You can't decide not to love

License plate Jim McGough, Publisher and Founder Ajax USA

Check this out! Yes, this is an American-based fan site for the best football team on the planet! (I am talking about soccer, dudes).

Guess what... I was looking for a picture from the Feyenoord stadium - of all places - when I came across this US Ajax website! I guess I have to agree with Jim McGough's description of 'De Kuip' - nick name of the impressive Feyenoord stadium in Rotterdam: 'The best stadium in Holland? As much as we hate to admit it: probably so.'

Maybe it is because I am not a die-hard Ajax supporter (I just happen to believe that Ajax is the best football team in the Universe, no matter how they are performing at this particular moment in time) - that I like Jim McGough's words about 'the enemy camp':

Feyenoord fans are proud of other things. Such as their impressive home ground, officially named 'Stadion Feyenoord', but known to everyone as 'De Kuip' ('The Tub', literally), generally regarded as the most authentic football temple in Holland. Quite typically the 'Legion' built its home itself: the stadium was an unemployment relief project during the economic crisis of the 1930s. The Legion is passionate and, at the end of the day, more devoted and faithful than the Ajax support. Feyenoord's official anthem is the most famous football anthem in Holland: the incensive Hand In Hand, Kameraden!, which includes Feyenoord's eternal motto, 'no words, but deeds!'

The 'deeds' of their team weren't always impressive. More so than Ajax fans, Feyenoord fans know what it's like to go through really, really bad times. In the late 1980s, after - how ironic - Ajax icon Johan Cruyff had brought Feyenoord its first championship in ten years, the proud Feyenoord Legion saw their team fight against relegation several times. They won a string of Dutch Cups in the former half of the 1990s, but the Eredivisie championship became a battle between PSV and Ajax. The most painful thing for Feyenoord, however, was a string of stunning home defeats against the Amsterdam arch-enemy: a series of 0-3, 0-4, 2-4 and even two 0-5 defeats in De Kuip.

Of course, McGough's last words in this quoation put things right again. You must always love your enemy, but one should never exaggerate it... Wish them well, but not too well - is my motto ;-)

I always support Ajax, but if another Dutch site takes on a foreign legion - I always hope 'our' team wins, even if they are called PSV, Feyenoord or AZ and even if there are more Dutchies playing in the foreign team LOL*.

I also have to admit that I am a lazy supporter. I have the best seat in front of my Philips TV from Eindhoven whenever I watch a match from the British Premier League. I also drink Grolsch beer from Twente while watching Roy Makaay score his next goal for Bayern München or Ruud van Nistelrooy hitting the target once again for Man United. So, whatever you think of me, I am not narrow minded. And yes: I am still trying to recover from the last minute defeats suffered by PSV Eindhoven (against the highly respected site from AC Milan - who just had a very lucky escape!) and AZ Alkmaar (Dutch courage and fighting spirit against the southern skills from Lissabon). Sometimes life is not fair! But hey - let's forget about it and look forward to the great things new Ajax coach Danny Blind will do next year with his team from Masterdam... (no, this is not a typing error). And if your national squad is going to play against Marco van Basten's finest selection of oranges during the World Cup tournament, there is one piece of advice I can give you: be afraid, be very afraid! (Or move over quickly to cheer for Holland with the rest of us).

Check out the Ajax USA fansite by clicking on the picture below.


Front page Ajax Usa

Jim McGough, Publisher and Founder Ajax USA:

How did I become an Ajax fan? One of the most common questions I get in email is, "Why Ajax? You're not an Amsterdammer. You're not even Dutch!" The thousand-plus non-Dutch members of Ajax USA will probably agree when I say, with all due respect... "What a dumb question!" ;-) You want a less-lame answer? I don't blame you. Okay, here goes...
In the early to mid-1990's, ESPN showed live soccer from the Netherlands on Sunday mornings. It became my weekend routine to wake up early to watch the games on television. Most of the games featured Ajax.
Well, I had played soccer all my life, but I never had any teams to support. Watching Ajax was a revelation. They were so calm and confident, so fluid and well organized. The way they kept possession of the ball, how they made the other team stand around and watch them play, it was like they were thinking, "Why do you want the ball? Wouldn't you rather just stand there and watch us perform? It's really quite beautiful, isn't it?" The Ajax players loved the ball, coveted it, and refused to share.
I was too late to see Cruyff, Van Basten or even Bergkamp in an Ajax shirt, but I saw Overmars, the de Boers, Edgar Davids and (my personal hero) Jari Litmanen in their Ajax-primes. I saw Kluivert, Finidi George and Kanu. I even saw the last great hurrah for Frank Rijkaard, with his assist to Kluivert in Vienna. I traveled to Holland twice for the sole purpose of seeing Ajax play in de Meer.
For me, it was a lot like falling in love and getting married. You think you are in control, you think you get to choose, but you really don't. Your heart chooses for you. And if circumstances dictate that you can't have her, can't even watch her from a distance, tough luck. You can't decide not to love. You're stuck with just wanting her. "Absence makes the heart grow fonder," they say. I'd have to agree.

* LOL = laughing out loud!