A Tartan Army member in Boston has called for organisers to sort out entry to Gillette Stadium after “dangerous” queues created “crush” conditions. Scotland fans were heard jeering outside the stadium ahead of the game against Haiti last night.
Many feared they could miss the start of the country’s first World Cup match for 28 years, which Steve Clarke’s men went on to win 1-0. Footage from the “poorly organised” queueing system showed hundreds of frustrated punters stuck outside the stadium.
Speaking to the Record, Tartan Army veteran Paul Smith said organisers were forced to “bypass security checks” and let supporters into the stadium to “avoid a crowd crush”. The Glaswegian, now based in Edinburgh, was worried supporters were “very angry and frustrated”.
View 3 ImagesPunters were stuck outside the stadium. (Image: Supplied)
The 63-year-old told the Record: “When I went to see AC/DC at Murrayfield, they had barriers so you followed the barrier route all the way up and you went through three or four security checks. This was just one gate.
“I was at gate two, with everybody crushing and you didn’t seem to be going anywhere. I was there for 45 minutes and the crowd was getting really restless.
“Folk were shouting ‘Let us in, let us in’ and eventually they must have thought ‘This isn’t going to work’. It was a severe danger.
“Folk were getting so frustrated they were starting to push and jostle and shove. Everybody was just funnelling into this one gate.
“When they eventually decided to just open the gates, everybody just flooded in and by passed security and made their way around the stadium. You then just went up to the barcode reader and got in.
“It was pretty shambolic. It was a good decision to let folk in because there would have been a crush but it was a complete shamble.
“It was dangerous. Everybody was wanting to just head into the ground so they were getting frustrated because they’ve not been waiting 28 years to miss a kick-off because they can’t organise a queue.”
The Edinburgh Tartan Army member called for organisers to implement a better entry system for the other five matches which will be played in Boston starting with Iraq v Norway on Tuesday, June 16. Steve Clarke’s men return to the stadium to face Morocco on Friday, June 19.
He added: “If you do want to check everyone, you need a far better queueing system outside the perimeter fence. You need proper barriers, crush control and to communicate better with the fans about what they are meant to be doing.
“I thought the signage was not the best but okay. You need to get folk organised further away from the perimeter fence.
“I don’t know what they were expecting and I don’t really know what their thinking was. It’s 65,000 folk, you need proper queues and some kind of queueing system.
“There was no queueing system last night, everyone just saw a gate and went for it. I don’t know if the organisers have said anything since the match, I haven’t seen anything.
“I was talking to the guys from the Boston Globe yesterday and I was looking at it today. They were saying it went well but not really. Everything else was good but not really getting in.”
View 3 ImagesFans have been dancing and bagpipes have been getting played in Boston today(Image: Tony Nicoletti)
Paul said the experience was in contrast to the welcome he and the rest of the Tartan Army have received in the US as Americans had welcomed them with open arms. Attending his fifth World Cup supporting Scotland and sixth overall, Paul is currently based in Providence and is one of the lucky few to have tickets to all of Scotland’s group stage matches.
He praised local authorities for supporting fans who travelled to the stadium on a fleet of yellow school buses. But he added there was no infrastructure around the stadium to stop supporters from coming to a bottle neck and crush point.
Paul said: “The buses were really well organised and the guys that organised it did really, really well. They liaised with the local council and the police gave us a free path to the freeway.
“We had a few beers but I decided to leave where the bus had parked around two hours before the game and when I got to the ground at around 7.15pm (12.15am in Scotland) it was just like one queue.”
FIFA and representatives of the Gillette Stadium have been approached for comment.
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