Peter R. De Vries was best known for his decades-long work as a crime reporter, but a practically forgotten chapter was his career as an agent. In 2014, De Vries, who died on Thursday at the age of 64 from the consequences of last week’s attack, started the agency PR Sportmanagement BV in Amsterdam with his son Royce, an office that focused on coaching professional athletes. especially football players. “Peter didn’t recruit any players. As a footballer you really had to want to belong to him,” Léon Bergsma remembers well.
Bergsma was still a youth player at Ajax when Peter R. de Vries founded PR Sportmanagement in 2014 together with his son Royce and Ajax icon Piet Keizer. “Peter came to watch very often and always had an opinion,” says Bergsma, who now plays for the Swiss FC Aarau, in conversation with the NOS back. “He also just came by when I played against Feyenoord in the A1 with Ajax. Afterwards he stood there quietly in the canteen, while those guys from Rotterdam started to attack him. He didn’t care.”
De Vries was a loyal season ticket holder of Ajax, where he had once even offered himself as director. Bergsma’s first professional contract in Amsterdam was a highlight for De Vries. “He was incredibly proud of that,” Bergsma is sure. “My first professional contract, with the club that was everything to him. That was a dream for Peter.” De Vries also cared about other matters such as school. “Even if I accidentally called him while he was busy with RTL Boulevard, he took the time for us.”
Bergsma eventually left for AZ, without much success, and now plays in Switzerland. “I’m in the right place here,” says Bergsma. “I received a very nice message from Peter after my transfer.” Bergsma had changed agent. “Peter has really delivered on his promises, not a negative word. I just felt like after four years under his wing, I needed something else. A new network, with new opportunities to develop as a footballer”
Bergsma acknowledges that he had to muster the courage to thank De Vries for his services. “You don’t brush off a person like Peter with a text or WhatsApp message. He deserves the direct approach he always gave to others. Then you must have the balls to sit there as a young boy. No, that was not a nice conversation for me.” The past period was also not good for the central defender. “Of course I immediately contacted Royce, last week when I heard the terrible news. They’ve always been good to me.”