Gerald Sibon: stranger in China

Gerald Sibon is the most remarkable player of the Olympic team. Sibon agrees with this. Last year, he was registred as unemployed and this summer he’ll wear the orange jersey.

“Yeah, it’s a remarkable story, I guess”, says Sibon now. “I can see that too, but when you are the subject of the story, you don’t really realize it. Things go from one moment into the other. I don’t really think about what my life was like last year.”

In short: Sibon’s adventure at FC Nurnberg fails miserably in 2007. He decides to train with the old-Heerenveen players and enters into conversation with then-coach Gertjan Verbeek. The striker is allowed to train with the A-group, gets a contract and plays one of his best seasons ever.
And Bejing is his prize.

“I have never been selected for a representative team, only for the Drenthe selection when I was young.”

Team manager Foppe de Haan thinks Sibon is a “special human being”. Foppe: “His subtle dry humor, the way he approaches life. He seems uninterested, lacklustre but is also extremely intelligent and independent. He is always looking for answers in life, and along the way found the answer to his football career.”

Sibon agrees. “I look upon life differently now. Foppe reminds me sometimes of my two Mercedes cars on my driveway. He thought it was too much. I understand his point now. You have to realize what’s important and what’s not.”

After four years at Sheffield Wednesday he played his first period at Heerenveen. He was 28 years old and at an important junction in his life. “Some things I won’t discuss, these are private matters, but in Heerenveen I started to take life serious. I realized I needed to be fit to perform.”

He is a strange element in the Olympic selection and prefers books to the PS2 or the iPod. He revels in semi-scientific mysteries. De Haan: “Gerald is a pioneer in a way, but moves well in groups. He actually is a sort of reluctant leader.”

Sibon: “I can deal and interact with all sorts of people. And that we don’t share the same interests isn’t important. Drenthe loves different music than I do, but we’re both dads… And so you share something with everyone.”

After his career, Sibon wants to travel. Far away, with Australia as final station. “I played with five Aussies at Nurnberg. And their attitude, lifestyle…so relaxed…I liked that. I do feel something for the country. I still have a deal for one year with Heerenveen, but then I want to play in Australia.”

“We want to grab the backpack and leave. My wife has Indonesian roots so we definitely want to go there. China we can skip. By then, we’ll have seen a bit of China…”

In the Olympics, Sibon will partner with Roy Makaay. Against Belgium, this didn’t seem to be a solid partnership. But Sibon doesn’t see any clouds: “This team can get far. And how Roy and I play together is also a result of the performance of the rest. We didn’t get any decent service against Belgium. But I’m convinced Roy and I can work well together.”

China needs to be Sibon’s highpoint in a career full contrast. Every strong period was followed by a weak one. “I was the man at Roda JC and a season later at Ajax I was dramatic. Then I had my good period at Heerenveen and when I left for PSV it wasn’t that good again. Although I enjoyed my time in Eindhoven. I can see those contrasts, yeah…weird.”

“I think it has to do with recognition. I need to know I am valuable. That’s the difference between playing at sub top or at top level. At Ajax, playing good was the minimal norm. At Heerenveen, people will value you when you work hard. I’m sensitive to that, I think I’m not strong enough mentally to be absolute top.”

Gerald Sibon is a player whom a coach likes or dislikes. Same with the fans. At Sheffield in England, he was twice chosen as player of the year, at PSV they didn’t like the tall thin player. Slow, tackiturn, dreamy… “I know, I won’t win a beauty contest with my playing and I do think my career suffered because of that. I can’t really worry about it because I can’t change it. I don’t have a top athlete’s body. But I do feel I’ve done well. I won the title with PSV, wore the Ajax jersey, played in the EPL and now I’m going to The Games. Not bad for a slow, clumsy player…”