And the football punished us : Furiani

[FrenchThom 27]

May 5th 1992 : I don't know if it's known out of France , but here it's a traumatism : the worst day of the french football history !

It was a semi-final of the French Football Cup , the Olympique de Marseille against the SC Bastia = the medias said it was going to be a giant match , the match were everybody should be ! And it's really important , it's like David vs Goliath ... The OM in those years was the greatest and wealthiest team of France and Europe , they were winning all the matchs and earning fantastic amounts of awards and money !

While the SC Bastia was a province team , and it was already a miracle that they were in a semi-final ... And the chance had decided that this match will take place at Bastia in the very old Furiani Stadium ...

To celebrate this match , the boss of the SC Bastia , Jean-François Filippi , decided to build a provisional tribune which will stand for 5 000 seats , when the decision is made we are at 12 days from the ceremony and two compagnies are ready to take the opportunity : Space Locations and Sud Tribunes . But at the very last minute , Jean-François Filippi said that the tribune must be finally for 10 000 seats ! So Space Locations gave up but they warned the Furiani administration : it's strictly impossible to build a serious tribune of this capacity in just 10 days ! But Sud Tribunes don't want to give up : it's the business of the century ! To make it possible they spat on the security principles ...

The 5th May , the day of the match , the new tribune seem to be OK ... It's a wonderful party under a quiet blue sky and the stadium is fully occupied : 18 000 seats in total with 10 000 on the provisional tribune !

Some firefighters are telling that the structure is not stable , they have a terrible feeling ! But nobody heard them ...

At 20 : 20 the journalists are going to open the emission in a few minute when a strange sound is heard ... Like thunder ... Here is what it mean :

Advance the video to 00:20 to see the tape I'm talking about

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cg3IK6hJGSI&feature=player_detailpage#t=1647s

On this tape you can hear a boy crying " Daddy ! " " Daddy ! " " Daddy ! " ! And he's not alone ... An important part of the victims are children of less than 16 years old ...

Half of the tribune crushed on the ground taking half of the 10 000 persons on it ... Peoples are killed or rudely injured by the long tubular pieces of metal are real arrows !

Players and policemen have been the first to rescue the victims enmeshed within the mass of tubes and steel beams of the North Stand , but 18 persons died this night and more than 2 500 persons are still paralysed : this is the worst event in France that caused so many paralysed in only a single time !

That's how was the tribune the day after :

Do you know why the separation between what crushed and what keep on is so clear ? It is because the material that Jean-Marie Boismond , the engineer of Sud Tribunes , had used for the upper seats is ( normally ) absolutely not for this kind of construction ! It is not even a professional material !

Since this night of horror , the 5th May is bannished : no football matches this day !

I wanted to show you what is the price of money for some peoples and as I'm a huge football fan , I don't want to see this again !

[A Nonny Moose 8,261]

Beyond the huge human tragedy and the overweening hubris of those involved, I fail to see why this is in current events. Is there some contemporary point?

[Duke87 1,070]

Can't say I'm familiar with this event.

But, this is why you don't rush construction. And why you have to keep an eye on the contractors to make sure they don't cut corners. Contractors will try and get away with all sorts of crazy stuff to save money. It's a fast-paced, throat-cutty business.

At least it is around here (New York). Can't speak for France.

[FrenchThom 27]

Can't say I'm familiar with this event.

But, this is why you don't rush construction. And why you have to keep an eye on the contractors to make sure they don't cut corners. Contractors will try and get away with all sorts of crazy stuff to save money. It's a fast-paced, throat-cutty business.

At least it is around here (New York). Can't speak for France.

m

Unfortunately , it is the same in France , too ... The evidence of that is Furiani ... I post that because a friend of my father was at Furiani , at 3 seats under the limit where it cracked , and he visit us Monday ! So I decided to make an honor to the 18 victims , those who didn't get his chance ...

[A Nonny Moose 8,261]

If the chunks of concrete falling off road tunnels and underpasses around here are any example, construction is a corrupt industry that needs very careful watching. Putting re-rods in concrete without protecting them against rust is a recipe for disaster in the future.

By the way, the Romans didn't use re-rods in their tufa-based concrete, and it takes earthquakes to knock down their structures: e.g. the Colosseum.

[Duke87 1,070]

By the way, the Romans didn't use re-rods in their tufa-based concrete, and it takes earthquakes to knock down their structures: e.g. the Colosseum.

In some cases they did, actually, but they were made of brass.

And while it is possible to make concrete structures without rebar, you severely limit yourself by doing so. Our structures today are very different from what the Romans made. You mention earthquakes - that's one thing you can't design concrete structures to withstand without rebar. Concrete does not have the necessary tensile strength.

I will concur with you about this, though: construction is indeed a highly corrupt industry. There is no builder's warranty on anything. Once they've gotten paid, if it collapses or stops working the next day, it's not their problem. Hence why you have to keep an eye on them and make sure they follow the specifications. And why as an engineer you have to make sure your specifications are very specific and detailed.

[FrenchThom 27]

But the worst part of this case is that not only they didn't care a single second for security , but moreover the construction authorization was false ! Normally a commission is made to decide if the use of the stand is possible ; in this case , the commission had said NO ! But the staff of the SC Bastia had created a false document , with a false signature , which authorized the match ! Although the REAL commission !

[GMT 389]

construction is one of the most corrupt businesses worldwide.

a couple years ago in cologne, germany, subway construction caused a tunnel and the above ground to collapse, thus destroying a historical archive with invaluable fortunes of local history... and killing 2 peeps (iirc, but there were fatalities).

turned out some of the workers made necessary iron wireframes disappear - supposed to fortify the concrete used for the tunnel walls - and sold them to scrap dealers to make an extra buck.

and this is just one of the more dramatic events, you can basically get a daily dose of workers and/or contractors screwing over house builders, from minor things to total losses.

not to mention the weirdness that federal construction projects always turn out to take much longer and cost much much more money than initially calculated, but I guess that's what happens if 2 corrupt "businesses" join forces

most recent case in germany is berlin's new airport, about the biggest shame for this country since ww2... exaggerated, but you get the idea.

you wouldn't believe how much corruption was at work here. "oh, there's an A380 gate? I'm mayor of Berlin, let's make sure my good friend can place his restaurant right there..." (true story)

[A Nonny Moose 8,261]

If you have access to the news services out of Quebec, the big corruption enquiry just resumed after a holiday break. They've mostly finished cooking the municipalities (2 mayors have resigned so far) and will be moving on the the provincial government. They have asked for the 'godfather' to testify, but he has left the country.