Football Final - terrible organized!!!

I have just arrived, yes. I think it's a great place so far, but it does have a lot of growing up and cleaning up to do.

I said that they had trouble during the Pan American games (which would mean that I did in fact acknowledge that they hosted the PA games) and didn't (as in did not) host the Olympics afterwards.

Just face it, DAGOC were at the main stadium and left the control to the locals, How can you move the game from a big stadium to a smaller one the day before an event??

So what if you close the doors earlier than expected, the people at the gates were stopped going in because the stadium was full not otherwise. The crowd was 12000 not 120 000.

The guy talking about the @police were right@ wasn't there, we are talking about no more than a hundred people at the gate where they set the dogs on the spectators, not a surging mass crowd.

I have always given Qatar and its people the benifit of the doubt most times in this forum, however, when will you ever admit you were wrong???

Where is it in the papers stating where to go for a refund for our tickets???

My letter to the Olympic games comittee has already left this shores, probably to no effect.

The crowds were generally s**t and if the Olympic comittee give you the games then you will of bought it, just like everything else

This is terrible about the crowd control outside Al Saad.

In the newspaper it said gates would shut at 3pm. So I got to the stadium at 2.15pm and had bought 'posh seats'. I had absolutely no problem and wasn't aware of the chaos.

Its only 12,000 people... Qatar needs to be able to sort that out before it can consider anything else.

Moudir...I know that not all the Qatari athletes got special treatment at the opening ceremony. Some were left out in the rain for a very long time with all the others.

Oh Please, my point is that the newspaper should not support such behavior with published pictures of unsafe practices. They should report the problems with the crush etc. and condemn rowdy behavior. I was pleased about the win don't get me wrong, I just find any excuse for distructive behavior is uncalled for. Bad behavior is bad behavior what ever the reason.

My goodness i could never believe it turned horrible at the finals of the football match yesterday. i guess i will never knw how terrible it was unless i had been there myslef. as much as i admire Qatar's determination and proud success in hosting the asian games, i can only hope that they learn a lot about "organisation" in time for the Olympics. we learn a lot more from our mistakes than from our triumphs...

LIVE LIFE! YOU ONLY GOT ONE SHOT AT IT!

but you were not here to see the scenes of riot police and police dogs. They were not your average laid back, peaceful, safe, Doha street scenes.

There is a lot to say about the VIP treatment issue, just consider some of Khalifa stadium’s uncommon design features, (granted, they modified an existing facility, but with unlimited budgets, they could have done much better):

1. Only one side the stadium had a roof, the side other did not. Why would any architect suggest such a design that provides shelter from the sun or the rain to less than half of the spectators? Could anyone buy tickets to sit under the roof or was it all reserved for VIPs only?

2. Only one side of the stadium could enjoy the viewing of the so-called largest electronic screen in the world. The other side would have to turn around to see it, or not see anything at all being so close to it.

3. Single point entrance for the “people” near the road intersection, which forced you to walk several kilometers each way to and from your venue.

4. A Games Park with no parking facilities for a City with any public transport, Underground, Tube or Metro. Your best choice was to park in the “mud” on the other side of the road, and to take your life in your hands every time you crossed the road. No overpass provided. No legal pedestrian crossing with lights. One woman got killed while crossing the road.

5. During the Opening Ceremonies Qatari athletes on the field were allowed to leave the scene, while other nationals had to stay to the end under the pouring rain.

There will be a great need for enhancing social equality before holding other international events. There should be no class segregation for easy accessing of sites, viewing giant electronic panels, displays or for protection from the elements.

The price of a ticket should only be proportional to the distance of your seat from the field. Qatar has a long way to go, but I believe attitudes can change!

Moudir

In witnessing the massive human wall, approaching the many exits. I knew that there was a serious problem about to happen.

My sitting accommodation was in the very top row and my best defensive posture was to stay put and still inside the stadium seats.

It did work, in keeping me very safe. The crowd was running in different directions and screaming.

it was totally madness and hysteria.

I did not left the stadium until 2.5 hours later on that night.

One police officer told me that It was OK for me to leave.

I did ask him: What about the riot guards and the dogs?

He stated: They are settle all ready.

While I was being escorted out of the stadium.

He commented: that crowd was to dangerous to handle and some officers, just lost their cool.

He knows, is not the right way.

What else could you do ? When thousand of people are charging at you at one time?

I agree with officer, he is right.

This will not stop, proving and winning the host for the Olympics in 2016.

Humans dance, shout, jump, clap, hug each others, do strange things with their bodies as an expression of joy. Qataris are Human Being, Motorized Human Being.

What can you do about Human Motorized Nature?

Slight hijack..

While looking at the pictures of the Qataris celebrating the 'Victory' of the football match in the Gulf Times. It's disturbing that the Qataris were standing ON TOP of their cars , and driving on two wheels. Driving at unsafe speeds. Why would the newspaper publish such blantant disregard for public safety instead of having an editorial against it? Oh yeah not our problem It's their country??!

I went to the Football Final yesterday with my wife. We arrived about an hour before kick-off, and joined the 'queue' ... after 30 minutes and 20 metres the 'queue' became a crush (as others have described above).

Credit to individual policemen; they were trying to pull families (men with wives and/or kids) through the crowd and into the 'safe' zone, but it was extrememly difficult.

No credit to the crowd organizers; it is impossible to get 10,000 people through a 1.5m gap - yet nobody had foreseen this. I had friends (man, wife & 3-year-old) about 20 metres 'behind' us yet they weren't allowed in. Fortunately they didn't get trampled, hit by a nightstick or bitten.

During half-time I went to the toilet. Most people were queueing in a reasonably orderly manner. One local guy (late 20's) tried to push through as I was coming out. A (western) guy asked him if he wouldn't mind waiting - the Qatari just looked at him and pushed through, shoving the son backwards. The son (about 8 years old) said 'ouch', and the expat said to the Qatari "Hey - please don't push my son". The Qatari's comment was unfortunate; "Its not my problem, its my country".

The opening & closing ceremonies were reasonably well organized (in terms of crowd control), so what went wrong with the Football Final? Is it any coincidence that nearly all the Dagoc people including the volunteers were over at the Closing Ceremony, and the 'organisation' for the Footie was by 'the local team'?

Until and unless the Qatari "I'm a VIP, you're not" mentality exists QATAR DOES NOT DESERVE ANY MAJOR EVENT let alone the Olympic Games.

Offcourse we might end up hosting the 2016 Games, but that just goes to show with money and corruption anything is possible.

LOL, No problem. HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!

"Am I therefore become your enemy, because I tell you the truth?"

Gal. 4:16

For Gods sake be realistic and don't encourage the locals...........Olympics?

In your fantasies

I'll take the pounding like a grow MAN. I apologize for my lack of understanding and my erroneous interpretation on chbck statement.

Sorry, that you guys got stampede by herds of people and abuse by the local authorities.

"Am I therefore become your enemy, because I tell you the truth?"

Gal. 4:16

I haven’t visited Al-Gharafa Stadium, but Al-Sadd Sports is a brand new facility with 5-star VIP quarters, private secluded entrance, marbled floors and walls, better than hospitality class accommodations completely segregated from the rest of the facility.

Probably it ended up being a class issue again, and "they" decided to enjoy the last game in a smaller but fashionable environment with no regard to how many had purchased tickets in the first place. The same sickening class issue exists also at Qatar Airways’ new Business & 1st Class departure building which opened for operation on November 26, 2006, at Doha airport. I was one of the privileged passengers to travel on that day, and enjoyed being pampered by the 4 people who rushed to my taxi with umbrellas because it was raining, then carrying me almost 6” off the ground to leather sofas inside for a rest, while waiting for my ticket to be processed in 30 seconds. Then I was carried upstairs to enjoy a free lavish breakfast buffet with free drinks, in a huge convention room size lounge with comfortable sofas, giant plasma TVs, shower rooms etc.

I had never seen a separate “departure building” for business class, just for the sake of being separated from the ordinary people. This class issue, “us” against “them”, has to stop!

Moudir

great to hear. Always curious of someone's initial impression of Doha. Remind me to ask you again, of how you feel about Qatar, in three months and we'll see what's changed.

Personally, I enjoy it more now than when I first arrived.

Although my husband had an easy transition from Canada to Qatar.

Keep up the high spirits.

chbck, you have just arrived in Doha, right?

so what do you think so far?

...sorry for temporarily hijacking the thread..

P.S. sorry to hear about everyone's horrible experience.

CHBCK wrote that Puerto Rico did not host the Olympics. He didn't write that PR didn't host the Pan American games.

These games served as an opportunity for Qatar to demonstrate its ability to host the Olympics. Qatar has done a decent job, but the football match, as one of the few sold out events, was a major test within this largest test, and Qatar failed it miserably. Too bad most of those impacted are essentially voiceless.

But being a part of the mess outside today's match reminded me that despite this country's wealth, it still suffers from a third world mentality.

Having dogs attack innocent spectators waiting on a line and causing a stampede is disgusting. Admitting thousands of spectators one-by-one is retarded and inefficient. Not refunding those who legitimately purchased their tickets but were not admitted is unjust.

Dvargas, what part of this don't you understand? Sure no one is perfect, but if you were trampled upon today, you wouldn't be making excuses for Qatar.

Double posting

I agree with you, that Qatar has to prove to the Olympic committe they are capable of hosting the games.

But, you are completely wrong and incorrect about Puerto Rico not hosting the games. Read the statement from WIKEPEDIA.COM

The 8th Pan American Games were held in San Juan, Puerto Rico, from July 1 to July 15, 1979. The historic capital city of Puerto Rico played host to 3,700 athletes from 34 countries competing in 22 sports, making the VIII Pan American Games the largest to date. Security was a concern due to turmoil over the issue of Puerto Rico's political status. The CBS television network broadcast twelve hours of coverage in the United States.

I was only 17 years old, moving from Costa Rica and I did some volunteer work in the Baseball Stadium and the Track and Field events.

Don't tell me Puerto Rico did not host the Pan American games.

Get your facts together.

"Am I therefore become your enemy, because I tell you the truth?"

Gal. 4:16

Dvargas, Qatar needs to prove that they are able to host the Olympics and they aren't doing a very good job.

Atlanta already had the Olympics in their city when the bomb went off. They couldn't very well cancel the games and move them to another city.

Barcelona already had the Olympics in their city when the gypsies and the gangs caused trouble. They couldn't all of a sudden decide that Spain was unfit to handle the games.

Puerto Rico had trouble during the Pan American games and didn't end up hosting the Olympics afterwards.

Now is the time to make an impression...not once the Olympics start.

Trust, me the people who left were lucky.

I was there with a friend and his kids, oldest was 9. After getting through the outside mess of a line (40 some minues) there was another lineup to get into the stadium.

No lines!!! just a mass of people. We casually lined up as best we could. Shortly afterwards crowds came from the back and we were in the middle of a huge crowd pushing to get in. The security was letting only 1 or 2 people in at once (for what reason I don't know as tickets had already been checked).

We ended up screaming for help asking people not to push because the kids were getting squeezed and could not breath. His son started crying as he got separated, but by God's grace with help of another man, we managed to get the kids through by sending them from over the top of people and over the barrier.

I actually thought we were not going to make it. It reminded me of stories where people get crushed during crowd hysteria.

Guys, Guys, Please.

Let’s hold up our negative mental waves about Qatar not hosting the Olympics.

The process of hosting Olympics events is definitely one evolution of learning.

Give them time to learn from their errors and mistakes to make it a better event next time.

Example of that:

The Olympics games of Atlanta in 1996 with their pipe bomb in the Centennial Olympic Park.

I was task as a plain cloth foot security patrol officer, unlimited access to all the events.

Lucky for me it was my day off. I still remember that day very clearly.

The Olympics games of Barcelona in 1992 with their crazy pick pocket gypsies, the craving drug gangs in front of their main stadium and streets. I was on vacation for two weeks. I had an excellent time. I did watch the American Basketball Dream team what a blast.

VII Pan American Games of Puerto Rico in 1979. This is the equivalent of the Asian Games.

I was in all of them, lucky for me. It was very long walks; crowded streets and Jam pack events, less not forget the noise levels. I had plenty of fun and took it in strive.

But every event has its own negativism and good compliments. No one is perfect.

Lets all hope Qatar will pick up the Olympic Hosting and it will be one real monumental experience of your life time.

"Am I therefore become your enemy, because I tell you the truth?"

Gal. 4:16

They changed the venue of the football final from the 25,000 seat Al Gharafa stadium to the 12,000 seat Al Sadd stadium;I don't know why they did that?

I am very angry with this Qatari S**t, We had tickets for over a week only to be turned away, I was at the gate where the riot police set the dogs on the spectators, luckily I had got fed up of holding my 3 year old son up and had just moved, have they not heard of a megaphone.

I've hardly seen any Qatari's at any event, they get to the final and it's two fingers to the people who have bought tickets, there must of been over 400 people who had tickets who didn't get in.

Qlympic games you are having a laugh.

I went on foot to have a look, cuz i live not too far from the location. Riot police in full assault gear were present at the gates to keep the people out. I had never seen the presence of such a force in Doha, specially for a peaceful sports event. A helicopter was hovering above continuously. I agree that most of the people waiting in the street were non-Qatari Asian nationals. On TV, the Emir was sitting to the left of Antonio Samaranch (commonly known as the deposed king of corruption at the World Olympic Organization). The Heir Apparent was sitting between them one row behind, probably translating between Spanish English and Qatari English? Definitely the Emir thinks Samaranch and his cronies can still be of help for 2016.

On TV, there were full sections of white robbed spectators. It is a real shame if Dagoc overbooked the event, and got their people in through the VIP entrance, which is at the opposite side of the parking lot "people" entrance.

Moudir

There is no way on this earth Qatar will host the Olympics unless there are some serious changes around here. Qatar is trying too hard to be something it isn't right now. It will be what it wants to be one day, but that day is far away. There are basic social and civic issues to be dealt with here...until those are fixed they need not fool the world by building 3000 sky scrapers virtually overnight and pretending to be capable of hosting the world's largest sporting event.

I don't think anyone will listen to complaints as I understand the home team won 1-0

So that's what happened? I went there earlier and waited in the line for 45 minutes. Then once we got fairly close, the line turned into a large blob. There was a little bit of pushing, which turned into a stampede when the police set their dogs against those who had been waiting. People ran like hell, knocking others down. I saw many unfortunate people were trampled over without mercy. Then the crowd reassembled, only for the stampede to reoccur once again. This was all unprecipitated. And there was no communication whatsoever. Indeed, it was very absurd to watch.

I decided to leave after I helped some poor Iraqi guy, who was pretty big (perhaps 6'4"). His knee was badly damaged. He was hurt so seriously that he was almost crying. It was really sad to see. Disgusting to see people treated like animals, who then in turn treat one another like animals.

All of this could have been prevented with greater order and respect for attendees. Also, I noticed there weren't any Qataris on line? Did they all arrive early (haha) or have a separate entrance?