Dutch beach volleyball player banned from South Australia
A Dutch beach volleyball player will not be allowed into the country for the Beach Volleyball World Championships being held in Adelaide next month.
Dutch beach volleyball player Steven van de Velde – a convicted child rapist – has been banned from entering Australia ahead of the Beach Volleyball World Championships next month, InDaily was told.
His visa rejection followed a South Australian government campaign urging the federal government to ban him from entering the country.
South Australian Attorney-General Kyam Maher wrote to the federal government calling for the ban, noting van de Velde’s offending was “utterly abhorrent”.
“We do not believe that foreign child sex offenders should be granted entry to this country,” Maher wrote.
In a statement on Tuesday, Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke said the government would “continue to use every tool we have available to ensure that Australians can be safe and feel safe in their communities”.
Maher said the government’s view on the ban was “it is good”.
“Someone who have been convicted of multiple counts of raping a 12-year-old girl has no place coming to Australia or being glorified in any way, shape or form,” he said.
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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 Netherlands after being extradited home.
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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.
Australian Olympic medallist Taliqua Clancy and Paris Olympians Izac Carracher, Mark Nicolaidis, Thomas Hodges and Zachery Schubert will all be taking to the sand as part of the Australian team. Among the 18 Australian athletes, 12 will make their World Championships debut.
Volleyball Australia CEO Andrew Dee said the organising committee’s focus “remains on ensuring we deliver a spectacular world championships and I look forward to being there to watch the first serve”.
“It will be the biggest Beach Volleyball event in the world this year and the first time we will have 9 Aussie teams proudly wearing the green and gold. That is what we all should now focus on and celebrate,” he said.
