Feyenoord fans can finally cover up their Ajax fire extinguishers
At long last, fans of Rotterdam's most famous football team have a new way of replacing their fire extinguishers manufactured by Dutch firm Ajax. The Feyenoord football club has given permission for its name and red-and-white color scheme to be used as branding on new pieces of firefighting gear to take the spot of those proudly bearing the Ajax name.
Ajax, now owned by Chubb, has produced fire extinguishers in Amsterdam for over 100 years. Of course it also happens to share the brand name with Amsterdam's top football club, the arch-rival of Feyenoord.
Pim Poppeliers is a 40-year-old entrepreneur from Barendrecht, Zuid-Holland. Poppeliers came up with the sticker scheme to resolve an issue that has gnawed at Feyenoord supporters for decades.
Calling himself a Feyenoorder "in heart and soul", he dreamed up the idea years ago, he told Amsterdam newspaper Parool. When he was a kid at school and would tell people about his father's job selling fire equipment, the reply invariably was, "But not those from Ajax, right?"
Three years ago he decided to make a business out of it. He was already involved in the fire protection system and knew many people within the Feyenoord organization. He got in contact with the merchandising department and managed to strike a licensing deal. Feyenoord called it a "a business agreement with a wink".
The fire extinguishers are on sale for 24 euros on his company's website and will soon be available in Feyenoord fan shops.
Feyenoord has met Ajax on the football pitch 190 times since their first match in 1921. Ajax has won 84 matches while Feyenoord celebrated 58 times. They finished in a draw on 48 occassions.
