Vera Pauw receives support from English and Dutch camps ahead of Euros

Vera Pauw has received words of support from the England and Netherlands camps ahead of the Women’s European Championships kicking off on Wednesday night

Wed, 06 Jul, 2022 - 13:22

John Fallon

Vera Pauw has received words of support from the England and Netherlands camps ahead of the Women’s European Championships kicking off on Wednesday night.

The Ireland coach went public on Friday with her long-standing quest for justice from allegations of sexual misconduct, including a case of rape, against three officials of the Dutch federation (KNVB) during her employment with her home country.

After growing frustrated with the lack of progress on an investigation, Pauw escalated her complaints to the Dutch police last month. The KNVB last week expressed their regret at their handling of the case.

“The KNVB should have approached a number of issues differently. For example, in the past Vera was unfortunately confronted with a number of (estimation) errors and harmful comments from (former) KNVB employees. Verinorm (independent investigators) also found through the investigation that there was no plan or policy of the KNVB behind this.

"The KNVB was not sufficiently alert to Vera's first signals in 2011 about sexually transgressive behaviour. The report states that these signals were veiled, but that should not be an excuse if such a theme comes up in any way. The KNVB did not react sharply enough to this at the time.

"We acknowledge the errors identified in the report and should not have happened to her.”

Sarina Wiegman, England’s Netherlands’ born manager, was asked about the controversy ahead of her team opening the tournament against Austria before a capacity 75,000 crowd at Old Trafford.

The pair know each other. Pauw wanted to assume a second spell managing her homeland in late when they opted for compatriot Wiegman, who within months led ‘The Oranje’ to European glory – triggering England’s interest in a manager to lead their home-based assault for that elusive major tournament triumph.

"First of all, it's really horrible when it happens to you, when you experience that,” said 52-year-old Wiegman, six years younger than Pauw.

“I think for anyone that comes into a situation like that, it is really horrible.

"I heard there was an investigation around it which is really good but at the same time I’m here. I'm focused on this European Championship, starting on Wednesday with the England team, so I will just leave it there."

Dutch legend Sherida Spitse surpassed the 200-cap mark last week, an international career that began by Pauw handing her a debut 16 years ago.

Like Wiegman, she was wary of the issue overshadowing the build-up to their Euros defence but was eager to acknowledge the trauma Pauw is suffering.

“It’s painful,” said the midfielder. “We as a squad have read about it and talked about it for a while but we were mainly concerned with our matches. Of course, this is not fun for Vera.

“I can only speak for myself: I have been with the Dutch national team a number of years and I experience it as a pleasant and safe working environment.

“It has not bothered me, no matter which coach I have worked with. We are always busy with training, matches and preparations for tournaments. This is not an issue with us in the group. If others have experienced something, they must share their story with each other or with the KNVB.”