A Dutch football fan who dressed up as his boyhood hero Ruud Gullit, complete with blackface make-up, for the Netherlands’ opening Euro 2024 match has pledged to put the outfit away after triggering a backlash on social media.

Bart van de Ven said he was “shocked” by the response to photographs of himself and two friends at the match against Poland that went viral on social media.

He told Omroep Brabant he was retiring his “Rasta Ruud” persona after tweets denouncing the outfit as racist were shared on X, better known as Twitter, and picked up by newspapers including the UK’s Daily Mail.

Van de Ven, from Breda, said the reactions “set me thinking”, but insisted he had not intended to cause offence. “Maybe I made a mistake or it’s a blind spot. The last thing I want to do is hurt people and that’s why I’ve decided to stop.”

Van de Ven said his costume of retro football shirt, bushy afro wig, fake moustache and blackface was intended as a tribute to the midfielder who scored the opening goal in the 1988 final, sending the Netherlands on their way to their only international trophy.

“Unpleasant associations”

“I’ve had a lot of really nice responses as well, but clearly there is a group who feel differently,” he said. “I have to respect that and listen to it. The last thing I want is for people to have a certain unpleasant association with my act.”

Dutch fans have brought a lot of fantastic colour to Hamburg today. These lads might have misjudged it a little with their homage to Ruud. pic.twitter.com/MdcSstiKaK

— tariq panja (@tariqpanja) June 16, 2024

Gullit did not respond directly to the controversy, but broadcaster Humberto Tan, his colleague on the Mijnals committee, set up to combat racism in football, said the outfit had been intended as a tribute to the player.

Tan told the Telegraaf: “Ruud said when he saw it: ‘I actually feel quite honoured’, because it’s a reminder of one of the biggest prizes he won as a footballer.

“Blackface is an unattractive phenomenon, but in this specific case, where it’s meant as a tribute, I think that’s how you should see it.”

Van de Ven wore the outfit at World Cups and European Championship tournaments between 2008 and 2014, but kept it in his dressing-up box for the last 10 years.

But when Rasta Ruud came out again, it was into a world that had been changed by a long and intense debate about Zwarte Piet (black Pete), the helper who hands out presents with Sinterklaas (St Nicholas) on December 5.

Ten years ago the character was usually portrayed by white actors in blackface make-up, but after several years of protests against its racist connotations the children’s TV show Sinterklaasjournaal and the carnival-style parades in major towns and cities introduced “sooty Petes” with soot-marked faces.

The prime minister, Mark Rutte, and king Willem-Alexander have apologised for the Netherlands’ slave trading past, in recent years, while Rutte has acknowleged that “systemic racism” is a problem.

Tolerance under fire

Gullit himself called four years ago for an open discussion of racism in sport and society. “What makes me angry most of all is when people say it’s not so bad,” he told Ziggo sports show Rondo.

However, the player has not responded to requests to comment on the latest controversy.

Sociologist Aspha Bijnaar, who specialises in colonial history at the University of Amsterdam, said many Dutch fans were aggravated by the suggestion that dressing up as Ruud Gullit could be seen as racist.

“It trips easily off the tongue to say it’s not what you meant. But when people do that it ignores the impact of that intention,” she told RTL Nieuws.

Arrogance

“We see the Netherlands as a tolerant country, we think we can say anything. That’s a product of arrogance: ‘Who are they to say that we can’t act out our ‘traditions’?”

Van de Ven said he had planned to wear the “Rasta Ruud” outfit as a DJ at fan discos during Euro 2024 and donate his income to the Princess Maxima Centrum, a hospital specialising in children’s cancer.

“I do the act purely for my own enjoyment and wanted to raise money for a good causes as Rasta Ruud during the European championships,” he said. “That’s not happening now. If the fun stops, it stops for me too.”