'ADO aftermath': Ajax fans banned, fan home closed
15 February: Ajax and mayors Deetman (The Hague)
and Cohen (Amsterdam) have announced drastic
measures after Friday's
hooligan attack on the ADO Den Haag supporters' home by The
Hague's Zuiderpark Stadium. The perpetrators face stadium bans
of up to ten years, ADO Den Haag vs Ajax will be played without
travelling Ajax supporters for at least three seasons and the
Ajax supporters' home, where hard drugs and weapons were found
by police the day after the attack, will be closed down
for the time being.
The morning after the incident mayor Wim Deetman of The
Hague decided to ban the Ajax supporters from Sunday's
Eredivisie match between the two clubs. He immediately
added that he was considering to extend this ban with
another five seasons. On Wednesday, indeed, this ban was
confirmed. However, the latter two seasons are 'conditional'.
Deetman is open for evaluation after three seasons, to discuss
the possibility of lifting the ban.
Deetman's decision was criticized by - amongst others -
chairman Daniël Dekker of the Official Ajax Fanclub (SVA).
Ajax hooligans attacked the ADO clubhouse on Friday evening,
almost two days before the game. Dekker points out that it had
nothing to do with the supporters that were going to attend the
game on a combi trip on Sunday afternoon. It
is possible that some of the hooligans did not even
have a ticket to the game, two days later. "The
wrong people are punished here," Dekker told newspaper Het
Parool.
The Official Ajax Fanclub (SVA) was one of the parties to
come up with a package of measures against the perpatrators, in
close co-operation with Ajax, the Foundation Ajax
Supportershome and the Independent Ajax Fanclub (OFA). The
measures include:
- a stadium ban for ten years from all
Ajax matches, home and away
- denied entrance to the Ajax Supporters' Home and
youth complex De Toekomst
- immediate expulsion from Ajax supporters' clubs
- sharper rules of conduct for the Ajax Supporters'
Home
Ajax had just announced these measures when it became clear
that the latter measure will be irrelevant for the time being:
mayor Job Cohen announced that the Ajax Supporters' Home will
be closed with immediate effect, not because of the hooligan
violence itself, but becuase Amsterdam police discovered
considerable quantities of cocaine and speed at the Supporters'
Home, plus a large number of weapons, when they searched an
estimated 150 Ajax supporters at the 'home' on Saturday (the
evening after the attack in The Hague), who were believed to
prepare for a violent confrontation with their The Hague
enemies.
"Unacceptable. This is a disgrace," Cohen told newspaper
Het Parool. "We will close the Supporters' Home until
Ajax can guarantee us that this will not happen again. That's
our policy for bars, discotheques and clubs where drugs and
weapons are found and we can make no exceptions for the
Ajax Supporters' Home." Cohen announced that he will talk
to the Ajax board as soon as possible, to discuss the new
conditions under which the home might open its doors again.
It is not the first time that the Ajax Supporters' Home is
closed down by the mayor. In February 2003 the home was closed
down temporarily after riots between fans of Ajax and
Feyenoord. In October of the same year it was closed again,
after large scale fights between fans of Ajax and Belgium's
Club Brugge. On both occasions the police claimed that the
Supporters' Home was the 'operating base' of Ajax
hooligans.
Cohen's decision was ciriticized by both Daniël Dekker
of the Official Ajax Fanclub and chairman John Jaakke of AFC
Ajax, who told Het Parool earlier this week: "If you
close the home down these people will meet up at some other pub
or bar. If they're not welcome here, they will simply somewhere
else. Closing the home down won't solve anything."
After having announced their 'package' of measures, general
director Maarten Fontein said on behalf of Ajax: "We will do
anything within our powers to prevent this kind of unacceptable
violence. And we will find the perpetrators. These people
are no Ajax supporters and this violence has no place within
our club or in our stadium. We will impose 10-year
stadium bans. That is twice as long as the most
severe punishment for this kind of offence so far. Furthermore,
Ajax remain firm advocates of a government-enforced stadium
ban, with a obligation to report. We believe that the
'Football Act' should be introduced as soon as
possible."
Right now there is no such thing as a 'Football Act' in The
Netherlands. Such a law would make it easier for police and
legal system to arrest and prosecute football hooligans. There
is such a law in England. The clubs of the Eredivisie, as well
as the KNVB, are advocates of the introduction
of a 'Football Act' modelled after the English one.
For now, Ajax expect to receive the names this week of the
hooligans arrested in The Hague on Friday evening. All that
Ajax can do is ban them from Ajax games. "But we presume
these individuals will be prosecuted as well," Maarten
Fontein said. (MP)
Sources: Ajax.nl, de Volkskrant, Het Parool, AT5
Text
Related
links
