Rafael van der Vaart Accused of Making Racist Japan Comments

Hal picked up his MA in Sports Journalism and NCTJ qualification from St Mary's University Twickenham, Hal has since been part of Valnet since late 2021.

He started as a freelance football writer for This Is Futbol and carried that on over to FootballFanCast before becoming their social media editor. He now works as an editor for GiveMeSport, predominantly focusing on Premier League, Champions League, and English football.

He also helps GiveMeSport cover other major sports such as MMA, boxing, darts, tennis, and golf. Key events like the summer and winter Olympics are also highlights when they appear on the sporting calendar.

Hal is an Arsenal and Three Lions fan, but keeps an eye on the All Blacks, his favourite rugby team, having grown up in New Zealand. Sign in to your GiveMeSport account As a footballer, Rafael van der Vaart was capable of spectacular moments. As a pundit, however, he seems interested only in making headlines with eye-catching statements.

The Netherlands kicked off their World Cup campaign with a thrilling 2-2 draw with Japan. Virgil van Dijk opened the scoring before Keito Nakamura levelled things up. Crysencio Summerville then gave the Dutch a 2-1 lead before Daichi Kamada hit an 89th-minute equaliser.

After the match, Van der Vaart accused captain and goalscorer Van Dijk of turning 'like a Boeing 747.' Criticism like that is one thing, but his following comments about the Japanese players crossed the line, and the former Tottenham and Real Madrid man is now facing a huge backlash online.

As quoted by Goal, Van der Vaart took issue with Micky van de Ven's efforts in the game. He began: I then became interested in Micky van de Ven's role. He was close to Ogawa.

"He completely lost sight of him. You can see him running around. If you're man-marking, you're responsible for your man. It's very difficult to pass it on to someone else... You see, he's completely free. Van de Ven has disappeared. He can head the ball without any opposition."

“A perfect corner is very difficult to defend,” he added. “This one had the right speed, just over the five-yard line. With a bit of luck, it would have gone in, but the corner was brilliant.”

Van der Vaart then made reference to a racist stereotype as he concluded his analysis, by suggesting that Van de Ven was confused by his opposition players:

"They [Japan players] look alike, of course. Maybe he [Van de Ven] thought that…I hardly dare say anything."

Their supporters will NOT be able to bring their flags into the stadiums.

When the comments appeared online, fans were quick to call them out as racist. One fan said:

"Yeah, discrimination against Asians just won't go away, huh."

Another added: "Oh man. It was such a good match, but now it leaves a really bad aftertaste all at once. Of course, I know that most Dutch people aren't like this racist, but it's just too disappointing."

A third word: "I've always thought this guy's got a rotten personality deep down so it's no surprise that's all..." Another said: "Van der Vaart's totally messed up." While someone else said: "Yea, that’s messed up"

One more summed up the feelings of many, writing:

"Should be taken off air and shouldn't work again, plain and simple."

A final fan concluded: "Oh he's definitely going to lose his job."