Just days after France declared it had learnt its lesson following the mayhem at the Champions League final in Paris, they demonstrated they had not, sixteen months later.
The aftermath of the 2022 Champions League final, which was regarded “remarkable that no one lost their life,” is still being felt. Safety lapses nearly resulted in a “mass fatality catastrophe.”
Thousands of supporters were confined to perimeter gates outside the Stade de France on that particular night in Paris due to severe traffic issues, and obnoxious police treated the crowd with contempt.
Concerns about France’s capacity to host the Rugby World Cup this summer and the Olympics that follow were valid.
Recently, Amelie Oudea Castera, the minister of sports, stated that they had “done a tremendous amount of work to learn the lessons” from Liverpool’s championship game.
This is the same minister who cited the “specific risk” that “ticketless” Liverpool supporters posed for the 2022 events.
“It will be a fantastic sporting occasion. Given that France is organizing the Rugby World Cup alone for the first time, Castera predicted that it would be special.
Hundreds of fans skipped kickoff when England faced Argentina in the group stages on the competition’s second day in Marseille, and there were once more instances of crowd crushing.
Videos and photographs posted on social media indicated that the lessons from 2022 had not been learned as the negligence continued to put fans in immediate risk.
Once more, fans were herded into a limited space to enter the stadium, and the organization of getting so many people into the ground was appalling.
It is frightening that France continues to be chosen to host important international events while the stupidity continues to endanger lives.
