Wednesday, 11 April 2001, is a day most South African football followers will never forget as long as they live.
It’s a day when grief and sadness gripped the entire nation following the untimely death of 43 football lovers at Ellis Park Stadium (now Emirates Airline Park) in Johannesburg.
It was a night when football supporters converged at the Doornfontein venue to watch their favourite clubs and bitter rivals – Kaizer Chiefs and Orlando Pirates – going toe to toe in a crucial league fixture. Some football fans left their homes in high spirits only to return to their respective homes in coffins following a stampede at Ellis Park.
“It was a beautiful evening, all was going well when the game started. Where I was sitting I could see that there was commotion taking place in one part of of the stadium, which ultimately resulted in the stoppage of the game,” Chiefs chairman Kaizer Motaung remembered.
“Security and everybody was called upon to come and attend to the situation. There was a stampede that occurred as a result of people forcing their way into the stadium.
“It’s sad that that beautiful day turned out to be a very, very sad day. Many people died and some got injured. Those of us who were there will always remember the day.”
It’s now 20 years since that sad day and Motaung says it is very difficult to forget what happened at Ellis Park.
“It can never be removed from our memories. It was a dark day for South African football. We learnt quite a lot of lessons from this unfortunate occurrence,” said Motaung.
“We made sure that in future we don’t experience an event of this nature anymore. The lessons learnt, actually, accelerated that the lives of people must be prioritised when we have such big events hence up to this day we haven’t had such an occurrence. This day belongs to the families who lost their loved ones and all those who got injured. We wish the Almighty to give them strength.”
Former Amakhosi coach Muhsin Ertugral, who was on the Chiefs bench on that sad night, remembers everything as if the disaster occurred yesterday.
“It’s really terrifying to remember. It’s a heart-breaking memory for all of us. Nobody expected such a tragedy would happen,” Ertugral said.
“We were sitting on the bench when I saw that Brian was waving and the fourth official came to the bench and explained what had happened. The days that followed we could not go back to life as usual. It took a while for us to realise what happened. Hopefully, the situation will never happen again.”
