{"id":1359,"date":"2016-12-13T10:57:49","date_gmt":"2016-12-13T09:57:49","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.erasmusmagazine.nl\/?p=63395\/"},"modified":"2025-12-19T11:22:06","modified_gmt":"2025-12-19T10:22:06","slug":"ik-kreeg-feyenoordfans-aan-het-lezen","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.erasmusmagazine.nl\/en\/2016\/12\/13\/ik-kreeg-feyenoordfans-aan-het-lezen\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018I got Feyenoord fans reading\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Rob Vente met de 'covergirl' bij het Erasmusstandbeeld op de campus.<\/span><\/p><\/figcaption><\/figure>

Rob Vente is a Feyenoord fan, a writer of thrillers and a cult hero. He just published his ninth thriller in four-and-a half years: \u2018The Erasmus Murder\u2019. He\u2019s churning out books at breakneck speed. The main ingredients? A murder, Feyenoord, and Detective Fred Groen.<\/p>\n

\u201cAn interview? Always a pleasure!\u201d was Vente\u2019s reaction to an interview request. \u201cWatch out though, I\u2019ll talk your ear off,\u201d he joked. He\u2019s living in Papendrecht with his second wife Jane in a stylish, modern house. Even the coat stand is out of sight, concealed in an elegant closet set in the wall. At first glance, there is no outward sign of his fanatical support of Feyenoord, but the football anecdotes of the retired football reporter and son of a professional footballer reveal his passion.<\/p>\n

\u2018The Erasmus Murder\u2019. Does Desiderius die in your book? Or does the murder take place on the campus?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Vente laughs: \u201cNo, the murder doesn\u2019t take place at Erasmus University; it takes place at the Erasmussingel. That\u2019s why the police commissioner always referred to it as \u2018The Erasmus Murder\u2019. It\u2019s about a murder of someone who on the surface seems to be nothing more than a boring bank employee, a yes-man. But as the story develops it turns out that still waters run deep.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThe cover was however created at the university. The publisher found that the most attractive in the artistic sense.\u201d Jane, who used to be a photographer for the Feyenoord magazine, took the picture. She reads everything Vente writes and he can always ask her for help if he needs to know anything.<\/p>\n

Many of the covers feature a \u2018cover girl\u2019 with Feyenoord related apparel. \u201cIt doesn\u2019t have to be a banner, sometimes it\u2019s a t-shirt or leggings with a Feyenoord logo printed on it. That appeals to my readers\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\t

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\n\t\t\u201cOn 27 March 1937, my father scored the very first goal in De Kuip stadium.\u201d\n\t<\/blockquote>\n\n\t\t\t
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What is your bond with Feyenoord?<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cYou could say I grew up with Feyenoord.\u201d With modest pride, he relates the story about his father Leen Vente, a story etched in his memory. \u201cOn 27 March 1937, my father scored the very first goal in De Kuip stadium. Two weeks later, he also scored the first goal in Feyenoord\u2019s stadium with the Dutch national team, in the same goal. I was brought up with Feyenoord.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cAs a \u2018lad\u2019 at the Higher Civic School, I was only good at one thing: writing. During his military service, he applied for a job at the newspaper Rotterdams Nieuwsblad<\/em>, and spent the next forty years writing for this paper. \u201cI was what you would call the head football writer. I followed Feyenoord across the world: Europa Cup, World Cup, Argentina, all the championships\u201d he says in his Rotterdam accent.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat was at a time when newspapers still had money,\u201d recalls Vente. \u201cBack then I would come back from a trip and I would ask: \u2018hey, where is Rob Rensenbrink playing these days?\u2019 And the boss would say: \u2018Now that would make for an interesting story!\u2019 Of course I knew all along he was playing in Toulouse, and then I would be given an assignment to go there. I loved that world. \u201d<\/p>\n

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Do you still visit the club often?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Vente shakes his head sadly. \u201cI don\u2019t go very often during matches. I always did a lot for Feyenoord behind the scenes and I never asked for any kind of compensation. This put me in a position to get all kinds of inside information for the newspaper. As a thank-you I was given a club card for life along with a parking spot. But times change and there are new people at the club with a different mentality. They said \u2018That\u2019s finished, we\u2019re going to put an end to this.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

But he doesn\u2019t need to be at the club every week. \u201cI watch matches on TV and I\u2019m active on Facebook. Yesterday I posted \u201cIn my book \u2018The Erasmus Murder\u201d I\u2019m still a modest chap. I only let Feyenoord defeat Sparta by a score of two-nil.\u201d I immediately had 200 likes. We Feyenoord supporters love that kind of thing.\u201d<\/p>\n

You\u2019re sometimes compared to Baantjer. Is that insulting considering you\u2019re from Rotterdam?<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cNo, it\u2019s not an insult,\u201d says Vente with a grin, \u201cthat man has written a lot of good books. But there are some big differences. I\u2019m Rotterdam through and through, while Baantjer embodies Amsterdam, down to that infuriating Ajax flag on his car.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\t

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\n\t\t\u201cMy books are explicitly about Rotterdam. I use street names and write about the city.\u201d\n\t<\/blockquote>\n\n\t<\/figure>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t<\/div>\n

And do they sell as well as the Baantjer books?<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cOh, I have no idea. I\u2019m not really materialistic so I leave that to the publisher.\u201d He gets a lot of praise on Facebook. \u201cFrom all over the country, whether it\u2019s Brabant, Limburg or the United States, people like the books. But I should add that these are reactions from people with roots in Rotterdam. My books are about Rotterdam. I use street names and write about the city. People like reading about their own city in a book. It\u2019s a bit of nostalgia for them.\u201d<\/p>\n

And how about readers from Amsterdam? Vente once read comments from someone living in area code \u2018020\u2019, about one of his other books about detective Fred Groen: \u2018Feyemoord\u2019 (a play on the words \u2018noord<\/em>\u2019 and \u2018moord<\/em>\u2019, meaning \u2018murder\u2019). That was less complimentary than other reviews of his books. \u201cThe good man said \u2018well, it\u2019s about time that club was murdered\u2019.\u201d<\/p>\n

He\u2019s most proud of what he hears from some Feyenoord supporters. \u201cAmong the Feyenoord supporters I\u2019ve got guys reading who have never cracked open a book in their lives. On Facebook they would say to me \u2018I don\u2019t read, man.\u2019 I replied \u2018give it a try sometime, man\u2019. And then they started reading more of my books.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\t

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De redactie<\/h2>\n\t\t\n\t\t
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