The European Championship success of Björn Kuipers and Danny Makkelie has not exactly led to a jubilant mood at Dick Jol when it comes to the Dutch referee guild. The former referee is not at all pleased with the level of the Dutch arbitrators and believes that the referees who are currently not playing at the European Championships are not even remotely close to the level of Kuipers and Makkelie. Robert Maaskant, in turn, finds it disappointing that former referees often speak negatively about their colleagues.
Makkelie will lead the second semi-final between England and Denmark on Wednesday evening, while Kuipers will most likely be assigned the final on Sunday. “All praise for Makkelie and Kuipers, you know”, Jol starts positively in the General Newspaper “They read the match well, understand the art of communicating and being flexible. But please don’t exaggerate, say. The level of our referees is not that great at all. Makkelie and Kuipers are on Mount Everest. Everything behind the two come will never go higher than the valley. Go by the names. The Lindhouts, the Higlers and you name them all; internationally they are never going to be anything.”
Jol’s critiques leave no room for doubt. “Our referees are puppets, who are guided far too much by the VAR”, is the opinion of the former top referee. “And the only one who does not do this, Bas Nijhuis, just goes on to the other side. He simply determines his own rules. And that is of course not possible. I think that a lot still needs to be done in terms of training and coaching, if we want to we will get more authentic and independent referees like Makkelie and Kuipers in the future. At least for now I don’t see them.”
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Maaskant does not fully agree with Jol and sees a pattern emerging. “From the moment referees have stopped whistling, they are only negative about their world,” says Maaskant. Makkelie and Kuipers are the ultimate role models for young referees during the European Championship. Dutch football will ultimately reap the benefits.”
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