tear gas at people stampeding outside the stadium, according to a radio report at that time.
An inqury by a judicial commisson that was set by then-President Thambo Mbeki blamed stadium organisers, fans, League officials, police and private security guards for a combination of events from bad planning to graft.
South African football has major following across the country and Ellis Park disaster was among the biggest to have ever hit the nation.
In January 1991 forty-two supporters died after crowd violence sparked a stampede at a pre-season friendly between Pirates and Chiefs at Oppenheimer Stadium in Orkney.
Similar accident was also wintnessed in August 1962, when 12 supporters died in a stampede at Jeppe Station after the Soweto Derby between Pirates and Moroka Swallows.
RIP: The football-lovers who lost their lives at Ellis Park
Editing:Ronnie Lusulire
Additional Info:Online Sources
