Lloyd-Williams Andy - RVP: the biography of Robin Van Persie

R obin van Persie was born in the Kralingen district of eastern Rotterdam on 6 August 1983. His father Bob raised Robin and sisters Lilly and Kiki as a single parent after splitting from their mother when Robin was five years old. Both Bob and Robins mother Jos Ras were artists a strong link to his creativity on the football field. Pushy parents have a reputation of ruining childrens football matches so perhaps coming from a less football-intense home allowed Robin to concentrate on developing his skills without the extra pressure some football-mad parents can put on their offspring.

He told Arsenal TV that it was a very different household to those of his friends as he was granted a bit more freedom than the average kid. Arranging sleepovers for pals was a lot easier for van Persie to do because his parents were so relaxed. He said: We were free! The weekend is for yourself enjoy yourself!

His parents attempted to persuade van Persie to follow in their steps as an artist, but he always found football much more of a draw than painting and sculpting. Bob was a famous artist in the Dutch cultural scene but despite some early forays into the world of art, the lure of a football always proved too strong for van Persie to resist. After his parents divorced, Robin lived with Bob in an artistic den and was continually encouraged to be creative. He told the Independent: When I was younger my parents encouraged me to be creative, to draw and play games to expand my mind. They wanted me to be an individual. But it turned out Im rubbish with my hands.

In fact it was van Persies grandfather, who had himself played football professionally, who encouraged him in those early years. The pair used to play for hours on an area of grass behind his grandparents home.

The young lad took to the city streets where he would play football for up to eight hours a day with other youngsters. He did a lot of growing up in the concrete jungle as it showed what the real world was like: for better and for worse. In his early teens young Robin didnt have a lot of money but playing was free so long as somebody had brought a ball.

He would go on to marry a Dutch-Moroccan girl and it was his time on the streets that introduced van Persie to Moroccan and Surinamese communities. An upbringing encompassing different communities would make him a well-balanced, worldly adult. He may not have become the artist his parents wanted but the fact he was raised in an artistic environment is clear for all to see. Van Persie has always had a very distinctive style on the pitch, clearly thinking outside of the box and, in his early days at least, possessing something of a temper.

SBV Excelsior saw great potential in van Persie and the local club played a great part in his early development. The Rotterdam outfit acted as a satellite club for its more illustrious neighbours Feyenoord, providing stars of the future for the big boys up the road. They identified and nurtured a host of future Premier League stars including Winston Bogarde, George Boateng and Salomon Kalou.

Roughly translated from Latin, Excelsior means onward and upward and it was certainly the case for van Persie after he learned his trade there. Excelsiors ground holds a tiny 3,531 people and the club is known for providing a relaxed environment in which players can properly focus on development and hone their skills. Joining the youth set-up at his hometown club at the age of four, van Persie grew up playing for the club and did not leave until he was 16.

Truth be told he had probably already outgrown Excelsior and it would have been time to move on anyway, but the reason van Persie left for Feyenoord was a series of disagreements with coaching staff.

His fiery temper regularly attracted trouble at school: in his early teenage years Robin was in hot water pretty much every day. He was sent out of the classroom so regularly that a friendship was struck up with the school janitor, who coincidentally was Dutch-Moroccan. School caretaker Sietje Moush became a valuable friend who could be trusted for advice.

Van Persie told the Independent: If youre 15, 16, 17, its a difficult age. You start wanting to go out, to clubs or whatever, but my friend made sure I never did. Hed say, Those places are rubbish, and I believed it. When I was sent out it was never because I yelled at the teacher or used bad words. I was more the wise guy, taking the piss. I always had something to say back to the teacher, which Im sure was frustrating for them, but I always had respect. Such was the respect between the pair that Moush would go on to act as van Persies unofficial agent.

That wise guy-based trouble spilled over onto the football field. Coaches were not willing to put up with what was at times a petulant attitude and van Persie moved on to satellite club Feyenoord, where he would make his debut at just 17.

Those old wounds have since been forgotten; everybody says things they dont really mean when theyre young. The club have been keen to maintain contact with van Persie in subsequent years, so in October 2010 he was appointed as an ambassador of the club and one of the Stadion Woudestein stands was named after him.