Discussion at KNVB about decision by Nijhuis during Ajax

Sunday, August 15, 2021 at 8:17 PM• Daniel Cabot Kerkdijk • Last update: 20:24

Reinold Wiedemeijer reacted on behalf of the KNVB on Sunday evening to the much-discussed moment between Noussair Mazraoui and Souffian El Karouani during the competition match between Ajax and NEC (5-0). Bas Nijhuis let the play continue in minute 38 prior to Dusan Tadic’s 5-0 when Mazraoui seemed to make an apparent foul on El Karouani just before that. The NEC player stayed down, but Nijhuis did not whistle and Ajax put the 5-0 on the scoreboard seconds later. Even afterwards, the arbiter stood by his decision because Mazraoui first touched the ball and only then contact was made with the defender of NEC.

“So if you hit the ball first and then you kick an opponent hard, which is not the case here, then that’s allowed. As long as the ball gets hit,” analyst Kenneth Perez said jokingly. “Look how high Mazraoui’s leg is and then also the knee in the head.” Wiedemeijer: “What Kenneth said, that you can kick an opponent rotten if you only hit the ball first, that is of course not the case. Then we intervene. But here the referee has made a judgment and the ball has been played first. He judges the collision as innocent. I don’t think so, by the way.”

“This should always have been called off, this is careless,” emphasized Wiedemeijer. “And maybe even rashly. He sat very high with his leg. Anyway, the referee decided not to whistle here because the ball was played first. And he explained it nicely. A goal is then immediately scored. The VAR will then check whether it is clearly wrong and the VAR thinks it is not based on certain leads, such as playing the ball first.”

Perez then asked Wiedemeijer whether Nijhuis had misjudged it in his view and that of the KNVB. “Even here there is still discussion about it. Not everyone thinks this is something,” emphasized the former arbitrator. “If I had been on the field myself, I probably would have intervened. But I soon did. Because of that high leg I expected that intervention would be made. But Nijhuis has neatly explained why he didn’t do that.”

“At first I was surprised that I had to be in front of the camera. I am on the field and see an Ajax player coming in who plays the ball away and then there is a collision with a player from NEC. That’s how I see it on the field, so I let it go straight away. And my VAR actually sees the same,” Nijhuis started Saturday evening in the catacombs of the Johan Cruijff ArenA, also referring to VAR Laurens Gerrets. The images of the moment were then added. “Look, here you see the ball coming. And here he comes, look, he plays the ball and then he comes in contact with the player.”

“For me this is just a normal duel, you know.” Reporter Hélène Hendriks was visibly surprised: “Are you serious? To me, this was just a violation. But then I won’t understand.” Nijhuis: “You can have an opinion and think that this is a violation. He comes in, he plays the ball and then comes into contact with the player. I don’t think it’s a violation. He just plays the ball and then there is a collision. This is just playing the ball. A head injury? Yes, that’s possible. He hits it and then you can stop the game.”

Hendriks dropped the term ‘male football’. “Yes, I don’t think this is a violation”, Nijhuis emphasized. “A lot of people can consider that a violation, but when I see that image, I think the ball is being played and I think it’s a normal duel. You don’t always have to agree.”

Former top arbitrator Mario van de Ende put big question marks on Twitter on Saturday evening about Nijhuis’ decision and at the time of writing has received more than a thousand likes for his vision at the moment. “I think the referee and the VAR found that the head of the NEC player was still attached to the torso and therefore decided to continue playing.” He added #incomprehensible as a hashtag.