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Dutch race relations manager
AMSTERDAM, Netherlands (AP) -- Pierre van Hooijdonk will have two jobs with the Netherlands this summer: backup striker to Dennis Bergkamp and Patrick Kluivert, and manager of race relations.Following the Netherlands' disappointing play in the '96 European Championship, some players with Surinamese backgrounds complained of team divisions along racial lines.
"I'm someone who just tries to get along with everybody ... I have never strongly felt any special affiliation with other black players," Van Hooijdonk, who is black, said. "You could say that I subconsciously could be a sort of link between the white and black players in the Dutch team, because I sit between the two groups."
Van Hooijdonk, who leads the English first division with 28 goals for Nottingham Forest, is realistic about his remote chance of winning a place in the Dutch starting lineup.
"I'd really like to be in the Dutch first team, but I understand if the trainer sees me as an ideal pinch-hitter," Van Hooijdonk said.
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