Football Shame: My Defense & Van de Keuken Critique

It may be my not very youthful arrogance, but I have the feeling that I am usually on the right side of history. Or well, usually I watch from the sidelines and mentally support the people who they later say were on the right side.

I was shocked after I saw Teun van de Keuken’s call to boycott the Football World Cup in the United States. You would think that at such a moment I would sense perfectly that he has quite a point. But instead I found it annoying bullshit. And even though I know my arguments are pretty weak, I still feel that way.

My first argument is purely focused on the person – one to manif you will. “Oh yes,” I thought, “Van de Keuken has found another opportunity to appear in talk shows.” Ideal topic, you can already see the presenter making the bridge from ICE crimes to the World Cup boycott. Bee Pauw & De Wit for example, where Van de Keuken gave an excellent story.

And yet I found it annoying. Why does he have to make this point so necessary? My annoyance was suspiciously similar to the right-wing annoyance at vegetarians or anti-racists; They may be right, but they flaunt it so much, it is so vain, they want it so badly good. So it’s a pointless argument, but I felt it.

I also immediately thought of previous world championships, in Qatar (2022) and Russia (2018). We just went there, right? Then we would have gone. So isn’t it strange not to go to this World Cup, which is also taking place in Canada and Mexico? A classic whataboutism; If we are only allowed to do something about an abuse if we also do something about all other abuses, nothing will ever happen. You have to start somewhere, I understand that, but I would rather not during this World Cup.

Whatever dictatorship the Dutch team plays in, I’ll go and see

Perhaps what bothers me most is that I see people supporting the call for a boycott who I know don’t like football in the first place. Maarten van Rossem, for example, who was also at the table Pauw & De Wit. . But Van Rossem is an avid football hater, if it were up to him, PEC Zwolle – Telstar will not take place this weekend either. That would be nice and easy to boycott, I think. I could easily maintain a boycott of all programs with Maarten van Rossem.

Ultimately it comes down to the fact that I really enjoy watching the Dutch national team. I understand that there is a lot wrong with the football world and that this World Cup is yet another perverse outgrowth of it, but I simply prefer not to be lectured to by others. I will not let myself be talked into being ashamed of watching football, and certainly not by Teun van de Keuken. Whatever dictatorship they play in, I’m just going to watch, that’s my way of life and you stay away from that.

Apparently it only takes a little bit to lose my ability to reason properly skin in the game to have. A flake, nothing more. I no longer weigh arguments and then determine a position, but come up with arguments that match my feelings. Normally I can look down on people who reason like this, but now I maybe understand them a little better. Was that petition good for anything after all?