Brewery hosts Ajax women’s championship party after club fails to organize celebration
On Monday evening, the Ajax Women and their national title were exuberantly celebrated in a ceremony and party organized by the brewery Brouwerij de Eeuwige Jeugd. The footballers and hundreds of fans celebrated with thumping music and a lot of beer. The Ajax club management was emphatically not invited, AD reports.
Amsterdam planned to hold an official ceremony for the Ajax Women on Leidseplein on Monday, but the Ajax management blocked it. According to the football club, the grim mood around the Ajax men’s team’s performance and the fact that the celebration came so long after the championship on May 7 would result in a disappointing turnout.
Shannice Wilner of Brouwerij de Eeuwige Jeugd found it crazy that the men’s performance should have any influence on the Ajax Women’s accomplishments. She, therefore, decided to arrange an alternative ceremony to celebrate the women and protest the football club’s attitude. “All that hassle. We only had one goal: a celebration of women who have become national champions and, therefore, deserve a tribute.” She did not invite the Ajax management.
“Asocial and incomprehensible” is how Wilner described the Ajax management. “How little do you understand about people and society? Ajax has succeeded in turning something wonderful into something very ugly. That is bad for AJax, but also bad for women’s football in general.”
And the alternative ceremony proved Ajax wrong. A few hundred fans showed up at the party in the Levenslang nightclub in Amsterdam-Oost to celebrate with the team. There was cheering, music, dancing, and a lot of beer. And the Ajax Women were very enthusiastic about the party they finally got.
According to captain Sherida Spitse, a delegation of the players met with the Ajax management on Sunday to make clear that this could not happen again. “It really did something to us,” she told AD. “We have expressed our disappointment. How did they respond? I want to leave out the details, but let’s just say we are convinced this will not happen again next year.”
