Van der Vaart: Too Overconfident?

Tottenham's new signing, Rafael van der Vaart, is confident about

winning silverware. (Image courtesy of Goalymoly.com)

This story on the English football portal http://www.premierleague.com/, is about Tottenham’s new signing, Rafael van der Vaart. He talks confidently about winning silverware with his new London club, Tottenham Hotspur.

The article is based mainly on an interview with the player. References to Tottenham manager Harry Redknapp are made, but it would have been more credible if Redknapp was quoted, too.

The writer has given the reader some history as well. For example, he comments that van der Vaart started off as a promising youngster with the world at his feet. However, he has not lifted a major trophy since 2004 after winning the Eredivisie (Holland's top football league) trophy with his first club, Ajax. This extra information is good, as it helps the reader to understand the player a bit more.

I also liked the interactivity with the series of pictures of van der Vaart - because it engages the online reader through the clicking of the arrow buttons.

However, not all the interactive pictures in the series match the captions. For example, the second picture is a mugshot-style photo of van der Vaart dressed in an Oranje jersey and the caption says that he moved from Real Madrid to Tottenham. Using an image of him in a Real Madrid jersey would have been more relevant.

But the story definitely follows the newsworthy criteria of good journalism. The timeliness factor is satisfied because the English transfer window has just closed. It has prominence because van der Vaart is from a big Spanish club. There's also proximity because http://www.premierleague.com/ is targeted at primarily an English audience so they would be interested in the comments of a big-name football player who has come to ply his trade in England.

The five 'W’s and ‘H’ of journalism are also present. But it might have helped to put the ‘WHY’ higher up in the story though, because readers would be intrigued on why van der Vaart thinks he's able to win silverware with Tottenham. So it may frustrate readers to have to read through almost the whole story before they can find out this information.

Overall though, it is a good effort by the author.