Feyenoord, Ajax disappointed about canceled match; Cops have right to protest: Police

Feyenoord called it “really disappointing” that the match against Ajax could not go ahead on Sunday. Mayor Ahmed Aboutaleb of Rotterdam banned the match in De Kuip. Because of the planned police strike, safety around the stadium cannot be sufficiently guaranteed. Ajax called it a “shame” that football is paying the price for this discussion. The police management said police officers have the right to strike.

“As previously stated, we understand that people are standing up for their cause. However, we do regret that, not for the first time, football is being used to enforce matters in which we are not a party,” Feyenoord wrote in a statement. “We understand and agree that the mayor does not consider it responsible to let the match happen without the presence of the police.”

Ajax regrets that the match was banned. “We would have liked to play football on Sunday,” the club said. “It is disappointing that it cannot go ahead. It is a shame that football has become the victim of this discussion.”

On Monday, the police announced that they would strike at the grudge match between Feyenoord and Ajax, called the Klassieker, in De Kuip. They are protesting for a “decent early retirement scheme” and will hold a special union meeting near the football stadium.

The police were also not present earlier this season at the matches FC Twente - Sparta Rotterdam, NAC Breda - Ajax, Almere City - PSV, and FC Groningen - AZ. These matches went ahead as planned because the risk of disturbances was small. Matches between Ajax and Feyenoord have been played without fans of the away clubs for years due to serious disturbances in the past.

But even without away fans, matches between Feyenoord and Ajax regularly get out of hand. Last year, the match between Ajax and Feyenoord was abandoned when someone threw fireworks onto the field. Hooligans from the Amsterdam club stormed the entrance to the Johan Cruijff ArenA and threw stones at the police. The police also have to deploy many officers every year to ensure that the Ajax players’ bus reaches De Kuip safely.

Police officers have the right to take action for a structural early retirement scheme, a spokesperson for the police force management said after it became clear that the match was banned over the protest. The police unions are organizing the actions. “We have no opinion about the actions,” the spokesperson said. “We find it particularly annoying that there are no agreements yet on early retirement. We believe that police work is hard work and that a good pension is part of it.”

The police unions have been campaigning for a structural early retirement scheme since this spring, starting with not issuing fines in May and then escalating to closing police stations to the public, noise protests, and not deploying cops to Eredivisie matches.

Since 2021, police officers and other people with physically taxing jobs have been able to stop working up to three years before they reach state pension age, but this scheme is temporary and will expire at the end of 2025. The police unions want a permanent scheme and an improved one. In the current scheme, cops often have to supplement their income with savings if they retire early. There is also no pension accrual during those years, which can have a major impact on their retirement.