KUALA LUMPUR: Just two hours before today’s first leg of the AFF Cup final between Malaysia and Vietnam at the National Stadium in Bukit Jalil, Vietnamese fans were facing “over-crowding” issue at their allocated seats.
Allotted 3,000 seats at the stadium, the Vietnamese fans came with high spirits amid a heavily packed area that saw more than 500 people stranded outside the gates.
A Vietnam fan, known as Thu, said his company had bought 100 tickets for the match but he was surprised to find there are no seats, and he had to stand on a staircase, which had been converted into a watching area by many fans,
“I’m not going to stand for 90 minutes for the match. Why aren’t the organisers doing something about it?
“It’s really hot and there are still a lot more people outside who can’t come in because i’ts full here,” he said.
An auxiliary police officer said the seating area in the second tier at the stadium, directly above the visiting fans’ place, was initially allocated for the Vietnaemse fans. However, it was opened up for Harimau Malaya fans instead.
“There was supposed to be two tiers for them but we haven’t been informed anything by FAM, so we can’t say much about where we can possibly place these overspill,” he said.
In a stadium that could house more than 80,000 fans, the allocation for visiting fans should be carefully taken into consideration as they have taken time, money, and efforts to come from afar to support their team.
Furthermore, an overload of bodies at the stadium can lead to injuries and even loss of lives due to unfortunate incidents.