A group of well-meaning Chileans stormed the media center at Maracanã Stadium in Rio de Janeiro yesterday, because they didn’t have tickets to the Chile-Spain soccer match and wanted to get in anyway.
Seeking the playing field and stands beyond, the fans instead found their efforts frustrated by a maze of corridors, desks, and media equipment. And by the media themselves, many members of which abandoned their posts to follow the commotion.
Nor did the destruction end there. According to the Associated Press,
the fans broke down a temporary wall in a corner of the room, sending metal lockers crashing to the ground, according to Associated Press journalists. They then rushed back down the corridor in the other direction, smashing other parts of the same wall down onto media work tables and television screens.
The Chilean fans, detained by Brazilian police. (Photo: Associated Press.)
Security guards needed twenty minutes to get the situation under control. The Brazil Federal Police issued a statement saying that they had detained the 85 fans and accused them of “[invading] the FIFA Media Center.” They are required to leave the country within 72 hours, or risk deportation.
The fans broke in through the relatively unguarded media entrance–Yahoo Sports reports that most of the guards and security personnel watch for unruly behavior at the main turnstiles.
The Chileans primary complaint, which emerged in the tumult following their break-in, is that FIFA does not allow ticket re-sales, meaning it’s nearly impossible to get in to any of the matches through legal means. And the initial ticket prices are rather cost-prohibitive: six-hundred thousand pesos, in Chile, or approximately eleven-hundred American dollars.
Add the cost of that ticket to those of transportation, lodging, food, and celebratory libations, and you can see why some fans have a complaint or two to lodge with FIFA.
Chile, by the way, won its match 2-0 against Spain, knocking the defending champions out of the Cup in the process.
Sorry, Spain.
