UEFA says fan incursions price to pay for no fences

By Mitch Phillips

VIENNA (Reuters) - A fan breached security to run almost the length of the pitch during Wednesday's Euro 2008 semi-final but UEFA said such occasional problems were the price that had to be paid to keep perimeter fencing out of grounds.

The male supporter ran onto the St Jakob Park pitch in Basel during a lull in play in the game, which finished with Germany beating Turkey 3-2 in a thriller, and covered about 80 metres before being wrestled to the ground by a group of stewards.

"Yesterday's situation was dealt with fairly swiftly by the stewards," UEFA's director of communications William Gaillard told a news conference on Thursday.

"We believe stands without fences are safer but it means we have to have a few hundred stewards. That's still better than fans having no way of escape if there's any event beyond our control.

"That is the risk we prefer to take rather than submitting spectators to such restrictions."

Wednesday's incident was a rare incursion at the tournament, although a fan wearing an advertising slogan on his shirt was tackled before reaching the pitch in Friday's Croatia v Turkey quarter-final at the Ernst Happel stadium in Vienna.

(Editing by Ken Ferris)