Fifa Women’s World Cup 2023: Netherlands coach lashes organisers as ‘amateurish’ over training facilities at Bay Oval

The Netherlands football team at a training session at the Bay Oval earlier this week. The Bay of Plenty Times Photo / Alex Cairns

The Netherlands team have labelled the training base at Bay Oval as unfit for purpose as they prepare for their Fifa Women’s World Cup campaign despite initially calling the setup ‘amazing’.

Coach Andries Jonker called organisers “amateurish” claiming the 2019 finalists have had to train around the cricket block at the test venue. His views contradict Netherlands player Lieke Martens who earlier in the week praised the training ground.

Jonker said the side were told the cricket pitch would be removed before their arrival. The ground is used for domestic and international cricket however has undergone a complete transformation for the World Cup.

More than 200 tonnes of sand, 350-400kg of grass seed sowed, then mowed to a height of 24 millimetres, and up to 500 hours of work to prepare the ground for the Netherlands.

Bay Oval general manager Kelvin Jones said the Bay Oval pitch has been converted to and meets FIFA football standards in conjunction with NZ Turf Institute and FIFA, with the support of Bay Oval staff.

Jones told the Bay of Plenty Times earlier this week they started the transformation about August and September last year.

Jones said that in April he and his team oversowed the 1.7-hectare oval with rye grass, which was more suitable for a football field. About 350kg to 400kg of grass seed would have been used, he said.

On arrival, Martens said the pitch looked “amazing”.

“It is a really good pitch. It is a really good area to prepare us for the first game.”

Netherlands have been based in Tauranga since last week but play their first match against Portugal in Dunedin tomorrow before facing fellow 2019 finalists the USA on Thursday in Wellington.

“We have raised concerns about the cricket pitch previously, we were promised things and now we are very disappointed and angry,” Jonker told AAP. “When we arrived here on Wednesday, I thought, ‘now what is this now?’ I will not train on this.

“We want to play a good first match against Portugal here, we want to have a top preparation, a top tournament and we also consider ourselves a top team. This does not fit. This fits with amateurism of the highest order.”

Jonker said it was too late to organise an alternative so they were forced to train at Bay Oval, but couldn’t use the full field instead playing around the cricket block.

“We could go to Dunedin earlier, but then you have to re-arrange hotels, flights and everyone is on the wrong track,” Jonker said.

“There was also the suggestion we go to Hamilton. That’s an hour and a half drive ... then you are on the road from 10am to 6pm for one training session.”