Update on FIFA World Cup and Access to Bay City Park
With the upcoming FIFA Women’s World Cup and the selection of Bay City Park as the training hub for the United States team, we will shortly be losing access to our fields and clubrooms from the 6th July. As part of the agreement with FIFA the US team have exclusive access to the clubrooms during the lead up and playing of the tournament. We expect the US team to arrive early July – three weeks out from the tournament start, and they will retain access to Bay City Park until they exit the tournament (the final is August 20th). The grounds and clubrooms will be closed to access for everyone else, with security in place from the 6th of July. FIFA take control of the lower fields from mid-June.
Whilst this is a short-term frustration for us all, we are excited about the legacy that this tournament has bought to the club long term. Those of you who have been to Bay City Park over the last few months will have seen the development of the lower fields – they are looking world class – as well as the upgrades to the changing rooms – a fantastic upgrade to our facilities made with the support of Auckland Unlimited (Auckland Council), the Lotteries Commission, FIFA and NZ Football. We may have some limited access to BCP #1 – dependent on the US training requirements, however we expect to have no football games scheduled at BCP for a two month period. The club are working closely with Auckland Council to schedule games locally at venues such as Ashley Reserve, Mairangi Bay, Deep Creek Reserve, Greville Reserve, Sunnynook Park and Rosedale Park. Our Men’s and Women’s First team home games are likely to be moved to North Harbour Stadium, watch this space!
Whilst the ECB bar and clubrooms will be closed for two months, we have reached an agreement with a couple of our local business supporters – Long Bay Surf Club and The Clyde – who have offered to honour the ECB bar prices at their establishments – so please make an effort to get down to both these locations and support our partners. You can pick up an ECB membership card from Duane at the club to show that you are a registered member.
We are hoping that through the tournament there will an opportunity for some engagement between the club and the US Team – what this may be is still to be confirmed and we await any details of this opportunity.
In the meantime we thank you all for your support and consideration as we go through this period of transition through the World Cup period. It’s fantastic that we have the reigning World Cup champion United States Women’s National team here at Bay City Park – something we should all be proud of. Lets go USA!!
