Security main concern for limited away fans tickets

SINGAPORE — Crowd control is the main reason ticket sales are being restricted for away fans at the Jalan Besar Stadium and the National Stadium for the upcoming ASEAN Football Federation Suzuki Cup, which will be held from Nov 23 to 29.

The Football Association of Singapore (FAS) has told participating teams drawn in Group B of the championship, which will be hosted here, that visiting teams — Malaysia, Thailand and Myanmar — are being allocated up to 5 per cent each of total seating capacity at the National Stadium, while numbers will be restricted for the Jalan Besar Stadium.

Designated away teams at the Jalan Besar Stadium — three matches will be played there involving Malaysia, Thailand and Myanmar — are allocated 1,500 tickets. At the National Stadium, where Singapore will play all its matches, 2,000 tickets have been allocated for away fans.

Gerard Wong, FAS director of marketing and communications, in addressing the ticket allocation: “This decision was based on recommendations by the authorities. All factors, including crowd security and the safety of all fans, were given due consideration before the decision of the ticket allocation for away fans was taken. We have explained this to the other participating teams in our group.”

The allocated tickets have been handed over to the respective FAs for sale to their fans back home.

Added Wong: “We wish to remind away fans that they must hold tickets for the allocated section for away fans and identity checks will be conducted at all entry gates. Away fans holding tickets to the home section of the stadium will be turned away.”

The Football Association of Malaysia had wanted a bigger allocation of tickets for its fans, and its general secretary Hamidin Amin flew here on Monday to meet with his Singapore counterpart Winston Lee to discuss the situation.

Hamidin told TODAY: “We wanted more tickets both for our matches at the Jalan Besar Stadium and the National Stadium, but FAS told us why they cannot give us more, especially for the matches at Jalan Besar.

“I believe there will be strong support from our fans, especially those from just across the Causeway, to come and support the Malaysian team. But the FAS have cited security reasons for not being able to accede to our request. I can understand why our request (for more tickets at Jalan Besar Stadium) was turned down. We accept the FAS’ reasoning.”

But he has extracted a promise from the FAS that should they want a bigger allocation for the final group match against Singapore on Nov 29 at the National Stadium, the host would give due consideration.

“The new National Stadium can hold 50,000 fans and surely another thousand or two more for our fans can be accommodated,” said Hamidin. “The FAS has promised to deal with our request favourably, should we make one.”

The top two teams in each group after the preliminary round will qualify for the semi-finals, which will be played on a home and away basis. Vietnam is hosting Group A, with Indonesia, Philippines and Laos playing there.

Singapore will open their defence of the Suzuki Cup on Nov 23 against Thailand before taking on Myanmar on Nov 26 and Malaysia on Nov 29. DAN GUEN CHIN