Madrid Arena tragedy poses problems for World Handball Championships

The tragedy in the Madrid Arena, which saw four teenage girls die as the result of a crush at an electronic music concert on Halloween (Oct 31) could have repercussions for the World Handball Championships. The Madrid Arena is one of the venues for the group stage of the competition between January 11-19, 2013, however the police say the venue does not have a license to host sporting events. The debate is still ongoing over the causes of the Halloween tragedy with concert organizers, police and the Madrid local authority all presenting different viewpoints. The police argue that as well as being well over capacity when the tragedy occurred at around 4am in the morning of Nov 1, the Madrid Arena did not have the necessary permission for such a massive event, where around 9,000 people were predicted to appear, but up to 19,000 may have been inside at the time of the tragedy. The local authority argue this permission is not necessary for municipal buildings such as the Madrid Arena, but have stated that no large scale concerts will be held in local authority buildings while investigations are ongoing. The police now argue that not only did the Madrid Arena lack the correct license for the Halloween concert, but that it also lacks the required permission to host events such as the handball games in the World Championships, due largely to the lack of security and safety measures. "It has never had the correct permission, license and guarantees necessary for its use as a sporting venue. The organizers and owners (Madrid authority) should guarantee the necessary security measures in sporting venues in agreement with the established legal requirements," explain a communique by the United Police Union. The Madrid Arena was previously used by the Madrid based basketball team, Estudiantes in bith the ACB Basketball League and the FIFB Cup and was the former venue of the Madrid Tennis Masters series event. It also forms part of the plans for Madrid's bid to host the 2020 Olympic Games.