June 1989
Ajax… Fifteen Years Ago
It's 7 June 1989. Some Ajax players and officials are
enjoying a well-deserved summer vacation, others are still at
home. But every Ajacied will forever remember where he was when
he first heard the news: the airplane carrying the
Kleurrijk Elftal ('Colourful Team'), a special team of
Dutch-Surinamese footballers, crashed into the jungle near
Paramaribo's Zanderij Airport. Survivors? Not
many. Identities are as yet unconfirmed. One of the
passengers was Ajax's reserve goalkeeper, Lloyd Doesburg.
The interest of the average Dutch football fan for the
'Colourful Team' is low. Most were unaware of the
team's trip to the land of their mothers in the first
place. Therefore, a reconstruction is required...
The players of the Colourful Team, almost all of them
playing in Holland's Eredivisie and First Division, gather at
Schiphol Airport late in the evening of 6 June. They are
excited about the upcoming journey to Suriname, where a
few demonstration games are scheduled. Too bad that AC Milan
did not release Frank Rijkaard and Ruud Gullit this time, and
that Ajax did not grant the slightly injured Aron Winter
permission to go. Stanley Menzo will join them, but
took an earlier flight and will meet them in Paramaribo. The
team is in an elated mood. SLM (Surinam Airways), flight PY
764, departs from Amsterdam at 23:25 hours, but
never reaches its destination. The old DC-8 aircraft gets
into trouble during the landing procedure. One of the wings
hits the tree tops, the plane spins in the air and crashes into
the forest at 4:27 AM, local time.
In Amsterdam, the facts slowly trickle in from across
the Atlantic. 169 of the passengers, plus the entire crew of
nine, are dead. What about Lloyd Doesburg? Good news? Bad
news?
It's bad. The tall goalkeeper, the ever loyal man behind
Stanley Menzo, will not return. Lloyd Doesburg was 29 years
old. He had five first team appearances for Ajax.
Lloyd Doesburg (29 April 1960 - 7
June 1989) shortly before
he died in the SLM plane crash. [Photo: Geheugen
van Oost]
Volendam's Steve van Dorpel? Haarlem's Ortwin Linger? The
coaching staff? Dead. All of them. Heerenveen's Winny Haatrecht
couldn't make the trip due to his club's qualification for the
play-offs. His brother Jerry, of First Division outfit Telstar,
did go. And died. It turns out that only two players
survived the crash: Sigi Lens, striker of Fortuna Sittard, and
Edu Nandlal of Vitesse. The latter will have to live with
paraplegia for the rest of his life. Within hours everyone
understands that this is, by far, the greatest tragedy in the
history of Dutch football. From now on The Netherlands
and Suriname have their own 'Busby Babes'.
Everything else suddenly seems so insignificant…
For example, the fact that Sonny Silooy will return to De
Meer next season. He left for Matra Racing de Paris in
September 1987 and made a lot of money there, but his second
season in Paris turned into a disaster as the club owner, Mr
Legardère, stepped back and Matra Racing instantly got
into financial trouble. The players were no longer paid and one
after the other jumped off the sinking ship. Luckily for Silooy
his beloved Ajax wanted him back, much to the delight of the
fans.
Ajax's most anticipated new signing, however, is a new
centre forward, who will have to replace Stefan Pettersson
until the latter's recovery period of an estimated eight months
will be over. Ajax searched all over Europe for a striker with
quality, a bit of experience, but yet a fairly modest price tag
around his neck. The club comes up with Pál Fischer, 26
year-old Hungarian international, who started his career at
Honvéd Budapest, but played for
Ferençvarós last season. No-one knows him in
Holland, but the reports sound okay.
And, as cynical as it may sound, Ajax also requires a new
goalkeeper… The club announces that another prodigal son
will return to De Meer: Sjaak Storm (27), product of the Ajax
youth and reserve goalkeeper behind Hans Galjé in the
early 1980s. However, as everyone at Ajax was raving about
young Stanley Menzo, Storm decided to move on. He developed
into a reliable Eredivisie goalkeeper at FC Groningen. Now he
returns to Amsterdam, accepting the role he refused to accept
at the time: that of second man, behind Stanley Menzo.
Farewell to a team-mate. Ajax
players, including Aron Winter, Danny Blind,
Jan Wouters and the De Boer twins, lay Lloyd Doesburg to rest.
Utrecht,
22 June 1989. (Photo: Beeldbank Nationaal
Archief).
The newcomers are officially signed, but not yet presented
to the press. That will happen on Ajax's press day at De Meer:
03 July, also the day of the first training session of the new
season.
Before you know you're talking about the usual again.
Training sessions, press, new signings, the new season. The
show must go on. Lloyd Doesburg has been replaced as a
goalkeeper. However, as a human being, husband, father and
friend he can never be replaced. On 22 June the entire Ajax-1
squad, club officials and many supporters attend Doesburg's
impressive funeral in his native city of Utrecht. How
impressive is the way Surinamese people say farewell to their
dear ones: weeping and mourning, but also celebrating the
person he was.
The 'football year' of 1989 will, ironically, forever be
remembered by what happened in June, the only month of the
year in which no game was played. The 1989-1990 season will
start without Lloyd Doesburg, without Steve van Dorpel, Ortwin
Linger, Jerry Haatrecht and all those others. How cruel life
can be... (MP)
Next month:
- Press presentation and a novelty: Open Day at De
Meer
- Friendly fixtures in Holland and Sweden
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