THE Ajax Football Club of Amsterdam celebrates
its 70th anniversary this year, but for the greater part
of their existence they have remained unknown to
British fans. Very largely, this was due to the
obstinacy of the KNVB (Royal Dutch Football
Association) who insisted on everyone being amateurs
long after the top clubs had all agreed to pay their
players. Things were finally brought to a head only
in 1954 when the top clubs broke away from the FA
to form a "pirate" league of their own, recognising
professionalism. Only a few months later, facing a
fait accompli the KNVB reluctantly agreed to open
discussions with the rebels and a compromise solution
was reached. This allowed each club a limited number
of part-timerslater altered to three full time pro
fessionals and more part-timersbut in fact, the
leading Dutch clubs have for several years been more
or less full professionals. The KNVB is fully aware
of the situation but as so often happens, officialdom
prefers to do nothing, rather than recognise the
inevitable.
Champions of Holland 13 times Ajax hold the
record in this respect, a total which their arch rivals,
the Feijenoord Club of Rotterdam (9 championships)
would dearly like to overhaul. In addition Ajax have
also won the Dutch FA Cup four times, though the
knock-out competitions have never been popular
with the fans in Holland and the Cup is seldom
sought after by the leading clubs.
For years the leading Dutch players were inevitably
tempted abroad and until the middle 1960's when
the clubs began to pay big salaries and do it quite
openly in defiance of the regulations, the stars slipped
away to France, West Germany, and even Spain and
Italy. Then finally with the KNVB admitting defeat
(but still declining to alter their archaic rules) two
giants have finally emerged: Ajax of Amsterdam and
Feijenoord in Rotterdam.
Ajax of course reached the final of last season's
European Cup where they were beaten 4-1 by
AC Milan, while this season Feijenoord gained full
revenge for the Dutch game by beating the holders
2-1 on aggregate to reach the quarter finals in this
year's European Cup competition. With Ajax pur
suing the Fairs Cup, these two teams are locked
together, barely separable in the Dutch championship
race. Ajax sprinted away at the start of the current
campaign, winning their first ten games in a row
before losing 1-0 away to Feijenoord in Rotterdam.
Now, Ajax top the table with Feijenoord right on
their heels, and indicative of their superiority in
Holland, third placed PSV Eindhoven are a clear
12 points behind. This is how the Dutch Ere-
Divisie (Division of Honour) looked recently
Goals
P W D L F A Pts
Ajax 23 20 2 1 62 14 42
Feijenoord 24 18 6 0 60 11 42
PSV Eindhoven 24 12 6 6 49 28 30
Champions three times in a row in 1966, 1967
and 1968, Ajax have a slight edge in the current
campaign as indicated by their game in hand. But
the decisive match will be the second clash between
the two top clubs when Ajax will be at home.
During the 1930's it was Feijenoord who were
regarded as the Dutch "Arsenal". Building their own
64,000 capacity stadium on the edge of Rotterdam,
Feijenoord not only emulated Arsenal who were the
dominant club of the time in English football, but
also added a bust of Herbert Chapman in the main
hall of their superb ground
Ajax on the other hand did well while the compe
tition remained true-blue amateur, but didn't really
establish themselves as the leading Dutch club until
the fifties. Then with wealthy President, Mr. Jaap
Van Praag determined to outdo anything their
Rotterdam rivals could achieve Ajax have more than
matched Feijenoord in everything but building a
super home of their own. The Ajax stadium holds
only 24,000 but for big matches they have at their
disposal Amsterdam's 64,000 capacity Olympic
Stadium hardly two miles away.
In the last few years Ajax and Dutch football in
ERIC BATTY
(London Freelance, Specialist in Foreign Football)
