The organisers of the warm-up match between Nigeria and North Korea - the two countries' football associations - did not follow basic safety rules when they planned the event.
But Nigerian spokesman Idah Peterside attributed the stampede to "the people's love for the team" and the large number of Nigerian nationals resident in South Africa.
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On Sunday, 15 people were hurt in a stampede at the Makhulong Stadium when thousands of fans tried to get into the 12 000-seater stadium in Tembisa, Ekurhuleni.
Both teams are in the country to take part in the World Cup, but football authorities have washed their hands of the incident.
Fifa, the local organising committee, the Ekurhuleni municipality, and both the Nigerian and North Korean football associations have denied culpability for an incident that saw 15 injured and needing medical treatment, including a metro police officer.
"The most important thing here is that Ekurhuleni was not responsible," said council spokesman Zweli Dlamini.
Police, too, are still trying to unravel what went wrong.
But, according to witnesses at the game, a queue 500m long had formed outside one gate and police were trying their utmost to keep the crowd, many of them apparently ticketless, outside.
At one point, the crowd surged towards the gate and forced it open. Police armed with riot shields stood their ground as the crowd pushed forwards.
On Monday, The Star established the friendly was organised almost exclusively by the two countries' football associations.
And the two associations did not ensure that basic Fifa guidelines were followed.
"We had written to the LOC and to Safa (SA Football Association) to tell them we were going to play the game. I remember the LOC guys called us so that we could cross-check security," said Peterside.
"This was not a Fifa-sanctioned game. Fifa would never allow you to play the game for free," he added.
The Korean and Nigerian football associations had initially wanted a larger stadium, but they had all been handed over to Fifa.
Only the Makhulong stadium was available. The stadium was handed over to Fifa on June 1 and is the training venue for the North Korean team.
The LOC had recommended the associations make 8 000 tickets freely available for the 12 000-capacity stadium - as a safety precaution.
On Thursday, 1 000 tickets were allocated to the North Korean team, 1 000 to the Nigerian team, 3 000 to the Nigerian consulate, and a further 3 000 tickets to the Ekurhuleni metro police department in Tembisa, which were to be distributed in the community.
Dlamini said the Ekurhuleni council had not been properly informed of the event and were therefore unable to implement their plans specifically formulated to deal with World Cup related events - even though the council's metro police got one-third of the available tickets to distribute.
"There was nothing wrong with the security, but what we had was an influx of people, people forming groups and charging the security. Under the circumstances I think they did well," Dlamini said.
The North Korean team were not available for comment and did not respond to correspondence.
Sunday's stampede was a reminder of the Ellis Park tragedy nine years ago that saw 42 people killed after too many people tried to push to get through the gates.
The Fifa guidelines for stadiums that were not followed by the match organisers were:
- Before the basic planning of stadiums begins, human safety will be the first and foremost priority. It will be a condition that may not, under any circumstances, be put aside or circumvented in order to accommodate other requirements.
- Stadiums should be fitted with an outer perimeter fence fitted some distance from the stadium.
- The circulation space available immediately outside the exit gates must be sufficient to guarantee that spectators are not at risk of being crushed in the event of a stampede.
- Preventative measures must be taken to avoid crushing at the public entrances.
- During the entry mode, all major points of access should be used for entry and a couple of small designated points should be clearly marked for exiting.