The love of football
A response to the cynicism on football on my favourite forum
There is obviously no greater game in the world than football. The passion, the bitter rivalries, the hate, the plain dumbness, the eternal discussions.. and what better way to go into a stadium. So who still does this? And even further has gone to strange matches, lets talk about it in this..
The first times Iwent to Ajax were the Amsterdam friendly tournaments in summers of the 1980s. My father took us. The games were in the old Olympic Stadium, mere metres from the place I was born. Now, the beautifull stadium is restored in all its 1920s architetural loveliness, but then it had a horrible second ring, the old Cycling Track meant you were away from the field and it smelled like wee.
Sure, now i would dismiss those tournaments as not important, but then it was a great first introduction. Football wasn't as much on TV then, and hearing names as Flamengo (in reality a quite depressing team in 1987, only 2 years after their victory in the Copa Libertadores) and Benfica..
English teams, which you now see on every TV channel weren't visible then. Remember, they were out of Europe, so Europe forgot about them We were proud about our "Don" Leo, who in his own cynical style seemed to do well in spain. Sometimes, they even showed a few minutes on TV. We were proud on Van Basten and Gullit, going to those far away countries and making a little known team called Milan to a world power, it was our "Milan" for some time.
And then came 1988. 1988 was so important for us. For many Dutch people who were there in 1974, and even in the war. It felt like a liberation. Finally we won something. In hindsight, our Euro 88 team was not one of our greatest teams. Thr 1992 and 2000 selection were far better. But this times we won. And it was mainly due to Michels, the General. I might have been eleven but I won't ever forget.
Ajax was in a crisis during those days. After the 1987 cupwinners cup it went downhill. Cruyff had left, we were locked out from European football after trowing a pale to an Austrian keeper. But my love for Ajax grew, and began going to matches with my brother.
Ajax always comes back. The youth training ensures some new talents. We saw Bergkamp growing. His brother's father in law was my maths teacher. With Wim Jonk he became the magical tandem that gave us the UEFA cup in 1992, beating Torino in an incredible tense final match on away goals.
In that year Van Gaal came. And Ajax became so incredibly good. I last saw a DVD of the 93/94 season and I still am flabbergasted. On XBLA you can play Sensi with the 96/97 teams, but I don't think you have seen many matches from that year.
----------Van Der Sar------------
Reiziger - Rijkaard- Blind - De Boer
De Boer - Litmanen - Davids
Finidi - Petterson - Overmars
The sheer speed, the sheer souplesse. And in 1994, I was 17, I could really celebrate my first proper championship, as I was old enough to get drunk, and the previous had been 4 years earlier.
The highlights kept on coming. For Ajax, arguably the best game was against Real Madrid in october 96. I never saw an Ajax humiliating such a legedary opponent so harshly. It was the time I was playing Sensible Soccer religiously as well.
But with succes came trophy hunters. Ajax went to a new stadium, the Arena. It was far larger and lots of those hunters bought tickets. Futhermore, they had spread the hardcore in the stadium. And when the inevitable fall from glory came, they went silent. We got a reputation for being a Cinema Audiece. Not cheering our boys on.
Luckily, after a decade of decay and Ajax the glory hunters are gone now. And the old hardcore, the english fan inspired F-Side has assembled on the south side and new hard core, the Italian tifosi inspired 410 group is in the north ring. And we standing behind our 108 year old club again.
My love of football remained during those days. I went to games on my travels, to feel the passion they have. I saw Fluminense losing to city rivals Vasco in the Maracana in the year of their 30th Campeonato Carioca. I went to Sclessin, and saw the the poor Liegeois getting hope for a better future. I saw Wallidan beating Real Banjul in the Gambian Supercup with the whole of Serrekunda partying afterwards. I lived in Rome and felt their deep felt passion for AS Roma, from every fibre in the bodies of the Romanisti, when drinking their cappuccino in the morning and when drinking their Peroni in the evening, but also the hatred for Lazio and the feeling of not being taken seriously by the rich clubs in the north.
Friends of mine from Maastricht showed me the love people have for their clubs even if they don't win anything. We went to the windy grounds of the Dutch first division on bitter cold days, to Berg en Bos in Apeldoorn, to Zwolle, to Venlo. Beating a local rival likem Fortuna was so much more omportant than ever winning a trophy. So one can understand the joy of Tottenham beating Arsenal, even if it is only the carling cup. That is why I joined my footballclub as well and bought Ebbsfleet United, the romance of the lower league.
And so we stand there in the Arena, every two weeks. The Bosman ruling may have caused Ajax to fall down. The TV money might gave destroyed the European ambitions of Dutch clubs. Our boards of directors might do everything wrong which can be done wrong.
But we are still there. Every two weeks. With 10 friends among 50.000 Ajacieden. Because it is our club, it is our city, it is our game.
There is obviously no greater game in the world than football. The passion, the bitter rivalries, the hate, the plain dumbness, the eternal discussions.. and what better way to go into a stadium. So who still does this? And even further has gone to strange matches, lets talk about it in this..
The first times Iwent to Ajax were the Amsterdam friendly tournaments in summers of the 1980s. My father took us. The games were in the old Olympic Stadium, mere metres from the place I was born. Now, the beautifull stadium is restored in all its 1920s architetural loveliness, but then it had a horrible second ring, the old Cycling Track meant you were away from the field and it smelled like wee.
Sure, now i would dismiss those tournaments as not important, but then it was a great first introduction. Football wasn't as much on TV then, and hearing names as Flamengo (in reality a quite depressing team in 1987, only 2 years after their victory in the Copa Libertadores) and Benfica..
English teams, which you now see on every TV channel weren't visible then. Remember, they were out of Europe, so Europe forgot about them We were proud about our "Don" Leo, who in his own cynical style seemed to do well in spain. Sometimes, they even showed a few minutes on TV. We were proud on Van Basten and Gullit, going to those far away countries and making a little known team called Milan to a world power, it was our "Milan" for some time.
And then came 1988. 1988 was so important for us. For many Dutch people who were there in 1974, and even in the war. It felt like a liberation. Finally we won something. In hindsight, our Euro 88 team was not one of our greatest teams. Thr 1992 and 2000 selection were far better. But this times we won. And it was mainly due to Michels, the General. I might have been eleven but I won't ever forget.
Ajax was in a crisis during those days. After the 1987 cupwinners cup it went downhill. Cruyff had left, we were locked out from European football after trowing a pale to an Austrian keeper. But my love for Ajax grew, and began going to matches with my brother.
Ajax always comes back. The youth training ensures some new talents. We saw Bergkamp growing. His brother's father in law was my maths teacher. With Wim Jonk he became the magical tandem that gave us the UEFA cup in 1992, beating Torino in an incredible tense final match on away goals.
In that year Van Gaal came. And Ajax became so incredibly good. I last saw a DVD of the 93/94 season and I still am flabbergasted. On XBLA you can play Sensi with the 96/97 teams, but I don't think you have seen many matches from that year.
----------Van Der Sar------------
Reiziger - Rijkaard- Blind - De Boer
De Boer - Litmanen - Davids
Finidi - Petterson - Overmars
The sheer speed, the sheer souplesse. And in 1994, I was 17, I could really celebrate my first proper championship, as I was old enough to get drunk, and the previous had been 4 years earlier.
The highlights kept on coming. For Ajax, arguably the best game was against Real Madrid in october 96. I never saw an Ajax humiliating such a legedary opponent so harshly. It was the time I was playing Sensible Soccer religiously as well.
But with succes came trophy hunters. Ajax went to a new stadium, the Arena. It was far larger and lots of those hunters bought tickets. Futhermore, they had spread the hardcore in the stadium. And when the inevitable fall from glory came, they went silent. We got a reputation for being a Cinema Audiece. Not cheering our boys on.
Luckily, after a decade of decay and Ajax the glory hunters are gone now. And the old hardcore, the english fan inspired F-Side has assembled on the south side and new hard core, the Italian tifosi inspired 410 group is in the north ring. And we standing behind our 108 year old club again.
My love of football remained during those days. I went to games on my travels, to feel the passion they have. I saw Fluminense losing to city rivals Vasco in the Maracana in the year of their 30th Campeonato Carioca. I went to Sclessin, and saw the the poor Liegeois getting hope for a better future. I saw Wallidan beating Real Banjul in the Gambian Supercup with the whole of Serrekunda partying afterwards. I lived in Rome and felt their deep felt passion for AS Roma, from every fibre in the bodies of the Romanisti, when drinking their cappuccino in the morning and when drinking their Peroni in the evening, but also the hatred for Lazio and the feeling of not being taken seriously by the rich clubs in the north.
Friends of mine from Maastricht showed me the love people have for their clubs even if they don't win anything. We went to the windy grounds of the Dutch first division on bitter cold days, to Berg en Bos in Apeldoorn, to Zwolle, to Venlo. Beating a local rival likem Fortuna was so much more omportant than ever winning a trophy. So one can understand the joy of Tottenham beating Arsenal, even if it is only the carling cup. That is why I joined my footballclub as well and bought Ebbsfleet United, the romance of the lower league.
And so we stand there in the Arena, every two weeks. The Bosman ruling may have caused Ajax to fall down. The TV money might gave destroyed the European ambitions of Dutch clubs. Our boards of directors might do everything wrong which can be done wrong.
But we are still there. Every two weeks. With 10 friends among 50.000 Ajacieden. Because it is our club, it is our city, it is our game.