Valentijn Driessen thinks that some Dutch referees have ‘gloated’ at the performance of Bas Nijhuis during Feyenoord – Heracles Almelo. The chief of football of The Telegraph writes in his column in the newspaper that his colleagues watch Nijhuis’ television appearances with jealousy. For example, a ‘Dutch informer’ would have pointed out to UEFA the appearances of Nijhuis in the program De Oranjezomer.
Driessen is not pleased with the performance of Nijhuis during the duel between Feyenoord and Heracles. ‘Not a shadow of the personality he normally is on and off the field’, says Driessen. Nijhuis let a block from Alireza Jahanbakhsh go against Heracles defender Giacomo Quagliata, after which Luis Sinisterra scored in the same attack. Marc Nagtegaal, the VAR on duty, decided after long deliberation to call Nijhuis to the sidelines. Nijhuis was visibly irritated by the decision to call him to the side.
According to Driessen Nijhuis, it is not only to be blamed for not sticking to his decision after seeing the images, but also for taking Nagtegaal hard during an interview with ESPN. “Nobody knows this Nijhuis in the public domain, but also the people at the KNVB,” Driessen writes in The Telegraph. “Referee boss Dick van Egmond does not dislike Nijhuis nearly as much as is sometimes suggested.”
Driessen states that Van Egmond has more trouble with other referees, who do not dare to speak the truth straight to his face. “Supposedly out of fear of being sidelined for a few weeks and missing out on income. These are the same arbitrators who enviously see how Nijhuis manages to market itself and regularly joins the football talk show Veronica Inside. They undoubtedly gloated at Nijhuis. ‘ slipped after Feyenoord-Heracles and thought it was fine that he independently ended his career as an international arbitrator.”
“‘Helped’ by a Dutch snitch, who clicked with UEFA leader Roberto Rosetti about Nijhuis’ television appearances at De Oranjezomer”, Driessen continues. He believes that Nijhuis ‘has shown personality’ by thanking him for the position of fifth or sixth official in Team Kuipers and ultimately handing in his international badge, so that Sander van der Eijk and Joey Kooij also have a chance for promotion to the international list. “Nijhuis deserves all respect for that way of acting. Presumably all the commotion this week did him more than he thought, judging by the faux-pas in De Kuip. Let’s therefore call the cleaning of his street by the best referee in the Netherlands as an incident.”
