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| June 3, 2002 | Monday | Rabi-ul-Awwal 21,1423 |
Ticketless baby refused entry
SAPPORO (Japan), June 2: An eight-month-old Canadian baby was denied access to the Sapporo World Cup stadium for Germany’s 8-0 demolition of Saudi Arabia because he did not have a ticket, a Japanese newspaper reported on Sunday.
“My son was not yet born when we bought tickets to the game. We had been told that the baby could enter the stadium even without a ticket,” the mother, not named in the Mainichi Shimbun report, was quoted as saying.
According to the report, the baby was refused entry on Saturday even though his mother said she had been told by officials that she would be permitted to take him to the match.
The paper quoted an official of the local organising committee as saying: “It has been decided, as a rule, not to allow those without a ticket - regardless of age - to enter a stadium or ride the shuttle buses. It’s stated clearly on ticket application forms.”
“I know nothing about this incident with a baby,” said FIFA’s local media officer Francois Manardo. “No-one has spoken to me about it.”
The organising committee official said the mother and son were refused permission to board a special shuttle bus to the dome because they had only one ticket.
The mother abandoned attending the match and instead watched it on a giant screen installed at a public area in Chuo-ku, said the newspaper.
The baby’s father went to the match alone.—Reuters
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