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Jan 11, 2005, 13:21
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Ajax: 'We are not a Jewish team'
Stephanie van den Berg | Amsterdam, The Netherlands
11 January 2005 10:30
Dutch football giants Ajax have stepped up efforts to rid themselves of their image as a Jewish football team, Ajax chairperson John Jaakke announced in his New Year's speech this weekend.
"Ajax is being presented as a 'Jewish club' and some of our supporters have taken to calling themselves 'Jews' as an honorary nickname ... I want to state for the record that Ajax wants to shed this image and will do what is necessary to achieve this," Jaakke said.
Ajax spokesperson Simon Keizer said on Monday that there is no historical basis for the club's Jewish image.
"It might be due to the fact that in the 1960s there were several players of Jewish descent, but there is no historical basis for such an image," he explained.
After supporters of opposing teams started calling Ajax fans Jews, the fans adopted the nickname themselves. At Ajax games, fans wave the Israeli flag and have banners featuring the Star of David.
Many hooligans from Ajax's infamous F-side stands have a tattoo of the Star of David with a small "F" inside.
"I am sure our supporters have no anti-Semitic feelings. However, in a tense society such as we live in today, it can stir such feelings in others," Jaakke said.
Former Ajax board member Uri Coronel, who is Jewish himself, told the Parool newspaper that Ajax fans calling themselves Jews stir anti-Semitic reactions from supporters of rival clubs.
Many anti-Ajax chants refer to the Holocaust, for instance.
Chants such as "Hamas, Hamas, Jews to the gas" -- referring to both Palestinian Islamic militant group Hamas and the Nazi death camps -- are often heard from opposing fans during Ajax games.
Another macabre way of denouncing Ajax is hooligans from rival teams making hissing sounds to imitate the sound of gas flowing.
"I also remember a game where the opposing supporters chanted "the Jews are goners, the Jews are goners".
"That is really painful because in the recent past the Jews were almost wiped out. If Ajax distances itself from this Jewish identity, we can also address other parties on their behaviour," Coronel said.
Recently in The Netherlands there has been a lively discussion about hurtful and discriminating chants during football matches.
Keizer said Jaakke's comments on shedding the Jewish image of Ajax are also a result of this discussion.
Keizer said the club has been trying to shed the image for a while.
"We do not want to launch a publicity campaign but we are intensifying the dialogue with our supporters and hope to create a mutual understanding on the matter," the spokesperson added.
"The paradox that we have the image of being a Jewish club but that many Jews find it difficult to visit our games has to end," Jaakke stressed. -- Sapa-AFP
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