Media Entrance Chaos Before Kick-Off
Before the World Cup semi-final between England and Argentina even began, chaos erupted outside the stadium in Atlanta that will leave organisers red-faced. Hundreds of journalists were locked out of the media entrance due to a shortage of security tags, leading to shouting, swearing, and jostling as reporters missed kick-off and deadlines.
The scene outside the media section of the stadium descended into a chaotic scrum just 20 minutes after the line had been orderly. A giant police officer, putting his hands to the handle of his rifle, shouted, “Ya’ll need to back up. Now. I’m not gonna tell you again.” But the crowd had nowhere to go.
Angry Journalists and Missed Deadlines
An unhappy Argentinian banged a plastic cup against the metal railing while an Englishman shouted “just f**king let us in.” The 6 ft 5” security guard in charge of the stadium entrance responded, “If y’all don’t listen nobody's getting in,” which only enraged people further.
Few would pity journalists waiting in the scorching Atlanta sun, but TV presenters due to go live were suddenly missing because they couldn’t get through. Deadlines for articles were being missed and angry editors were on the phone demanding to know why no content was being sent back. Several reporters pleaded, “We have to work,” then more angrily, “let us in, we have to work.”
Underestimation of Media Numbers
At the biggest game so far of the World Cup, the stadium in Atlanta had managed to underestimate the number of media who’d be attending. They had only arranged one entrance for the hundreds of journalists in attendance, and the queue for the media entrance was longer than any other part of the stadium.
The reason for the chaotic scenes was farcical: not enough of the tags used to indicate a bag has been cleared by security. The hunt for some stripey tags to attach to the bags completely shut the security gate down, blocking the media from getting access to the stadium. It sparked wild scenes that, even in a bad-tempered England versus Argentina game, were more intense than some of the action on the field.
