It was just after 3pm Paris time beneath the underpass. The security guards wanted to see my accreditation. I directed them to the signpost for the Accreditation Centre, told them it was in there. Logically, I couldn’t need accreditation to get to the Accreditation Centre. They let me through.
Then another of their number stopped me, agitated. He wanted my ID. Easy enough. And I was away. But I did think they seemed rather anxious for six hours before kick-off. This could be a pressure point when the real crush starts, I thought. And it was. The underpass was one of the many bottleneck approaches to the Stade de France where the crowd numbers, and the tension, built.