|
 |   |
EVENTS Fantasy Central Inside Game Multimedia Central Statitudes Your Turn Message Boards Email Newsletters Golf Guide Cities Work in Sports
CNNSI.com GROUP
COMMERCE |  |
Anticipation Host nations ready for month-long event
Posted: Thursday June 08, 2000 11:29 AM
BRUSSELS, Belgium (AP) -- Organizers promised full stadiums throughout Euro 2000, with 97 percent of all tickets sold for the 31 games and, after a lackluster buildup, the host cities started hopping with anticipation Wednesday. "It was a dream ... it's a challenge, now it's a reality," said tournament director Alain Courtois. Persistent concerns over stadium safety and the growing threat of hooliganism continued to dog organizers as they tried to stay focused on the game itself. Two known British soccer hooligans were turned away from the Netherlands after attempting to enter the country for the June 10-July 2 championship. In Belgium, the Justice Ministry announced that about 150 prisoners who were charged with minor offenses will be sent home for the duration of the tournament to make room for hooligans. The Netherlands has similarly released prisoners who have only short periods left in their sentences.
The tournament will be hosted in eight cities, four in the Netherlands and four in Belgium. Preparations to bring stadiums up to standards started four years ago and were completed last year. Despite this, safety concerns around the Charleroi stadium continue to hound Euro 2000. Last minute calls to move the highly publicized matchup between England and Germany away from the southern Belgian city were put to rest by Courtois. "Game 14 of the tournament will be in Charleroi -- is that clear for everyone?" Courtois said. Police fear that the game will attract hooligans from both countries and make the former industrial city of 200,000 a battleground. Organizers have gone to great lengths to prepare a sound security policy to deal with any potential troublemakers, but admit that problems cannot be ruled out. "Things will go wrong, but we will try to fix them," said Tournament co-director Harry Been. Both the Belgian and Dutch governments have put their reputations on the line by ensuring that potential trouble makers will be dealt with quickly and harshly. Police forces numbering 40,000 in each country will be put into use as a precaution. New laws especially drawn up for Euro 2000 were passed to deal with black market ticket sales, as well as a special quick justice procedure to bring arrested hooligans to a speedy trial was also approved. Euro 2000 organizers were worried early on that the governments were not doing enough to help them with the security issue, but are now content that these measures have been taken. "We're talking about millions of people who love football. We were worried 3,500 crazies could ruin the party," said Dutch Football Association President Jeu Sprengers. Initial lukewarm public response to the hosting of Euro 2000 was steadily catching fire across the two nations. In the Netherlands, police arrested the first Dutch soccer fan in eastern Enschede after he painted his entire rental home orange and the sidewalk red, white and blue. Local authorities were called to the scene by concerned neighbors, the owner of the building said. In Brussels, hundreds of children and soccer fans alike swarmed to the Grand' Place sign 17 giant soccer balls that have been traveling around European capitals to collect autographs of well-wishers. Brussels' King Baudouin stadium will host Saturday's opening game as well as four other games. "It was 20 years ago since I last played, but the feeling of anticipation is still there," said Belgian soccer legend Jan Ceulemans before he too signed the soccer ball. Ceulemans starred for the Red Devils in a record 96 games. "We're on schedule, we sold the tickets, the stadiums are ready ... let's get down to football!" said Been.
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
