Saturday, April 30, 2022 at 12:31 PM• Dominic Mostert

Johan Derksen would do well to keep a low profile for the time being, thinks Bas Nijhuis. The referee was a regular guest on Today Inside, the program that was officially ended on Friday. Sitting still when you are being shaved is the best option, according to Nijhuis, as he experienced when his performance was criticized.

“After a moment with the VAR in the match between Feyenoord and Heracles Almelo, I was so angry”, Nijhuis looks back in conversation with RTV East† He is referring to a disallowed goal by Luis Sinisterra in the game on December 1. The arbiter initially let Alireza Jahanbakhsh’s block go against Heracles defender Giacomo Quagliata, after which Sinisterra scored in the same attack. After viewing the images, he nevertheless disapproved of the hit. He very much regretted it afterwards. “I shifted the mistake to the VAR, but shouldn’t do that. It’s better not to say anything for the first few days. I also recommend this to Johan.”

Nijhuis regrets the disappearance of the program, which only started on a daily basis in January. “Nowadays we live in a culture in which you have to be careful what you say. Some things go too far. You can no longer say everything you said twenty years ago or in a bar,” he says. “But what I am disappointed with is that it is becoming a culture of accountability. One person can make a mistake and you are immediately tackled from all sides.” Today Inside distinguished itself, according to Nijhuis, because the program was not directed.

“For example, on the talk show Op1 you just don’t get the questions in advance. At Today Inside you sit down and then it goes wild. Everything comes to the table and there is no discussion about what to say and what not to say. programs.” Nevertheless, Nijhuis finds it important to express his disapproval of the confession that Derksen made on Tuesday and then weakened it. “If it really happened, then it’s absurd.” Derksen said he penetrated an unconscious woman with a candle, but a day later spoke of a wrong memory and said that there was no penetration.