There will be no perimeter fences at the 10 stadiums to be used at this summer's World Cup finals, the French organisers announced yesterday. Two cities - St Etienne and Lens - were holding out against a FIFA order to bring down all protective fences. However, Jacques Lambert, managing director of the France '98 committee, said both cases were on the way to being sorted out.
Lambert and committee co-president Michel Platini told the Football Expo 98 conference in Singapore that the fences had been the biggest security problem to confront the organisers. Lambert said FIFA secretary general Sepp Blatter "had thrown a huge spoke in the works by insisting the fences come down, and it came late as work to build or renovate stadiums was being finished".