Allegation of sexism in Amsterdam: Ajax denied its own women’s team the championship celebration

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The women’s team of Ajax won the national title for the first time in five years on May 7. The fact that there is no public championship celebration despite the mayor’s invitation provokes a sexism debate.

The club itself has asked the authorities not to honor the women’s team planned for Pentecost. Part of the reason: because the men’s team, which incidentally is used to success, has remained titleless this season, there is no reason to celebrate in Amsterdam.

Fan pressure, lack of interest?

A spokesperson for Ajax explained in Dutch media that the club could not support the date or place of the party. The women’s team secured the national title on May 7 – and then visited mayor Femke Halsema with a tour of the official apartment. There, Halsema made the said invitation, which was rejected by the club. Now that several weeks have passed, there are also fears that too few people will attend the celebration, which would damage the image of women’s football.

In fact, the largest fan club AFCASC has already criticized the planned celebration. They demand that a public honor be reserved only for the main Ajax team, which attracts more than 50,000 spectators to the arena every home match. The planned location – the Leidseplein in the center – also disturbed the Ajax fans. For years, the men’s championships took place there, but after various riots, partying was no longer allowed in the city center.

The beginning of the sexism debate

In the statement, the fan club also calls for a separation of “sports and politics”. Your club should never participate in a political statement from the city government – and that’s how you would have seen the public championship celebration for the women’s team. However, it gets political: the fact that those in charge of the club do not support the public championship celebration of the women’s team is met with a lot of criticism in the Netherlands and accusations of sexism are also circulating.

Dutch Merel van Dongen (30), who played for Ajax Amsterdam until 2018, shared her disappointment on Twitter and criticized her former club: “With friends like this you don’t need enemies. Very disappointed in what was supposed to feel like ‘my’ club .” A disappointment that is shared by many in the Netherlands. After all, Ajax Amsterdam has not set an example for equality in football.

Source : Blick