Bodyguard for Van der Vaart, first four hooligans arrested
19 April: Thursday's riots at De Toekomst, where Young
Feyenoord were assaulted by Ajax hooligans, have had a
tremendous impact at the Amsterdam club. After threats posted
to his personal website and out of fear for retaliation by
Feyenoord hooligans Ajax captain decided to hire a personal
bodyguard. Four other players (Nigel de Jong, Bogdan
Lobont, John Heitinga and Wesley Sneijder) plus coach Ronald
Koeman are escorted to the ArenA and back home by security
personnel. Meanwhile, the Amsterdam police arrested four
participants in Thursday's fights. Ajax provided the police
with some of the names. One person turned himself in after
photos appeared on the internet on which he is clearly
recognizable. More arrests are expected.
"Our responsibility does not end at the doorstep at the
ArenA," said Ajax's financial director Jeroen Slop in newspaper
Het Parool. "If players feel unsafe and want extra
personal security we will arrange it for them." A few first
team players subsequently applied for security people to escort
them to the stadium and back. Captain Rafaël van der Vaart
is the only one to have hired a full-time bodyguard.
Meanwhile, John Jaakke withdrew some of the statements
initially made by general director Arie van Eijden. After
Thursday's incident Van Eijden claimed that Ajax "knows exactly
who these people are". This turned out to be over-optimistic.
Ajax provided the Amsterdam police with the names of three
hooligans who surely were amongst the rioters. The club expects
to be able to give the police more names in the upcoming days.
On Sunday Jaakke wished to underscore that the acknowledged
'hard core' of Ajax fans, the F-Side, is innocent in this case.
"No F-Siders were on the pitch at De Toekomst," the chairman
said. He added that 'some of the suspects' are supporters from
the second section of fanatics in the ArenA, Vak 410. "In my
opinion these people should never be allowed into the ArenA
again," Jaakke said.
The Ajax chairman also admitted that not enough police and
stewards were present at De Toekomst on Thursday night. After
the event Arie van Eijden stated that Ajax did not
underestimate the threat of violence. The club could not be
blamed for the assault, said Van Eijden: "This is down to those
supporters for 100%." On the night itself, however, Young Ajax
coach John van 't Schip admitted to have had his doubts. He
asked club officials twice if they were absolutely sure that
the safety of the players could be guaranteed. Both Van 't
Schip and his Young Feyenoord colleague Mario Been said that
Ajax could and should have called for extra police during the
game, as the supporters who would later assault the Rotterdam
team threw glasses of beer at players, intimidated Feyenoord
players verbally and also attacked a TV crew of Rotterdam's
local network TV Rijnmond. "Mistakes have been made," John
Jaakke admitted on Sunday.
Ajax and the Amsterdam police are convinced that the assault
was not a spontaneous action, but a well-prepared one. In the
dying minutes of the game several amateur filmers were told by
hooligans to stop filming and forced to leave the premises. On
the exact moment that an estimated forty hooligans invaded the
pitch the camera of local Amsterdam TV network AT5 was covered
by supporters. There is no footage of the fight whatsoever.
The day after the assault deputy mayor of Amsterdam Mark van
der Horst announced that the official championship celebrations
in Leidseplein are in the hands of Ajax and its supporters. Van
der Horst said: "There were 3,500 people there and many of them
must have seen who were on the pitch. It's about time they show
that the Ajax fanbase is 'self-cleaning' and self-regulating.
We want club and supporters to provide us with named by
Wednesday. If we know the names of these people by Wednesday we
will re-consider a ceremony in Leidseplein."
The deputy mayor's demands were received as unreasonable by
many supporters. Deputy mayor Van der Horst was the responsible
man due to the absence of mayor Job Cohen, who was on a
business trip and will be back in office today. Ajax chairman
John Jaakke announced that he will contact Mr Cohen: "In my
opinion our party, towards which we've been working for a full
year, may not be spoiled by forty hooligans." (MP)
Sources: AT5, Het Parool, de Volkskrant, NOS
Teletekst
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