Amid great interest from the press and public, Mark van Bommel officially opened the Mark van Bommel pitch at De Herdgang on Tuesday afternoon. The pitch, located on the youth side of PSV's sports complex, will be used for the benefit of PSV's youth training and the PSV Foundation's social projects.
Unique
The Mark van Bommel pitch is unique in the Netherlands. Thanks to a special fence construction, the artificial turf pitch can be enlarged and reduced in size, allowing the PSV youth academy to carry out various forms of play and training on the pitch. The boarding around the field features the logos of the clubs for which Van Bommel played in his career. The emblem of the Dutch national team, for which the former PSV captain made 79 appearances, is also featured on the boarding. That same boarding was deliberately kept low by Van Bommel, so that the field radiates football in everything.
First in the Netherlands
After an official word from technical manager Marcel Brands and Harrie Timmermans, president of the PSV Supporters Association, Van Bommel himself performed the opening act of the training pitch named after him. "As thanks for my farewell game in 2013, I wanted to do something for PSV. Soon the club and I came up with the idea of building a special pitch, not yet existing in the Netherlands, that would also serve a social purpose. Various youth teams and social projects of the club now use this field, but it is also used on Saturdays by children who come to watch matches with their parents. That is exactly the intention," said the club icon.
Farewell match
The Mark van Bommel pitch was constructed on the occasion of Van Bommel's farewell match in the summer of 2013. The money raised with that game at the time was made available by Mark van Bommel for the construction of the innovative pitch. In addition, PSV received a contribution from the PSV Supporters Association to realize the construction of the pitch. "I am very grateful that the supporters' association wanted to do that. It's a field by the fans and for the fans."
An overview of the Mark van Bommel field