‘Back us in’: SA world championship relief after player controversy ends
Organisers of the Beach Volleyball World Championships are calling for South Aussie support after a controversial Dutch player was banned from Australia. Tomorrow, 4000 tonnes of court sand will be dumped at War Memorial Drive in preparation.
A cloud of controversy over the upcoming Beach Volleyball World Championships – set to be held in Adelaide next month – has lifted after convicted child rapist and Dutch Olympian Steven van de Velde was banned from entering the country yesterday.
Local event organiser and Beach Volleyball World Championships Adelaide 2025 CEO Jenny Mann told InDaily her team “tried not to be distracted, but we’ve also sympathised with the community and the concerns that have been raised, because it’s quite a troubling issue”.
Dutch beach volleyball player van de Velde was banned from entering Australia following a South Australian government campaign urging the federal government to reject his visa application.
The sportsman was convicted of child rape in 2016, having raped a 12-year-old British girl when he was 19 in 2014. He served 13 months of a four-year sentence in the Netherlands after being extradited home from the United Kingdom.
He was set to play at the Beach Volleyball World Champions in Adelaide in November. The major event will be the largest-ever held on Asian Volleyball Confederation territory from November 14 to November 23.
Mann said her team was “very happy with where the Australian government landed”.
If he were Australian, the Dutch sportsman would not have been permitted to play for our nation under the Volleyball Australia code of conduct, she said.
You might like
“The Australian Olympic Committee have also been pretty vocal that he wouldn’t have been permitted to compete for our nation,” she said.
“We’ve got very strong codes of conduct, both with Volleyball Australia but also with the Australian Olympic Committee.
“We are pleased with this outcome.”
Mann said tickets sales “could have been impacted” by the controversy around van de Velde.
“It’s hard to know,” she said.
“We’ve had a bit of an influx and a lot of positive feedback coming out of this decision today.”
In any case, the organiser has called on South Australians to “back us in” as preparations get underway for the major event which she said was bigger than the Olympics for beach volleyball.
Stay informed, daily
Tomorrow, 4000 tonnes of locally quarried sand will be delivered to the courts at The Drive and on Pinky Flat for the “biggest-ever sporting event for South Australia”.
It was a two-and-a-half-year journey for organisers who are managing a team of 100 staff and contractors, plus another 400 volunteers.
A pool of 196 players, representing 50 countries, will compete in Adelaide. Australia is fielding nine teams – “the crème de la crème” of Australian beach volleyball talent – including Olympians.
Athletes were beginning to arrive in Adelaide too, ahead of the mid-November event. The Swiss and German teams were already in Adelaide, she said: “You’ll start to see a lot of athletes come down around The Drive”.
And organisers are expecting tourists from Italy, Brazil and the USA, where the sport has a “strong following”, with 50,000-plus anticipated people in the stands over the ten days.
“We’re firmly looking ahead now,” she said.
“Back us in. We’re hoping that the community will come and show their support and cheer on Australians.”
She said key matchups to note included the opening night when Australia’s mens team will take on the Olympic gold medallists from Sweden.
There were some “big rivalries” between Australia and Brazil’s women’s teams too, said Mann.
“It’s going to be jam-packed the first four days of pool play, then we start moving into the second weekend, which is the finals, where the medals are won,” she said.
“Our sport and community have got through this bit of a hurdle, so now’s a chance for everyone to come and purchase tickets and back in our event.”
