Tamati Williams (AaB | Denmark)

Former #NavyBlues goalkeeper @tamatiwilliams signs for RKC Waalwijk in Dutch 2nd Division - best wishes Tamati..!

He has a Dutch passport/heritage, doesn't he?

Yay! good luck fashion boy

Got both NZ and Dutch passport. Signed for 4 months with option of a further year.

- see latest news on RKC Waalwick website.

Has real potential... hopefully he makes this work. I wondered why he was not at ACFC.

Surely he's our number two now behind moss : )

Real potential? Whats he,  33?

Is this Ivan's 2nd Dutch club?

Is he that old?? didn't realise.

Still, for a keeper he still has a few years left in him and having not played in a professional environment for the past 15 years, his body may be in better shape than most.

I remember watching him as first choice at Auckland City back in the 07/08 season. Was a useful keeper. The Dutch league will serve him well - he'll learn a lot and become a better player for sure. A great league to develop, regardless of age. Good luck to him.

Nope.. he was a trailist for 2 other clubs this season... FC Volendam and anonther one I can't remember

RKC are routed to the bottom of the Eerste Divisie. Hopefully he can help them avoid relegation. Same division as Benjamin van den Broek's Telstar.

Correct. Ivan Vicilich was there for 2 years after his stint with Roda Kerkrade after which he returned to NZ.

Turned 32 last month:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tamati_Williams

Thought he was great in the 2014 Club World Cup in Morocco.

Will be close competition between him and Marinovic for the NZ #2 jersey.

RKC will value an experienced keeper his age because they have four very young keepers in the first team squad aged 18 - 20:

http://nl.soccerway.com/teams/netherlands/rkc-waal...

Williams will probably start as third choice keeper at RKC behind first choice Ralph Vos aged 19 (21 appearances this season) and Nils de Hartog aged 21 (5 apps).

But because he is older, he could be bumped up to second choice quickly.

They have two other keepers in the squad aged 18 and 20 who have never appeared.

Alarm bells should ring about Williams' continued eligibility to play for NZ because he has acquired a Dutch passport since he last appeared for NZ and the Netherlands don't allow dual nationality.

Could be a similar situation to Fitzgerald in Japan.

Plenty of internationals play in Netherlands, must be some kind of loop hole to allow players to continue to play internationally.

If they are good enough. But Tamati's value is probably a combination of experience and not being counted as an international player.

Debuted v the Go Ahead Eagles on Friday in a 1 nil loss

He's on the World of Football show on TAB Trackside radio today around 9:15am

Goalkeeper seems to be our position with the most depth now.

I'd probably rank them..

Moss

Marinovic

Gleeson

Williams

Crocombe

Tzanev

Spoonley

Turipa

Sail

Basalaj

Speedy

I'd have Basalaj higher and unless Gleeson can get first team football he'd have to drop down for me but otherwise I'd agree on that

I don't think Spoonley, Turipa, Basalaj or Speedy have shown anythign to prove they are at an AW's level. Amateur GK seems always to fail when playing against pro opposition.

Well it's not like I had them in the top three is it.

But in saying that, I  think Turipa and Speedy have been two of the best in the ASB Premiership this season and they're both still young for goalies, so they deserve to be in the conversation.

Bit harsh on Spoonley. Not only is he effectively pro thanks to the ACFC gravy train, but he's played at a couple of CWC's and done well, so he can obviously handle pressure well

Yet he finds himself on the bench now.. What is the deal with that?

If you look at his form this season it's not been that great, he's made a few mistakes (eg his "slip" against Hawke's Bay United, Sanfreece Hiroshima's goal) so probably no surprise that he's on the bench and also the new Spanish keeper that has taken his place looks pretty good

That's not true.. dual citizenship is allowed in the Netherlands.

Agree.

The list of professional quality keepers ends with Tzanev.

After Tzanev I'd have Michael Woud, another Dutch Kiwi, who is youth team goalie at Sunderland.

He looked pretty good for the NZ u-17's at the World Cup in Chile last year and is in a good environment at a Premier League club.

I'd promote Basalaj ahead of Spoonley too - he really stepped up for Team Wellington in the later stages of the season. 

Great save last night (Basalaj)

Dual citizenship is only granted in narrow circumstances and is much harder to gain than in many other countries such as NZ.

Generally anyone who wants to adopt Dutch nationality has to give up their original nationality if that is legally possible:

https://www.government.nl/topics/dutch-nationality...

Dutch government: "In principle, you will have to give up any other nationalities. There are some exceptions to this rule."

https://ind.nl/EN/individuals/residence-wizard/dut...

"To become a Dutch citizen, you must be prepared to renounce your current nationality. This means that you have to give up your existing citizenship. When you apply you have to sign a statement indicating that you will give up your existing nationality after you have acquired Dutch citizenship. There are a number of exceptions to this requirement.
If one of the exceptions applies to you, you must inform your local municipality of this upon submitting your application. The IND will then assess whether the exception indicated is indeed applicable to you. Please note, however, that once you have acquired Dutch citizenship you will no longer be able to claim that one of the exceptions is applicable to you."

It's a little complicated due to amendments to Dutch citizenship laws in 1985 and in 2003.

Wiiliams apparently obtained a Dutch passport through having a Dutch grandparent (this is granted only rarely).

It is so complicated to obtain a Dutch passport through a grandparent that Dutch embassies around the world will not advise you on this and state that you must instead get advice from a Dutch immigration lawyer.

Williams obviously employed a very good Dutch lawyer.

His parent of Dutch ancestry is not considered Dutch by the Dutch government.:

Only since 1985 does "every child born of a married Dutch father or mother automatically acquires Dutch nationality, even if he or she is born outside the Netherlands, as does the child of an unmarried Dutch mother.

"Children born before 1 January 1985 of a Dutch mother and a foreign father did not as a rule acquire Dutch nationality by birth.

Nor did children born of a foreign mother and Dutch father."

When I enquired in the 1990's (my father was Dutch-born) about acquiring a Dutch passport, I was told that I would have to renounce my NZ passport.

I think that this generally still applies.

On top of that, anyone with Dutch citizenship who acquired another nationality before 2003 automatically lost their Dutch citizenship.

This happened to my father when he acquired a NZ passport (and Dutch nationals also lose their citizenship for living overseas for ten years or more).

Even now, Dutch citizens automatically lose that citizenship when they acquire another citizenship with strict exceptions as below:

http://www.rsonac.org/dutch-nationality/dual-natio...

Don't argue with Pete unless you know something he doesn't. !!!

Wow, I'm dutch but I didn't even know that... But I know cases (friends of mine that hold a double passport in the same way Tamati has..) 

But hey... Big Pete I'll never argue again with you ;) Cheers

Can confirm rules are crappy...

My sister (b.1988) qualified for a dutch passport and duly travelled Europe on it. Myself and my brother were both rejected (b.1979 and 1981).

(same parents for all three of us)

Had a similar thing myself, up until a couple of years ago I couldn't get my british citizenship. If my father was born there I could, and if I was born two years later I could (my sister got hers), but I couldn't. The laws changed, however, so now I can - although it's not automatic as it should be for others.

Tamati seems to have been a big hit with the RKC club and has been important in stemming the flow of goals conceded since he signed.

RKC still lie bottom of the table but when Tamati has played, their results have been better.

The second-choice goalie, Vos, is only 19 and tends to concede lots of goals.

When Tamati missed two games recently (not in the squad so must have been injured) RKC conceded five goals with the young Vos in goal (1-1 draw with Sittard on March 11 and 4-3 away loss to VVV Venlo on March 14)

Tamati was back in goal for the 2-1 home win vs. Volendam last week.

Tamati has started four games in goal so far and RKC have won two, drawn one and lost one.

Only five goals conceded in those four games.

Tamati Williams RKC record:

 http://us.soccerway.com/players/tamati-williams/22...

Luckily for RKC, I think that there is no relegation from the Dutch second tier, the Eerste Divisie, this season due to the inauguration of a new third tier called the "Tweede Divisie" next season which will be more professional than the current "Topklasse" third tier. A mixture of pro and semi-pro rather than amateur teams.

From next season, the second tier will remain the "Eerste Divisie" but the current third tier, the "Topklasse" will become the fourth tier while the new third tier will be called the "Tweede Divisie." 

Currently the third tier "Topklasse" comprises 32 teams split into two leagues according to whether they prefer to play on a Saturday or Sunday.

This stems from the Netherlands' historic Protestant and Catholic divide but is now seen as something of an anachronism considering most Dutch are now not church-goers.

Congrats to @tamatiwilliams who has had his contract extended until the end of next season https://t.co/aGjvml8Ec9

— NZFootballers OS (@NZFootballersOS) March 25, 2016

How do the new rules work then Ryan, my son's grandfather was born in England, my son is born here in 2000. I have British citizenship that I got back in 1984.

Tamati's side finished second-to-bottom of the Dutch second tier but luckily for them there is no relegation this season due to the formation of a new revamped third tier next season:

http://int.soccerway.com/national/netherlands/eers...

RKC conceded 66 goals in 36 games, but only 14 in the ten games that Tamati played in the last months of the season.

3 wins, 4 draws, 3 losses in his period between the sticks. 

They won only four of the 26 games played before Tamati debuted.

Pretty strong, assume he will make the All Whites and potentially challenge Moss for no. 1

traditionally a stromg side - believe this is only their 2nd season outside of top flight

Actually it's the fourth time since 1984. They've played in the Eerste Divisie between 1984-1988, 2007-2009 and 2010-2011. The last time they were relegated in 2014 and have been in the second tier since then.

Williams started game for Waalwijk on weekend (0-1 loss) but was subbed after only 22 mins. Unless swarthy Tamati double booked a modelling gig by mistake, can safely presume was injured.

Unless Moss and/or Gleeson are unavailable, I see Williams as not being required in AWs squad for the Mexico game.