Ajax USA  

Feyenoord

"NO WORDS, BUT DEEDS!" - INTRODUCTION TO AN ETERNAL RIVALRY

How can you explain a rivalry that's larger than football itself...? Books, magazine specials and essays have been written about the emotions of what is known in The Netherlands as De Klassieker ('The Classic'), the annual confrontations between Holland's most renowned and by far most popular football clubs from Amsterdam and Rotterdam, the country's two largest cities. Numerous authors have tried to explain how Feyenoord and Ajax fans feel about each other, but there's always more to it. Ajax vs Feyenoord is like Real Madrid vs FC Barcelona, like AC Milan vs Internazionale, like Celtic vs Rangers. A major European grudge game in every respect. All you can do is try to explain what it's all about, in the form of a brief introduction.

A short study of the clubs and their respective home towns will show you that Ajax vs Feyenoord is not only a football game, but also a clash between two cities with extreme differences in attitudes and culture. Feyenoord are historically the club of the dockworkers of Rotterdam-South, with a deeply rooted sense of working class brotherhood and an attitude in which work-ethic and willpower are the keywords. The soul of Rotterdam is reflected by the Feyenoord Legioen ('Legion'), as the fans proudly call themselves. Tough, no-nonsense footballers with fighting spirit have the best chance of becoming popular with the Feyenoord fans: Rotterdam street kid Coen Moulijn, stooped midfielder Wim van Hanegem and - more recently - John de Wolf, Ulrich van Gobbel, Joszef Kiprich, Paul Bosvelt and Dirk Kuyt. Anti-heroes, in a way. Fighters. No-nonsense blokes who put their money where their mouths are.


Feyenoord after winning the European Champions Cup in
1970, by beating Celtic FC in the final in San Siro, Milan.
The Rotterdammers were the first Dutch club to achieve this.

No wonder that Feyenoord fans generally have little sympathy for Ajax: a sophisticated middle class club from the capital, with a long tradition of mouthy, self-assured dandy's, players with the innate swagger of the capital itself. Amsterdam... Rotterdammers just don't like the place, that busy, messy city of culture, decadence and (isn't it typical for almost every capital on the planet?) arrogance. As Rotterdam poet (and Sparta supporter...) Jules Deelder once growled: "Holland's money is earned in Rotterdam, divided in The Hague [seat of the government, ed.] and flushed down the toilet in Amsterdam." As simplified as that observation may be, there is some truth in it.

Feyenoord's impressive club honours include fourteen Dutch championships, ten Dutch cups, two UEFA Cups and - thanks to Swedish striker Ove Kindvall's legendary goal in the final against Celtic, at San Siro in Milan - Europe's most prestigious football trophy, the European Champions Cup. Mind you: Feyenoord were the very first Dutch club to win it, back in 1970. The World Cup for club teams was clinched the same year. Having said that, we might add that trophies and titles are not the main concern of the average Feyenoord fan. Alright: Ajax have more silverware. Feyenoord hardly win anything at all, these days, and if you look at silverware only they're not even Holland's second club anymore. So what?

Feyenoord fans are proud of other things. Such as their impressive home ground, for example. It is officially named Stadion Feyenoord but known to every Dutchman as De Kuip ('The Tub', literally). It is generally regarded as the most authentic and atmospheric football temple in Holland. Quite typically for Rotterdam's working man's identity, the fans built their home themselves: the stadium was an unemployment relief project during the economic crisis of the 1930s. The passionate Legion is, when it all comes down to it, more devoted and loyal than the ever-critical and demanding Ajax support. Also, Feyenoord's official anthem is the most famous football anthem in Holland: the incensive Hand In Hand, Kameraden!, which includes the motto that sums up the club: "no words, but deeds!"


The best stadium in Holland? As much as we hate to admit it: probably so.

The 'deeds' of the team weren't always impressive. More so than Ajax fans, Feyenoord fans know what it's like to go through really, really bad times. In the late 1980s, after - how ironic - Ajax icon Johan Cruyff had brought Feyenoord their first championship in ten years (1984), the proud Feyenoord Legion saw their team fight against relegation for several seasons. They won a number of Dutch Cups in the first half of the 1990s, but the battle for the Eredivisie championship was normally one between PSV and Ajax. The most painful thing for Feyenoord, however, was a string of stunning home spankings against the Amsterdam arch-enemy: a series of 0-3, 0-4, 2-4, 0-5 and 0-5 defeats at De Kuip, where Ajax - much to Rotterdam's frustration - almost always do well. The Amsterdammers now won as many league games there as the hosts themselves.

The reward for the Legion's patience loyalty came in 1999, when Ajax's 'Empire of 1995' was collapsing and Feyenoord won their first league title since 1984. In 2000-2001 they beat Ajax twice in one season, a memorable achievement (it had not happened since 1985) and Feyenoord entered the 21st century with one of their best purchases ever: striker Pierre van Hooydonk, who became the key figure of the 2002 team that brought the UEFA Cup to Rotterdam by beating opponents such as Rangers FC, PSV, Inter Milan and Borussia Dortmund. Bad seasons followed (2006-2007 was one of the very worst), but Feyenoord can proudly say that they are not only the first Dutch side to have won a European trophy, but (for the time being) also the last. It is a statistic Feyenoord fans can use to their defense now that an increasing number of football journalists start to fundamentally doubt Feyenoord's status as a top club. Ajax and PSV statistically win four or five championships every decade. Feyenoord have simply been unable to compete in the past 30 years, in which 'only' three championships were won in total.


Paul Bosvelt lifts Feyenoord's third European trophy: the UEFA Cup of 2002.

Peace will probably never be signed between the fans Ajax and Feyenoord, although both fan sides will agree that the nasty eruptions of hooligan violence of the past 25 years must stop. An arranged hooligan battle on the highway near Beverwijk cost a human life in 1997 and, sadly, the list of disgraceful incidents is still getting longer: the riots in Rotterdam of April 2005 belonged to the worst in the history of Dutch hooliganism. More than anything else, however, Ajax vs Feyenoord is a football game between two respectable football institutes with cultures and traditions that are fascinatingly different, but - more than anything else - beautiful. Ajax and Feyenoord fans probably respect each other more than they would ever admit. Let's face it: someone you really look down upon, can never be your rival. (MP)

FEYENOORD FACTS

Founded: 19 July 1908 as Feijenoord. Spelling 'internationalized' in 1971.
City: Rotterdam
Stadium: Stadium Feyenoord (a.k.a. De Kuip)
Capacity: 51,177
Official website: www.feyenoord.nl

Honors:

  • Dutch champions (14 times): 1924, 1928, 1936, 1938, 1940, 1961, 1962 1965, 1969, 1971, 1974, 1984, 1993, 1999
  • Dutch Cup winners (10 times): 1930, 1935, 1965, 1969, 1980, 1984, 1991 1992, 1994, 1995
  • Dutch Super Cup winners (2 times): 1991, 1999
  • European Champions Cup winners: 1970
  • UEFA Cup winners: 1974, 2002
  • World Cup winners: 1970

Recent History: Ajax vs Feyenoord