Racism in the Netherlands: "Every time racism is tackled with kid gloves"

Dutch football coach Ronald Koeman has clearly taken a stand on the racist incident in the first division match between FC Den Bosch and Excelsior Rotterdam last Sunday. He threatened with a game crash, should something happen at international matches.

"Every time he (Racism, Red) is tackled with kid gloves, you have to leave the field, we would do that as a Dutch team," said Koemann. Liverpool star Georginio Wijnaldum also said critically: "I did not think it was possible that such a thing could happen in the Netherlands, and if that happened to us, I would leave the field immediately."

On Sunday, it was the first time in Dutch professional football, a game interruption because of racism. The referee decided to pause the match ten minutes before halftime when Excelsior player Ahmad Mendes Moreira was offended by the monkeys with monkey sounds and songs about the "Zwarte Piet" when he touched the ball.

Moreira was clearly suffering from these hostilities, so the referee interrupted the game at the request of the Excelsior captain. After consultations, Excelsior agreed to finish the game. Shortly before the break, Moreira scored the 1: 2 halftime goal. The game ended 3: 3.

"As a player, you can not do anything about it, it's a social problem, it's for politics, and it's such a bone-in-the-bone reaction," Wijnaldum said. The Dutch football association KNVB and FC Den Bosch have announced an investigation. "It's amazing what happened here - horrible," said KNVB director Erik Gudde.