25 years of the Battle of Beverwijk

It was day 26 of the Eredivisie 1996-97. Although the Ajax That same week, Atlético de Madrid had been eliminated from the quarterfinals of the Champions League, in the league championship they were more than ten points behind the leader. On the other hand the Feyenoordalready removed from the UEFA Cup for him Tenerife from yup Heynckeshad the opportunity to tie on points with the PSV, who headed the ranking. those of amsterdam they played in Waalwijka town more than an hour from the capital, while those from Rotterdam they did it in Alkmaarat a similar distance from The tub. Between the two games there was a distance of almost 150 kilometers, but the fans of the two most successful teams in the Netherlands met at the height of beverwijk, a municipality that does not reach fifty thousand inhabitants near Amsterdam. there he died Carlo Picornie.

The differences between the Feyenoord and Ajax fans are obvious, so are the differences between Amsterdam and Rotterdam. They were born to hate each other and, how could it be otherwise, the movement hooligan also reached the Netherlands. On February 16, days before meeting with a ball in between (3-0 for the Ajax player), the most radical sections of both hobbies challenged each other 50 vs 50 in an area near the highway A10. The rules were fifty men per team, but from Feyenoord a few more showed up. In numerical inferiority, those of Ajax withdrew and their rivals left a message before the cameras of US: “Those from Ajax are faggots.”

To get to the stadium THE from Rotterdam, they had to take the A9, highway that was born in Amsterdam to end in Alkmaar. The police already smelled the atmosphere before the battle, but they were not able to guess where both hobbies would be specifically. A patrol of Mobile unitthe Dutch riot unit, showed up in the vicinity of the Mercado de Beeverwijkone of the largest bazaars in the country, with more than a thousand stores and receiving nearly fifty thousand people every weekend.

“We would have needed airborne troops to stop them”said one of the police chiefs. They closed some roads and tunnels, but all attempts were in vain. They decided the meeting place minutes before by mobile phone, in a meadow near the highway. Leaving the cars as they were, members of both sides began to take their arsenal out of the trunk: baseball bats, axes, chains, knives, hammers, iron bars… It is said that about three hundred people converged there, those from Feyenoord being more numerous again.

Some witnesses to what happened stated that they were quite surprised by the fact that most of them were already of considerable age, with the feeling that they were acting under the influence of drugs. One of the thirtysomethings was Carlo Picornie, who joined the F-Sidethe animation group Ajax playerin 1989.

He had a wife and was the father of two children, which was why he had ceased to be one of the most active members. However, on March 23, 1977 he made an exception which he believed would serve as an example of how a true Ajax fan should behave to the younger crowd. Today there is no doubt that she succeeded.

According to those present, Picornie was unarmed and was surrounded by about fifteen people: “He was beaten, stabbed and kicked. He reminded me of hunting seals. They beat him with hammers and sticks.” “Carlo was trying to jump into a ravine, but he couldn’t. A group started chasing him and he was knocked down.” According to the coroner, his death was mainly due to a brain injury caused by the impact of a hammer and stab wounds to the back that caused his left lung to fill with blood.

Picornie fought against the commercial approach that Ajax was taking, going so far as to hang a banner that read “F-Side Comes Back, VIP Zone Out”. He was a reference in the stands of the recently inaugurated Amsterdam Arena, and therefore a target for the rivals of that sad Sunday, as recognized by some of those who were in the battle. Another fan was taken to hospital Red Cross Hospital from Beverwijk with severe brain damage. “It is known that a man died, but so far I have no details on the exact number of injured,” said the police spokesman that day.

At that time there were no arrests, although almost thirty individuals were arrested upon arrival in Alkmaar, where it was recorded by one of the Feyenoord fans: “Jews, we said you would get the first dead”. Apparently there was a small police patrol at the scene, but obviously they had no ability to react to almost three hundred hooligans. “The safety of the police officers is important. It was a fight with both parties aware. The officers should try to separate them, but without becoming the victims themselves,” he said. Winnie SorgdragerMinister of Justice.

Following the scandal, several men were sentenced to unconditional imprisonment. However, in the program Sophie At 3 these same men declared that those truly responsible for Picornie’s death were in the street, although they had to leave Rotterdam for fear of revenge from other members of the Feyenoord supporters. In this same program, Leonardo P.one of the defendants, stated that he felt betrayed by some of his colleagues for having been singled out by them. He believes that those who actually executed the final blow were never tried.

Although those on the opposite side gave their condolences to the family Ajax player hanging a note in From Telegraph in which you could read “this should never have happened”, an Ajax fan, according to Volkskrantcommented five years later: “The hatred is great and we feel that we have to do something. The feeling is that we are losing 0-1, and since there can be no draw, we must come back 2-1. If there is another fight, the battle will be merciless.”.

Both Classics of the following season were disputed no away fans, setting a precedent for the decision that the mayors of both cities would take together with the Dutch Football Federation in 2009. In principle, the measure would be for the next five seasons, but it ended up being definitively implemented. Therefore, although the finals of the KNVB Cup have De Kuip as their permanent headquarters since 1989, if Ajax and Feyenoord qualify for the decisive match, the final automatically becomes a two-legged match, one in each stage. It happened in 2010.

In spite of it, the hostilities between both hobbies have continued during these years. In March 2015, one of the Ajax fans’ meeting places caught fire. Although the causes are officially unknown, it was suspected that Feyenoord fans could be the cause. They tried to take justice into their own hands, but the police were able to stop them. In 2016, a doll wearing the shirt of the Amsterdam ArenA was hung from the stands. Kenneth Vermeer, who defended the Ajax shirt for nine years and at that time occupied the rival goal. This action forced the club to close that sector of the stadium for the following Classic.

One of the strongest rivalries in Europe that was revived this past Sunday. Luckily, without notable altercations. The local fans took the opportunity to pay tribute to Carlo Picornie with banners like “Carlo, we still haven’t forgotten you” and an image of him above the stands of the old De Meer stadium that occupied the entire back of the Johan Cruijff Arena. Curiously, the spectacle of flares that they carried out from the first row caused a fire in some flags that were hanging from the stands.