Hooligans attack Young Feyenoord players at De Toekomst
15 April: The never ending history of hatred and
violence between Feyenoord and Ajax hooligans reached a
new low-point tonight at De Toekomst, as Ajax hooligans invaded
the pitch after the reserves games between Young Ajax and Young
Feyenoord (3-1) and attacked several Rotterdam players. Jorge
Acuña required treatment in hospital. Robin van Persie
was also assaulted. In a first statement the Ajax management is
said to be "deeply ashamed."
The Beloftencompetitie ('Talent Competition')
fixture between the two clubs' respective reserves teams
attracted a large crowd of some 3,500 Ajax supporters and
started amidst a truly fantastic atmosphere with countess
flares and flags. Young Ajax won the game by the score of 3-1.
Daniël de Ridder scored twice in the first half. In
between his two goals, Robin van Persie equalized for the
hosts. Ryan Babel made it 3-1 just before the final
whistle.
After the final whistle, however, several dozens of Ajax
supporters stormed onto the pitch to attack the Young
Feyenoord team, on its way to the dressing rooms. The scuffle
lasted only a minute, but once the Rotterdam players had fled
into the dressing rooms it turned out that defender
Gérard de Nooijer, striker Danko Lazovic and
'shadow striker' Robin van Persie had been punched in
the face. Chilean midfielder Jorge Acuña,
meanhwile, was beaten up so seriously that an
ambulance had to transport him to hospital for
treatment of face, neck and rib bruises. According to
the latest update on Feyenoord.nl the player has a
concussion and pain in the liver. It is also
confirmed that Young Feyenoord coach Mario Been was threatened
with a knife.
The number of victims could have been higher if Young Ajax
coaches John van 't Schip and Marco van Basten, as well
as several Young Ajax players including Daniël de
Ridder, had not intervened to protect their Feyenoord
colleagues. Riot police arrived to De Toekomst soon after
the event. Over an hour at the game the Amsterdam police
still referred to the atmopshere around Ajax's youth
complex as "grim". An emotional John van 't Schip refused
to talk about the match itself after the game.
Young Feyenoord coach Mario Been said on NOS Radio: "This
was chaos. Hell broke loose. Players were lying everywhere and
had to be rescued by John van 't Schip and Daniël de
Ridder. Ajax and the police have failed." To be precise ten
police officers and 25 stewards on duty at De Toekomst, which
is considerably more than for an 'ordinary' Young Ajax home
game.
Gérard de Nooijer added: "Immediately after the final
whistle the pitch was invaded. We didn't know where to go. I
saw Robin (Van Persie, ed.) and Kike (Acuña,
ed.) receive heavy blows and I got punched in the face
myself, too. Kike was groggy. We had to run, as there were at
least 200 supporters around us. It makes me deeply
sad that anything like this is possible in this country."
Ajax general director Arie van Eijden: "We are deeply
ashamed of this behaviour of a certain faction of our
supporters. Luckily we have seen exactly who they are."
It is not the first time that an incident like this occurs
after a game between lower teams of Ajax and Feyenoord. Several
years ago Young Feyenoord goalkeeper Zbigniew Malkovski was
assaulted by Ajax supporters at De Toekomst. The same happened
to Daniël de Ridder at Feyenoord's youth complex of
Varkenoord, when he was still playing for Ajax A1. Never
before, however, was there an outbreak of violence on this
scale at a reserves game.
In a first reaction Feyenoord's management announced that
the events at De Toekomst will be reported to the police. The
KNVB, in its turn, did not want to comment on the incident
before having read the report of the referee. His report
will be forwarded to the public prosecutor, who will
subsequently come up with a sanction. (MP)
Updates 16 April: The day after the incident deputy
mayor Mark van der Horst of Amsteram announced the
first sanction: if Ajax-1 clinches the Dutch championship on
Sunday there will be no official ceremony in
Leidseplein. "I can not reward fan behaviour of this kind",
said Mr Van der Horst on AT5 TV. Ajax can win the
championship on Sunday if PSV lose at home to NEC on Saturday
and Ajax beat RBC Roosendaal the next day. If the decisive
points are grabbed by Ajax next weekend, or later, official
celebrations in Leidseplein may be re-considered.
In close deliberation with the KNVB Ajax and Feyenoord have
agreed on cancelling the Amstel Malt Cup final (Dutch cup final
for reserves teams) between Young Ajax and Young Feyenoord. The
game was scheduled for Monday 17 May at Kerkrade's Parkstad
Limburg Stadium, but has now been called off for the time
being. Ajax and Feyenoord are also considering to cancel two
youth games between lower Ajax and Feyenoord youth teams.
The most fanatical core of Ajax supporters, the F-Side,
issued a statement today, as the hard core of Ajax fans wanted
to stress its disapproval of yesterday's incident. The
statement was published on the F-Side's website as well as the
homepage of the Independent Ajax Fanclub (OFA) reads:
The F-Side strongly disapproves of the incidents after
the game between Young Ajax and Young Feyenoord. The F-Side
feels strongly about the code that players are left alone, both
around matches and as individuals. Unfortunately and apparently
this code is no longer respected by other factions. The F-Side
regrets this. Breaking this code is inappropriate and causes
damage to innocent persons. This should not have happened. We
will, if possible, approach the persons involved in order to
bring our viewpoint across.
Feyenoord players have unjustly become the victims of
the hatred between factions of the respective
clubs' supporters. It has been the other way round on
several occasions in the past. This hatred was stirred up by
Feyenoord and the Rotterdam city council last Sunday. However,
this does not legitimize this kind of excesses.
The F-Side.
Sources: AT5, Feyenoord.nl, NOS Teletekst,
OFA.nl
Quotes
"After the game Van Persie congratulated me on our win and I
told him he'd played well. As we were walking off the
pitch we noticed that people were running onto the pitch. They
abused Van Persie, pushed him and as he was staggering he
was punched in the neck and on the jaw. My instinctive
reaction was to grab him and to press his face to my
chest. The coach [John van 't Schip, ed.] was walking
behing me and thusly we escorted Robin inside. I was not afraid
myself."
- Daniël de Ridder, scorer of
two goals for Young Ajax and a good friend of Robin van
Persie's.
"I reacted in a whirl. All kinds of
thoughts haunted me last night. I hope that this feeling
will disappear soon. This is the worst thing I have ever
experienced when it comes to supporter violence."
- John van 't Schip, Young Ajax coach.
"On moments like this you seriously consider calling it
quits. This way there is no joy, and you wonder what
you're all doing it for. You think of the fear the Feyenoord
players must have felt, and you think of your own club, that
has been discredited. This is a black page (...) Action will
cause reaction. I don't know where this will end, but it's
getting dangerous. Personal safety has become a very
difficult now and that frightens you (...) Some of my
players were there at De Toekomst. This has made
a tremendous impression. I don't feel like talking about
football myself, either. You can no longer play
in unguarded places. This is a tragedy."
- Ronald Koeman, Ajax-1 coach, in attendance
of the game at De Toekomst.
"What happened here is a disgrace. It would
be utterly inappropriate to celebrate a party in
Leidseplein now, paid for by the Amsterdammers. Of all people
the supporters with whom we've been talking for a long time,
about how to make it a great party, were involved in
the disturbances on Thursday night. This behaviour will
not be rewarded with a party."
- Mark van der Horst, deputy mayor of
Amsterdam.
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