Fifa Women’s World Cup: Bad weather contingency plans for New Zealand tournament

Pouring rain during the Fifa Women's World Cup group G match between Sweden and South Africa in Wellington. Photo / Getty

As a last resort, Fifa are prepared to relocate matches at this Women’s World Cup, should the weather turn really ugly in one of the host cities.

That process would be almost unprecedented in tournament history but is part of a contingency plan that has been prepared.

Staging a World Cup in winter has been rare; they are normally sun-baked events held north of the equator.

But it was part of the equation for bringing the tournament to Australasia, given the requirement to coincide with the off-season for European competitions.

That has been a challenge for tournament organisers and necessitated some radical contingency plans, especially in New Zealand.

The Herald can reveal, in the worst-case scenario, a match could be moved to another city, if a weather event made a particular stadium unusable, as part of Fifa’s three-stage plan.

“The one thing that we can’t control is the weather but you can prepare for it,” Women’s World Cup New Zealand chief operating officer Jane Patterson told the Herald.

“So there are three options that we would look at in terms of that contingency. One is to delay, or if we needed to, postpone. The third would be to relocate. But wherever possible, a delay is preferred. So if we have a 1pm start and it needed to be 3pm to work with the weather, then we are obviously well versed and ready to do that.”

Rain pours down during the Fifa Women's World Cup group G match between Sweden and South Africa in Wellington. Photo / Getty

Postponement would be a trickier option but has been discussed.

“We’ve got a good position in Dunedin so it’s really the other three,” said Patterson, referring to the covered arena in the South Island city.

“But we’ve seen that Fifa tournaments around the world can be exposed to the weather and we will certainly lean in on the experience they have with the match officials and the pitch team if we face some tough weather.”

Relocation will be the last resort, but is not out of the question.

“Potentially, it is possible,” confirmed Patterson. “If a relocation takes place, it would be to move to one of the other match cities. The focus for Fifa is for the match to be played.”

It seems an unlikely occurrence – given the myriad logistical issues involved – but is certainly not out of the question.

Games at other major events have been called off – notably three at the 2019 Rugby World Cup in Japan – but Fifa has invested hundreds of millions into this event and wants to do everything possible to get all matches completed.

The only previous Women’s World Cup to be staged in winter was the inaugural tournament in China in 1991.

The 2010 men’s World Cup was held in the South African winter, though that season is relatively dry, while other previous iterations in the colder months were Argentina (1978) and Chile (1962).

During the bid process, the prospect of holding the tournament in spring was discussed, given the obvious advantages, especially for New Zealand.

But Fifa made it clear they wanted a July/August event, so that idea never went much further, as the priority was winning the bid.

The weather has been kind so far, apart from the two games in Wellington, but forecasting models will continue to monitor long-term possibilities.

The decision to use chartered aircraft for all team travel – a first for this tournament – will also be advantageous, as squads move between their base camps and the match venues.

It means if flights are cancelled because of weather issues like fog or snow, teams won’t be scrambling to get rebooked on a later passenger flight which may already be full.

“That will put us in a great position from a weather point of view,” said Patterson. “If there is fog or any delays, you’re not waiting on the commercial flight to take that decision of when it can go or trying to find another one. Once the flight is ready and cleared to go, it can go.”

Bringing teams to New Zealand, and moving them around the country between base camps and match venues, is a huge operation.

Ahead of the tournament, the squads arrived across 68 commercial flights and two charters from all corners of the globe. Eight aircraft will be used to move them around the country.

There are a total of 840 players and staff across the 16 teams. Some countries have bigger delegations than others. There are also 224 vehicles being used, with 400 drivers, to move teams, officials, referees, sponsors and Fifa staff around the different cities.

Michael Burgess has been a sports journalist since 2005, winning several national awards and covering Olympics, Fifa World Cups and America’s Cup campaigns. A football aficionado, Burgess will never forget the noise that greeted Rory Fallon’s goal against Bahrain in Wellington in 2009.