Mark Machado was in Marseille for the Rugby World Cup, where a sense of déja-vu was the overriding memory

“As a Liverpool fan, I’m only too aware of what happened at the Champions League final in Paris in May 2022 and the work done following the horrendous scenes to ensure sports fans visiting France would not be subjected to such treatment again. Lessons had been learned, right? 

“A group of eight of us were in Marseille on the weekend of 9-10 September for the Rugby World Cup. We left Le Black Stone pub around 7.15pm to head to Stade Velodrome for the game with over a 100 minutes to go to kick-off – plenty of time to make the 10-minutes walk to the stadium with some to spare to potentially get a beer on the way. 

“Approaching the stadium, it was clear that just one entrance was open and it wasn’t being managed well. The steps leading to it were packed and the queue of people to get in didn’t appear to be moving. Instantly Paris came to mind and the Reds in our group were insisting we hang back. There were very few stewards around and no police to tell us what was going on. With no instructions to do anything differently, Argentina and England fans were just joining the mass of people leading to the entrance, with talk of last year’s Champions League final, from England fans at the back, growing louder.

“Officials opened the gate an hour before kick-off and we joined the queue. There were so many of us, it moved slowly and started to feel claustrophobic. We got to the front now with less than 20 minutes to kick-off to see they didn’t have turnstiles, but people – six to eight at most – checking tickets. Once our tickets were scanned we went through security – we were patted down – and finally got to our seats, which were in the gods with less than 10 minutes to spare. 

“The stadium felt very underprepared with not many options for buying food and drinks and service at the bars incredibly slow. On Saturday and Sunday they ran out of beer and soft drinks which isn’t ideal when it’s 30 degrees. 

“For the game on Sunday, communications were put out that the gates would open at least two hours before kick-off. We got there with an hour and a bit to go and there was already a sizeable queue spilling about halfway down the steps. Getting in was again slow with still too few people scanning tickets. 

“I haven’t heard reports of fans being injured, thankfully, but I’d say that was down to luck. All the problems of getting into the ground could have been avoided with basic organisation: open the gates earlier, employ more people to scan tickets and man the bars, and provide enough refreshments for a hot day and capacity crowd.

“Once again, it felt that the safety of fans wasn’t a priority.”  

Mark Machado produces the Brazilian Shirt Name podcast, hosted by Tim Vickery and Dotun Adeybayo