Inside Lionesses’ swanky Women’s World Cup hotel with arcade games, motivational staircase and more than 1,000 teabags
A RELAXATION room with Harry Potter novels, Serena Williams’ memoir and virtual reality headsets are among the distractions for the Lionesses at their swish World Cup base in Australia.
The base for England’s squad is a haven for relaxation and inspiration – as well as a bit of fun.
Sarina Wiegman’s trophy-hungry 23-strong squad – who won their opener 1-0 against Haiti on Saturday – and backroom staff have based themselves in Terrigal, 90 minutes north of Sydney and eight miles east of the Pacific Ocean.
The plush set-up, at the deluxe beach side hotel located on Australia’s Central Coast, features walls and steps adorned with motivational messages created by the Lionesses themselves.
Their base includes a state-of-the-art coffee machine capable of photographing players and then printing images of their faces in their beverages., as well as customised arcade games, table tennis tables and table football.
While England are thought to have also brought more than 1,040 Yorkshire teabags to their camp in case they fancy a more traditional brew in the morning.
Upon entry the first sight that greets visitors is a giant blow-up balloon model of a St George’s flag, with the word “England” featured in silver.
And high up on the walls in the foyer are large poster-style photographs of single member of Wiegman’s Lionesses squad.
Slogans such as “real sisterhood” and “play for the shirt on the pitch, not seat on the plane” are among the affirmations splashed on hotel walls.
FA women’s technical director Kay Cossington, who led journalists on a tour of England’s camp said: “The spaces on the walls are things that the players own.
“These are quotes and words that have come through from the team.
“They are not things that we’ve actually made up, that’s stuff that the team own and really believe in.”
For Wiegman’s squad one of most poignant items at the base is a commissioned portrait featuring every single player during their childhood years wearing their old grassroots football kits.
Cossington adds: “We all fell in love with this painting when we first saw it.
“It’s about connecting the players back to their grassroots clubs and it’s also honouring how important grassroots football is to the journeys of our professional players.”
Cossington and Lionesses general manager Anja van Ginhoven oversaw the selection of the World Cup base for Wiegman and her side.
They did some of their site planning visits in May last year following conversations with Fifa.
Ginhoven said: “I think we visited about 37 hotels and 23 training grounds in nine days! It was a super intense trip.”
England’s base in Terrigal includes rooms named after domestic women’s football and Lioness legends of the past.
Heroines such as England Women’s first skipper Sheila Parker and Mary Phillip, the first black player to captain the side.
And the room where the team plans their tactics has been dubbed The White Room in honour of the team’s record goal scorer Ellen White who retired last year.
England’s “home away from home” contains the studio where Jill Scott films Lionesses Live.
The home of Australian A-League club Central Coast Mariners, where Usain Bolt spent a two-month spell as a player, is serving as the training space for Wiegman’s side.
They face Denmark next on Friday, hoping to improve on their tentavie opener at the weekend.