Rafael Van Der Vaart Under Fire For ‘Racist’ Joke About Japan Players After Netherlands Draw

ByMF Jones

Former Dutch international and pundit Rafael van der Vaart is catching some flak for a racist joke he cracked during TV coverage of the 2-2 draw between Japan and the Netherlands in World Cup last night.

Van der Vaart was analysing an 89th-minute equalizer scored by Japan’s Daichi Kamada and discussing why Dutch defender Micky van de Ven completely lost track of his marker during the corner kick, when he said:

“They [the Japanese players] do look alike, of course, maybe he [Van de Ven] thought that… That’s a joke, of course. I hardly dare say anything.”

Ha! Classic. The old “they all look the same” zinger.

He probably should have just acted like it was genuine analysis because by immediately admitting it was a joke, he’s basically admitting that he was knowingly saying something that would have him accused of racism. And sure enough – that’s what happened.

Japanese Twitter is even firing back by insisting they can’t tell Europeans apart…

Fair enough really.

Well anyway, hopefully nothing too much comes of this because it isn’t that egregious a comment, especially in the all-time history of racist comments made on TV.

Still, as an ex-pro and seasoned pundit, Van Der Vaart should probably know what you can and can’t get away with saying on TV in the year of our lord 2026.

For the World Cup referee under investigation for making a ‘white power’ symbol in the VAR room, click HERE.

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