Footie fans outraged over Tsirio concert crowding

Outraged reactions among football clubs erupted on Thursday as calls went out for responsibilities to be attributed after photographs of a concert at Tsirio stadium in Limassol were doing the rounds thousands of people crammed in an allegedly unsafe elevated bleacher.

Football clubs reacted because stadium authorities did not impose the same restrictions on the concert as they do when a football match takes place.

“How can you ******* suffocatingly fill a stadium for a concert that you yourselves deemed unsuitable, while at the same time prevent an entire city from normally attending a football match at the same stadium,” Apollonas’ organised fans said in an announcement.

“They are playing with our intellect and Limassol people’s intellect. GSO [Olympia sports club] bears major responsibility in what ensued at the concert as well as responsibility for the poor condition of the stadium’s playing field,” Ael FC said.

The stadium licensing authority (SLA), citing an engineering study, had placed a cap on football match attendance at Tsirio because of safety concerns regarding stability problems in the bleachers.

According to daily Politis, Tsirio stadium’s western elevated bleacher can hold 3,600 individuals but because of the safety limitation imposed by the SLA, just 1,800 individuals are allowed there.

As per the photographs making rounds however, the concertgoers at the western elevated bleacher appear to be more than 1,800.

Additionally, daily Politis citing information said that more than 5,200 tickets for the western bleacher had been issued. (Both for the elevated and ground part).

A person hired by the organisers to assist in putting the concert together, talking to Cyprus Mail claimed that the organisers “made no mistakes” and that the “tickets sold did not exceed the bleacher’s capped capacity.”

She further maintained that the whole thing was blown out of proportion by football teams seeking to make noise over attendance limitations imposed by the SLA which is damaging to them as it deprives them of income from ticket sales and drives people away from purchasing season tickets.

Pressed to relay more information however, she said referred us to the organisers who had instructed that anyone who had questions “should speak with their lawyers.” Cyprus Mail contacted the organisers but they declined to comment.