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Patrick Kicken: Genee, Gijp and Derksen, the real story

[BLOG] It is Monday evening, just after eight o’clock. The time when I have always become a bit restless. My friends will be on TV immediately. I don’t mind that they talk about football at all, I like them so much and have laughed so much about them that they have become part of my regular routine. See you tonight. And maybe even disappeared from my life forever. How could this have gone off the rails like this? I think that as an amateur psychologist and expert with an unsalted opinion, I know the cause.

René van der Gijp started his career as an analyst once, almost 15 years ago, in my morning show Kicken Wake Up! at Radio Veronica. On Monday morning he always gave his vision of the football weekend by telephone at 8:15 am. It became a real hit. And everyone from the football world always listened, from Jack van Gelder to Mark van Bommel. They all wanted to know what Gijp had to say about analyzes and anecdotes. I often received René in the studio and got to know him as an extremely sensitive and sympathetic man. However, someone who wanted to know in advance how & what. You should not suddenly surprise him with something that had not been announced in advance. Then he laughed it away but you felt that he didn’t like it.

I met Wilfred Genee once in my life when I was a guest at his program at BNR on Friday afternoon to talk about my burnouts. He looked smaller than on TV and was razor-sharp in his questions back then, wondering how the hell you could get burned out twice. In the years that followed, I, like many other media people, have regular contact with him via the app. What has always struck me is that he is a hard worker, who does not turn his hand to five radio shows a week, a family with two small children and, if necessary, on TV all week. His slogan is / was now just smooth. I warned him a while ago that a person can only handle a certain number of impressions per day, before you know it, your bucket is also full.

I only spoke to Derksen on the phone once in my then morning show. But I can say, after hundreds of episodes of Veronica / Voetbal Inside, that I got to know the guys well. And I think there is a common denominator why this has ended so horribly: insecurity. Check out what those guys have been through in recent years. Derksen who seriously needed security after he got the wrath of many Turks in the Netherlands on the neck by calling the country a pussy country. Can never go to a stadium again. Jibe who takes a taxi to and from the parking garage when he goes out for dinner, for fear of being attacked by a fan or crazy person. Had a burglary in his own house and was later attacked in his own driveway by several masked guests, who hit his car windows with a hammer. And Genee who has been called rotten fish all day since the whole thing on Twitter and apparently can’t do anything good anymore.

Add to that the fact that my friends had been filling a TV show for months without the ball rolling at all. And that without an audience. All of them take extra energy and no matter how much they shrug their shoulders in so many unsafe situations as threat, burglary and attempted robbery, this does not leave anyone cold. And Gijp and Derksen also dare to be so outspoken because they invariably sit at a table in a safe setting. Participate in the decision-making process about who should sit in between. At most a handful of confidants: Jan Boskamp, ​​Hans Kraaij Jr, Valentijn Driessen and Wim Kieft. The rest must all be remotely at the bar or at the now infamous table. You also saw it in that racism broadcast last Monday: all nervousness at the table. Unrest. This was such a culture shock for those guys that it was very exciting. Gijp tried to get out by saying “I agree with everyone”, but his eyes caught fire. Only when the fragment from Ladies Night was shown halfway thawed things a bit and you saw everyone touched again find each other again through the sadness in the eyes of the football player shown.

And isn’t that what it’s all about in this racism discussion: fear. Insecurity. Feeling attacked. With automatic response that you think you should defend yourself. Turn away from you. When is that theme highlighted in the media? We just try to convince each other that we are right, but that is really just a wall that we try to build for fear. We only make each other more scared by going on like that. And with so many show sections, news programs, newspapers and talk shows to fill, we keep feeding the monster called fear. Until the fear becomes so great that the bomb bursts.

So if you are already on your gums, have had a lot of trouble in the past year (don’t forget the corona virus) and work for a company where it is never quiet to say the least (Talpa), it is hardly surprising that this ends in a fierce mutual quarrel. What all three of them should do is absolutely nothing for at least 4 to 6 weeks! All actions that they now take individually of each other are all aimed at getting rid of tension. Do your story. But it is counterproductive, it takes a little breath and a little later the circus starts all over again. Just like writing the columns in recent years brought me peace, because I could share my frustrations in and about the radio world. But there is also another side to it: as soon as it is read and the reactions start, the tension is back. Do you have to defend or explain yourself. Sometimes with threats.

I dare to admit that the football talk show Veronica Inside, which is now so much involved, was partly the inspiration for me to start writing radio columns about 6 years ago. Because they dared to express themselves so strongly about football, I dared that over the radio. And that has started quite a bit. Hopefully they will continue to do so after a well-deserved, long vacation. And if I were John de Mol I would scratch myself on the back of my head: did I not ask too many of those guys, by milking them out for so long to a European Championship final that never came? And how often did you hear them on TV complaining that the show lasted too long, until 10:30 PM. The old story in Hilversum: squeeze what you can, until the oranges are completely empty and you can throw the peel away. Hopefully there is some juice left with my 3 friends. Miss them already.

Patrick Kick

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