Bum Rush

Fans Stampede at World Cup

Ticket give-away leaves 15 injured.

Though the World Cup doesn't officially start for five more days, fans in South Africa are already storming the stadiums. When free tickets were offered on Sunday for an exhibition game between Nigeria and North Korea, a crush of jersey-wearing soccer enthusiasts stampeded the gates, leaving 15 people injured, including a police officer who was seriously hurt. A police spokesman said that the injured parties were being treated at a hospital. "[L]arge groups of people gathered outside the gates wanting to come in and wanting to get free tickets," he said. "Unfortunately in the process, the gates were opened and there was a stampede." World Cup organizers denied responsibility for the injuries, saying that the host team--in this case Nigeria--was responsible for security during exhibition games.