Ron Jans steekt middelvinger op. Dit gebeurde in de wedstrijd tegen Heerenveen.

And we have another case of a football coach giving the finger to the referee (see here and here for similar cases). The KNVB (the Dutch football organisation) is investigating the case (here). Undoubtedly, there will be some sort of reprimand or fine. But Jans has a lot of credit with the right people, so it will all blow over very rapidly. He has, after all, already apologised (here).

The funny thing about this case of flipping the bird is the way in which Jans tries to camouflage his insult. He follows it with some ‘I need to get warm’ arm flappings. Sadly, people are excellent at spotting gestures in a continuous stream of movement. Nobody will have had any trouble in seeing the finger. Movements that precede or follow a gesture do not hamper the perception of the gesture (see my own research on this, for example), nor can they serve as an effective cause for denial. Jans did not try to deny it and that would have been ridiculous.

Next time, Jans could take a hint from Jens Lehmann, who used a perfect finger camouflage and was able to deny it succesfully, while achieving his target.