Deputy PM calls out football pundit for "racist" anti-Moroccan rant
According to Deputy Prime Minister Lodewijk Asscher, it is definitely racist to keep Moroccan football players out of football clubs, as football analyst Johan Derksen called for on Voetbal Inside on Monday night.
Derksen stated that some amateur clubs no longer function, or even disappear completely, because of a too high percentage of players with a Moroccan background. "I will be dismissed as racist, but I do not give a shit about that", Derksen said on the television program. "There are many clubs that went to shit because their fields are in a neighborhood where many Moroccan families live. Moroccan players then get the upper hand in the selection and that works almost nowhere. Dutch boys go to other clubs. They do not want to work with nine Moroccan boys and not dare to shower in their bare ass."
On Tuesday night Derksen appeared on Pauw with Farid Azarkan - chairman of the Association for Dutch Moroccans - to discuss his comments. He refused to apologize and went even further by adding that he would never buy a Moroccan football player. According to him, if they turn out to be any good, the club has to pay for them to go play internationally for six weeks. "And then the club also has to play when they take time off for Ramadan."
Asscher responded to Derksen's comments on Facebook, quoting him saying that he will be dismissed as a racist. "Yes. It is racist to keep Moroccans out of football clubs", the Deputy Prime Minister wrote. Asscher thinks that problems in teams with Dutch-Moroccan players should be named and action must be taken against individuals. "Ignoring the problem itself and encouraging clubs not to take on any Moroccan boys is passing the problem on Anass or Mouad, sweethearts I know from F'jes. Boys who often suffered from prejudice against Moroccans", Asscher writes. "Sporting together, that helps. And not being judged by your group, but by your behavior - and your football abilities!"
