Multilingual, very approachable and always good for a quote - Dutch football players don’t need much guidance when they meet the press.

“I don’t give them any media training,” says Kees Jansma, veteran football journalist, TV personality and Oranje’s chief press officer. “I don’t watch the interviews with them. I only give them one piece of advice: be as open as possible and think before you talk.”

Open communication is the simple message that Jansma has hammered home continuously ever since he took up his post with the Dutch national team in August 2004.

“It doesn’t mean you constantly have to defend yourself or think ‘What does this journalist want from me?’ Why not change it around and think ‘What can I get across to the consumer, the public, through this journalist? What do I want to say?”

Articulate stars

Most Holland stars no longer need to be told. The vast majority of them have pursued international careers, making some, like captain Mark van Bommel, fluent in no fewer than four foreign languages.

Playing abroad has given them plenty of experience in dealing with the press, says Jansma.

“Most of them have matured in recent years and are exceptionally articulate anyway, which makes them ideal interviewees. Still, sometimes they’d like to chat with me about their dealings with the press."

"If they want, I’ll even read the articles, but I hardly ever change a story, even if it has a negative slant. Because players need to learn that they’re the ones responsible, and that whatever they say will appear in a newspaper or on the radio. And they accept that."

"I do think our players deserve a compliment for the way they interact with the media and for being so accessible in this extremely hectic world.”

Matches involving the Dutch national squad are major media events, attracting millions of viewers at home and abroad. Hordes of camera crews, radio reporters, newspaper journalists and photographers flock to the training sessions to get their unique quote or shot. Most Holland players are happy to oblige.

Radio silence
Only on rare occasions do they refuse to be interviewed. For fear or being mistranslated or misquoted, Arsenal striker Robin van Persie, for instance, shunned the press when his club got off to a bad start this season. Van Persie remained active on Twitter, though, where he and his Holland teammates enjoy huge followings.

Jansma accepts the decisions players make and says he seldom feels the need to intervene during meetings with the media.

“Ultimately, it’s in my interest too, because it’s my task to present the players and coach in the best possible light. And I think I know how they should be approached."

"Yes/no questions or plain statements, for instance, simply won’t work. They kill communication. You’ll only get a short answer or none at all. And that’s not what you’re after."

"So I sometimes tell journalists - and I hope I’m not too pedantic - to rephrase their questions or put an audible question mark at the end of their statements. This I hope will help both player and journalist, so that in the end everyone has got what they want: a good chat.”