Pretoria - The Tshwane Community Safety Department has expressed satisfaction with the smooth operations during the 2009 Confederations Cup match between Italy and the USA.
The match was played on Monday evening at the Loftus Versfeld stadium and attended by 32 000 supporters.
Department spokesperson Console Tleane said the department had deployed adequate resources to ensure that the operations ran smoothly.
About 230 Metro Police officers worked at and around the stadium managing traffic and general crowd as well as escorting the teams to and from the stadium.
"Without doubt the smooth operation experienced is a demonstration that the city has perfected all the aspects of match operations," he said.
In ensuring that any emergency and disaster could be dealt, 105 fire fighters were deployed at the stadium with all adequate equipments, this included the Disaster Management Centre personnel, which were also on stand-by for any eventuality.
Mr Tleane said the operations started in the morning with lock-down street closures at 6am and opened immediately after the match.
He said the department was proud that the park-and-ride arrangements, where fans parked their cars at the LC de Villiers Sports Facility and Pretoria Sports Union as well as a park and walk facility at Pretoria Technical High School, worked very well.
"Fans were transported by municipal busses to and from the stadium, from the park-and-ride facilities and all cars were cleared out of all facilities at 11:50pm after the match ended at 10:15pm, operations closed at 12:15am.
"In terms of capacity the LC de Villiers Sports Facility will accommodate 3000 cars and 300 busses, Pretoria Technical High School will accommodate 700 cars, while Pretoria Sports Union grounds will accommodate 1000 cars," Mr Tleane said.
Stewards, security agencies, police and FIFA Confederations Cup volunteers were all set to ensure peace and harmony in and out the stadium while friendly allocating fans to their appropriate seats and ensuring that everything runs as smooth as possible.
There was no single incident reported at either the Venue Operation Centre, which was based inside the stadium or the Joint Operation Centre based at the Pieter Delport Centre.
The match between Italy and the USA followed a match played earlier in the day at Vodacom Park Stadium in Bloemfontein between Egypt and Brazil.
The opening match for the FIFA 2009 Confederations Cup between South Africa and Asian champions, Iraq was played at the Ellis Park stadium in Johannesburg.
The 2009 FIFA Confederations Cup matches, which will run until 28 June, will be played in Johannesburg, Pretoria, Bloemfontein and Rustenburg.
