The Mijnals committee is furious about the appointment of Frank de Boer as coach of the Dutch national team. The dissatisfaction has nothing to do with De Boer as a person, but in particular about the KNVB procedure. Chairman Humberto Tan of the committee talks to De Telegraaf that the football association missed an opportunity to reinforce its own words about the importance of diversity.

In July, the KNVB assembled the Mijnals committee, named after Humphrey Mijnals, the very first Orange international ever with a Surinamese background. This committee aims to provide the KNVB and the national government with ‘information and, if necessary, action to help them realize their ambitions with regard to racism, discrimination and inclusivity in football’, the union said. The committee includes Ruud Gullit, but Tan is the chairman. He regrets that the KNVB is ‘talking’ about diversity, but has not entered into a dialogue with someone with a migration background.

“From day one it was clear that Frank would succeed Ronald Koeman. The rest was all a bit cosmetic, so the committee feels cheated”, Tan grumbles. For example, he refers to Frank Rijkaard’s approach; Gullit added on Sunday Ziggo Sport all that ‘everyone already knew’ that the former top football player would not be sympathetic to an employment contract with Orange. Just like Gullit did on television, Tan emphasizes that the anger has nothing to do with the fact that a white national coach has been appointed.

“It’s not about color, it’s about quality,” emphasizes the television personality and former football reporter. “But also look for quality outside the ‘people like us circle’, because there is also a lot of quality there.” Tan adds that, despite several requests, the committee never made a ‘list of names’. After all, appointing a national coach is the task of technical director Nico-Jan Hoogma. He therefore calls it ‘incorrect’ that the committee wanted to interfere with the appointment. “The only thing we asked is to look broadly and also to talk to non-white people, of whom the KNVB thought they could also be suitable for the position of national coach. And if they turned it down, then with good motivation. “

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Tan finds it problematic that roughly thirty to forty percent of KNVB members have a migration background, but that the percentage within the organization is less than five percent. “In the top counted zero percent. In the entire coach and coaching staff – from the youngest youth to the great Orange – it was also zero percent, although Ervin Lee and Hedwiges Maduro were recently appointed as assistants at the Orange Under-20. and Under 18s. But the share remains small. “

Tan calls Rijkaard ‘pure window dressing’. “He was used as an alibi: look at how we are working with diversity. Nonsense, because it is common knowledge that Frank has not had the ambition to do anything in football for seven years. That was out of the question. We saw this action by the KNVB are already arriving and have therefore indicated in the meantime that approaching Rijkaard would not be the same for us as meeting the Rooney Rule. “

The line Tan is talking about is named after Dan Rooney, the late former owner of the Pittsburgh Steelers from the US National Football League. On his initiative, it became mandatory for NFL clubs to have at least one candidate from a minority group apply when a new trainer or someone in a management position is sought. According to Tan, the committee made a proposal to the KNVB to apply the same rule and the union was initially positive about it. Now people think that this rule has not been observed.

In a response, the KNVB said that it still supports the Mijnals committee. Moreover, the union reports that diversity has been included as a factor in the search for ‘the best candidate’. “We largely agree with the committee, we also want to become more diverse as the KNVB, but it is precisely this unique function that lends itself less to the eight points in their letter about this”, the association refers to a letter sent by the committee to the union after the departure of Ronald Koeman. “A meeting at which we will discuss this jointly is planned, because unfortunately we also see a number of incorrect assumptions. We appreciate the work of the committee and look forward to our further cooperation.”