FOOTBALL SENSATION.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 17029, 1 May 1923, Page 1

FOOTBALL SENSATION.

OVERCROWDING DANGER. The excitement attendant on Soccer football matches in England, which culminated in the Wembley Park overhow. was instanced in the recent meeting of Bolton Wanderers, winners of Saturday’s final, and Charlton Athletic in London, wh?n hundreds of spectators had a narrow e-scape from being flushed to death as a result of the collapse of several yards of iron railings. The crowd was a record one and the ground was packed to its limits. , As at most football grounds in Eng land the playing pitch is surrounded by iron railings, hut at Charlton these are not embedded in concrete as is the case elsewhere. During the first few minutes of the game the crowd became wildly excited, and swayed too- and fro as the play travelled from cn-e end of the field to the other. Suddenly, above the din of rattles, cornets and human voices, there rose an ominous rending sound, hardly to be described in words. ’As if by magic a gap appeared in the fencing and spectators tumbled in alarming confusion on to the edge of the pitch. Police rushed up and shepherded the intruders back behind the barriers, propping up the fallen ironwork with baulks of timber. After this incident the game proceeded quietly for some time. Bolton then scored a foal. Excitement once again rose to fever heat., Charlton began to make a series of attacks upon their opponents’ goal, and it was dr ring mo of these onslaughts that ‘he second accident of the afternoon occurred. The spectators behind the Bolton goal thought Charlton were going to score, and i,he nearly frantic mass of yelling humanity leaned forward as one man to gain better view of the hoped-for equalising goal. Again the pressure was too much for the railings which eollapsed for n distance of ti llv twenty yards, and hundreds of people were precipitated on to the pitch. Shrieks rose from those who were struggling underneath, and it was apparent that this second collapse was serious. Play was stopped and the

players rushed Ac assist the fallen spectators. It was found that a number of Press photographers .had been overwhelmed by the avalanche, one of them being seriously injured in the foot. A woman and her baby were extricated with difficulty, but were found to be uninjured. Several women, young girls and children were in danger of being crushed, }ut were helped out of the press in time Several people—among them nine children—were taken away for treatment by the ambulance men, the club directors’ tea rooms being utilised as a kind of first aid station."] The gap was then patched up and the game went on without further interim ption.