Special report: Ajax celebrates title in Leidseplein
"Isn't it beautiful?" yells Van der Vaart as
team presents shield
09 May: Roelof Luinge's final whistle brought
Ajax vs NAC Breda (2-0) to an end at approximately
4:20 PM CET and to put it very simply: Ajax (and that is
players, coaches, officials and supporters) spent the
rest of the day drinking and going collectively out of their
heads. The highlight of the celebrations was, traditionally,
the shield presentation from the balcony of the
Stadsschouwburg ('City Theatre') in Leidseplein, in
front of tens of thousands
of ecstatic supporters.
[Photo: Ajax Foto
Side]
Arguably the most positive aspect of the Leidseplein
celebrations was the fact that it remained peaceful throughout,
so that the Amsterdam police described the party as "very
positive," whereas mayor Job Cohen of Amsterdam said he
had a "fantastic party."
The trophy it was all about for the Amsterdammers, the
'shield', was presented to the team by KNVB director Henk
Kessler and former Ajax and Oranje legend Rinus
Michels, who also had two individual awards to distribute,
namely that of 'Player of the Season' (to Maxwell) and 'Talent
of the Season' (to Nicolae Mitea). After the team's lap of
honour in an exuberant Amsterdam ArenA both players and
supporters prepared for a large scale mass migration from
ArenA, via the Bijlmer and Strandvliet tube stations, to the
heart of the city. Destination: Leidseplein.
During the match some 10,000 fans had already gathered
there, watching the game on big screens and in the Leidseplein
pubs. The arriving fans from the ArenA were welcomed by the
booming rhythms of Ajax evergreens, played from a CD or
sung live by corpulent pub and - on special occasions
- Ajax singer, Peter Beense. The number of fans in the
square? No-one knows. The earliest estimations of 15,000 had
soon become inaccurate. There were red and white supporters
everywhere. From well into Leidsestraat all the way to the
American Hotel, and from straight below the theatre balcony all
the way down to the Paradiso.
The crowd was well warmed up by the time the players' coach
arrived, though Marnixstraat, to the side entrance of the
theatre. Rafaël van der Vaart was already sitting on the
roof of the bus, triumphantly showing the shield. "I have great
news for you," the master of ceremonies announced, "they are
here! The bus has arrived!"
Second later the heroes themselves took the balcony: first
the technical staff, including first team coaches Tonny Bruins
Slot, Ruud Krol and Ronald Koeman, followed by - one at a time
- the players. After the entry of Rafaël van der Vaart,
however, the entire sea of flags and banners on the square
disappeared for several minutes into the thick smoke of dozens,
maybe hundreds of flares. When the smoke cleared, the entire
team was on the balcony, dressed in red and white shirts,
similar to the Ajax home jersey.
On behalf of the team, captain Rafaël van der Vaart was
the first to speak to the roaring supporters: "Isn't it
beautiful?" the captain said, holding up the shield once again.
"Congratulations to all of you. Partly thanks to you we have
won this championship. And I think I am speaking on behalf of
the whole team when I say: We love you! And I really hope
we will be standing here again next season!"
Van der Vaart passed the microphone to coach Ronald Koeman,
who also thanked the fans for their support throughout the
season. "Ajax is the best once again!" he said before
continuing on a more serious note: "And please behave
yourselves tonight. Then we will behave ourselves also." After
which the Ajax coach demonstrated that he was a excellent
football player and a great coach, but a very mediocre singer,
starting the much heard one-liner "Kampioenen, olé
olé", not entirely in the right key. The crowd,
however, somehow recognized the tune and took over.
A remarkable moment was the brief speech of mayor Job Cohen.
Every single Amsterdam mayor before him was whistled and jeered
at by the Ajax crowd, for sometimes mysterious reasons. Cohen,
however, being the man who granted permission for the
celebrations after deputy mayor Van der Horst's initial
cancellation (due to the
'De Toekomst riots'), was received with applause. His brief
speech even elicited a wild roar from tens of thousands of
throats. "Amsterdam congratulates Ajax with the winning of the
29th championship," said Cohen. "Next year we'll be here for
number thirty. And for the Champions League!"
The microphone quickly went from hand to hand and as usual,
some felt more comfortable with the 'talking stick' in their
hands than others. Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Tomás
Galásek and Johnny Heitinga, for example, quickly passed
it on, whereas Jelle Van Damme and Steven Pienaar in particular
had some remarkably inspired vocal performances. Van Damme's
simple "jump! jump! jump! jump!" was a particular succes.
In a split second tens of thousands of supporters were
bouncing up and down in the square. The theatre was shaking to
its foundations.
Team, supporters and Peter Beense screamed their
way through fan classics such as We are the champions,
You'll never walk alone and the official Ajax club anthem,
De Ajax Mars ('The Ajax March'), before it was time
for some quotes from the Ajacieden... (MP)
REACTIONS
"This really makes my skin crawl. And gives me tears in my
eyes."
- John Heitinga
"This is my first championship. What a fantastic moment. I
hope I can witness this for many more years. This is what a
championship celebration should be like."
- Wesley Sneijder
"This is a great party. Wonderful. It's just so wonderful
that a young team like Ajax wins the title. Very well done. The
fact that three or four players had their big breaks this
season is also very promising for the future (...) Ajax is
important to Amsterdam. Especially abroad. If we, as a city
council, can do anything such as a celebration we should always
do it."
- Job Cohen, mayor of Amsterdam
"Fantastic. So many people over here... Truly magnificent. I
don't know how to describe this. (...) The way I feel it now, I
think I will stay here next season."
- Zlatan Ibrahimovic
"Everybody's happy. All those people, it's so beautiful.
This is the best thing that has happened to me since I joined
Ajax and I hope I will still be here for the next
championship."
- Maxwell
"I won a championship with Sparta Prague and we had a
celebration also. But this is unique."
- Zdenek Grygera
"My first year in Holland and we win the championship
straight away. That's like a dream. I won the Belgian
championship once and then, too, we had a a celebration like
this. But this beats everything."
- Wesley Sonck
"Amazing. I expected a lot of people, but this... This
square is too small to celebrate this with everyone. This is
the best day of my Ajax career. I've been in touch with
Cristian Chivu and he's very happy also. He celebrates this one
with us."
- Bogdan Lobont
"We weren't always good, but we were the best. And next
season we want to be better, in several ways."
"I sincerely have the feeling that everyone wants to stay.
Except Trabelsi. He reported sick this morning, although I
doubt that that's true. He is no longer part of the Ajax
family. I must say that I think his agent has had a bad
influence. I've always known Hatem as a social and respectful
person."
- Ronald Koeman
"It's great to be part of this. I hope I can serve as a
chairman for eight years in total. Another four, five
championships, that should be possible in that period of
time."
- John Jaakke, chairman
"Our plan is to keep this squad together. Times are good for
us, because Europe's giants have run out of money."
- Louis van Gaal, technical director
"At the moment there is no demand for any of our players. No
demand that we're aware of, anyway. The market is quiet.
But everything can be different after Euro 2004."
- Arie van Eijden, general director
Sources: Ajax.nl, de Volkskrant
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