‘Low down, now!’, says a young man with a black jacket and a nylon Ajax balaclava. The entire Leidseplein must and will squat through. Only when he gives the go-ahead, does the jumping and singing begin. Half-full cans of beer fly through the air, a torch that is not completely out goes after it.
It is roughly six hours before Ajax becomes national champion for the 36th time and it is already partying on Leidseplein. The municipality of Amsterdam wanted to pay tribute to the supporters on the Museumplein, but was unable to arrange enough security guards. Thus, the players will be officially honored after the championship game against Heerenveen on Wednesday-evening.
Supporter groups decided to celebrate their own party and called on everyone to come to Leidseplein and the Arena, even without a ticket. The municipality of Amsterdam declared these zones to be a security risk area, which meant that preventive searches could be carried out.
But that did not happen very en masse, in view of the torches and the loud bangs that sound every other hour on the Leidseplein. Once that really goes wrong, when a patio umbrella is set on fire due to a piece of fireworks.
‘Do you think Mayor Halsema would still like to hold a ceremony in the city?’, says a watching police officer, shaking his head. “They owe this to themselves.” The agent has a season ticket, but due to the spontaneous party he has to keep an eye on things on Leidseplein tonight. “I would rather have been in the stadium, but I had to give away my ticket.”
But except for the burned-out parasol, incidents do not occur. The police and the riot police hardly intervene. After an hour and a half, some of them leave in a large procession through the city to the stadium. After the won match (5-0) the patient supporters at the stadium without a ticket also get what they want: the Ajax players show the champion scale from a parking deck and celebrate a small party.
On Leidseplein, where all the pubs were completely full an hour and a half before the match, it is possibly even busier after the match than before. Dozens of supporters have been turned into daredevils by all the beer and climb atop the lampposts. They falter, but keep it just. Decorative fireworks colors the sky above the red and white torches. The square is full of singing and jumping supporters until well after midnight. With one new song compared to before the match. ‘We are champions, we are champions!’