08 Jul 2006: JOS Watergraafsmeer - Ajax

Bericht door **Kowalczyk** » wo mei 24, 2006 12:22 am

Okay - the 2005-2006 season is over (thank God...). Time to watch a couple of nice World Cup games, go on holiday, etc. etc.

First training of the new season: 03 July.

First pre-season friendly: this one, at Amsterdam amateur outfit JOS Watergraafsmeer, on Saturday 08 July!

Have a great World Cup - and a great summer.

K.

666 · Bericht door **666** » wo mei 24, 2006 1:05 am

Our resident music journalist starts a thread on JOS-Ajax and forgets to include the theme song of the match?!?

Download from http://www.filegig.com/download.php?fil ... s-ajax.mp3 (stays online for at least 30 days) or http://en.filepoint.de/download/4828-dl-jos-ajax_mp3 (stays online for at least 90 days).

And of course every AjaxTalker on the planet knows that JOS is where Rinus Michels started his coaching career!

The Nits schreef:The war monument is still standing
between two footballfields
With the names of the men
killed on the battlefields
They were center forwards
keepers and backs
they thought they would win

It's a family tradition
to play in a football team
I have nephews dumb but tall
who still fetus kicked the ball
I've got flat feet
and my knees are weak
They all thought it was time to start
my JJJJJJJJJJJ-O-S days
my JJJJJJJJJJJ-O-S days

The last war in this country
the fighting lasted four days
Between the names on this list
I see one name again
He had my age
and my first name
He thought he would win like
in his JJJJJJJJJJJ-O-S days
in his JJJJJJJJJJJ-O-S days.

They had too many boys who
wanted to be in a team
So in one day in one match
you had to prove your ability
I was knocked out
a real disgrace
A break with the family tradition
in my JJJJJJJJJJJ-O-S days
in my JJJJJJJJJJJ-O-S days

I can live without a finger
I can live without a toe
But the head is necessary

Bericht door **Kowalczyk** » wo mei 24, 2006 7:40 am

Cheers for that, 666. :xyxthumbs:

The song is from 1986 and written and performed by a band named The Nits (they later deleted the article and are now simply called Nits). It's called J.O.S. Days, taken off the In The Dutch Mountains album. That record was their by far greatest commercial success, thanks to two singles that hit the charts: the title song and J.O.S. Days.

The Nits are still going. They used to be a slightly sophisticated pop band, but over the years they've become less poppy while taking the 'sophistication' to the next level. They are now a sort of mini-orchestra doing complex, 'academic' music for theatres (that I find skullnumbingly boring). They are still very popular in The Netherlands, Flanders and... Finland. They are inspired by Finnish folk music nowadays and do sell-out theatre tours there.

I believe they also did a show in London a couple of years ago, which sold out completely, so they seem to have a small cult following in certain other countries as well.

K.

DanK · Bericht door **DanK** » wo mei 24, 2006 11:39 am

Kowalczyk schreef:
Have a great World Cup - and a great summer.

K.

Hear-hear! Mate. Hear! Hear (even though technically my summer isn't until December ;) )

Safe travels.

May we all enjoy the WC, may it be the best in memory and the world is painted Orange or Green & Gold :eusa_dance:

Then onto next season and the league title, the cup and the CL title :D

Henk de Gier · Bericht door **Henk de Gier** » di mei 30, 2006 7:12 pm

JOS just got promoted to the Hoofdklasse, the highest amateur league in The Netherlands. They won the promotion/relegation match agains Blauw Wit Amsterdam.

SE6Ajacied · Bericht door **SE6Ajacied** » di mei 30, 2006 9:07 pm

Henk de Gier schreef:JOS just got promoted to the Hoofdklasse, the highest amateur league in The Netherlands. They won the promotion/relegation match agains Blauw Wit Amsterdam.

Oh, does that mean Blauw Wit went down. I saw them a couple of years back and do look up their results so I knew they were having a terrible season.

So they are now in Zaterdaghoofdklasse B - Oh well, never mind.

Henk de Gier · Bericht door **Henk de Gier** » di mei 30, 2006 9:16 pm

Blauw Wit went down, but what about zaterdaghoofdklasse? Blauw Wit Amsterdam played in the Sunday league, not in the saturday league.

SE6Ajacied · Bericht door **SE6Ajacied** » di mei 30, 2006 10:25 pm

Henk de Gier schreef:Blauw Wit went down, but what about zaterdaghoofdklasse? Blauw Wit Amsterdam played in the Sunday league, not in the saturday league.

Yes, that's right, of course, that'll be why I watched them on a Sunday afternoon. I was just trying to be clever and use the correct Dutch word but because my Dutch is terrible and I tend to "remember" Dutch words rather than translate them (if that makes any sense) I got it wrong

Memo to self - don't be a smart-arse, you get caught out

Henk de Gier · Bericht door **Henk de Gier** » di mei 30, 2006 10:28 pm

ok ;) you got me confused because there are 2 different leagues, a saturday and a sunday league, and there are several clubs in Holland called "Blaauw Wit" what simply means "Blue white".

Bericht door **Kowalczyk** » wo mei 31, 2006 7:45 am

Right... To those who can't follow this...

The Netherlands has two professional leagues: the Eredivisie and the First Division. 'Below' that is a vast 'family tree' of amateur leagues. Players in the higher regions of amateur football (Hoofdklasse and First Class) are not necessarily 'amateurs': many of them do actually get paid. Certain Hoofdklasse sides have larger budgets, higher attendances and, last but not least, better teams than certain First Division clubs. You could compare amateur football in Holland to non-league football in the U.K., really.

The structure/hierarchy of KNVB football is as follows...

PROFESSIONAL: Eredivisie
PROFESSIONAL: First Division
--------------------------------
AMATEUR: Hoofdklasse ('Top Class')
AMATEUR: First Class
AMATEUR: Second Class
AMATEUR: Third Class
AMATEUR: Fourth Class

Below that is an even more complex family tree of regional football associations.

Right. You could call the above the 'vertical' structure of Dutch football (from top to bottom), but the amateur leagues are also divided 'horizontally': every level of amateur football has a Saturday and a Sunday branch. Why? Long story. This is deeply rooted in the culture of The Netherlands, which was originally deeply Calvinist. Many of Holland's football clubs in the lower leagues were originally founded as Christian clubs. Those clubs did not want to play on Sundays. Historically, Saturday amateur football was Christian, whereas Sunday amateur football was more 'liberal'. Today, this is hardly the case anymore, although the lower you go (and in certain areas known as devotedly Christian) the more traditional Dutch football still is.

Let's zoom in on the Hoofdklasse. There is a Sunday Hoofdklasse and a Saturday Hoofdklasse and both have three divisions (A, B and C) based on region. In total, therefore, there are six Hoofdklasse divisions: Saturday A, Saturday B, Saturday C, Sunday A, Sunday B and Sunday C. The same goes for the First Class (below that I am not sure: there could be more than six for the lower classes).

At season's end the champions of the three Saturday divisions play each other in a 'mini league' (like a Champions League group) in order to determine the 'Saturday amateur champions' of The Netherlands. Same goes for the three Sunday Hoofdklasse champions. And after that, finally, there is a Big Final between the Saturday and the Sunday champions, in order to determine the 'Over-All Amateur Champion' of The Netherlands.

This Big Final is the only time for a Saturday team to play a Sunday team. Apart from the final, Saturday and Sunday football are parallel universes.

As you know it is impossible to get relegated from the First Division or to get promoted from the Hoofdklasse. There is a big, huge 'Berlin wall' between professional and amateur football. The KNVB would like to tear that wall down and 'connect' professional and non-league football, like in the U.K. Remarkably, the bottom teams of the First Division (who would in that case go down) are not necessarily against it. Many Hoofdklasse clubs, however, do not like the idea at all - and this post will help you understand why.

Firstly, there still is a (small) number of 'religious' Saturday clubs who only wish to play on Saturday and never on a Sunday. Secondly (and far more importantly), the amateur clubs have high attendances because of the regional divisions in the Hoofdklasse: a team like Katwijk (from the Den Haag/Leiden area of Holland) play two local derbies against Quick Boys, plus regional derbies against Lisse, Noordwijk, Rijnsburgse Boys, Scheveningen and a few others. These are grudge games that the local fans find interesting. Why would they want to get promoted to the First Division and have to drive all the way to the north for a game against Veendam, and play Fortuna Sittard at home the weekend after?

If the KNVB ever want to integrate professional and amateur (non-league) football in The Netherlands, they will have to think of a new structure, with the Eredivisie as the highest level and a regional structure immediately below that: First Division A, B and C (all of 12 or 14 teams, for example), based on region, followed by a play-off system or something.

K.

DanK · Bericht door **DanK** » wo mei 31, 2006 11:45 am

Thanks Ko. I never fully understood this system (even though I should know better having a Dutch family and all).

Nice work. :xyxthumbs:

666 · Bericht door **666** » wo mei 31, 2006 3:56 pm

Kowalczyk schreef:This Big Final is the only time for a Saturday team to play a Sunday team. Apart from the final...

...and the national cup, and the mixed saturday/sunday amateur cup...

Bericht door **Kowalczyk** » wo mei 31, 2006 3:59 pm

666 schreef:
Kowalczyk schreef:This Big Final is the only time for a Saturday team to play a Sunday team. Apart from the final...
...and the national cup, and the mixed saturday/sunday amateur cup...

Yeah - that's true. And friendlies, probably.

But they're totally separated in the league, except for that one final, when the two champions meet.

K.

666 · Bericht door **666** » wo mei 31, 2006 4:15 pm

And some clubs field saturday and sunday teams. There are quite a few wormholes connecting the parallel universes.

afckeeper95 · Bericht door **afckeeper95** » wo mei 31, 2006 4:15 pm

I wonder, if Dutch amateur soccer is where the NFL really got the idea for its tournament structure. The similarities are striking..

Blind3 · Bericht door **Blind3** » do jun 01, 2006 5:17 am

Thanks Ko for lifting the fog about Dutch footie from my brain. :worshippy:

LouisXIV & co · Bericht door **LouisXIV & co** » ma jun 05, 2006 1:08 pm

Fun, JOS are the neighbours of my football club (http://www.dvva.nl). I hope I can make it, cuz I've got other things on that Saturday.

Van der Vaart · Bericht door **Van der Vaart** » vr jul 07, 2006 4:40 am

Who cares with Portugal - germany on saturday ...

I wanna see AJAX :cheer: :cheer: :cheer:

Bericht door **Kowalczyk** » vr jul 07, 2006 6:09 am

Van der Vaart schreef:Who cares with Portugal - germany on saturday ...

I wanna see AJAX :cheer: :cheer: :cheer:

:yes:

Bought my tickets yesterday! :eusa_dance:

K.

DanK · Bericht door **DanK** » vr jul 07, 2006 9:56 am

Great to see the Match Day section back in action!!!

I love the start to the new season. New players, new shirts and more importantly new hope. The start of the season always reminds me why I love this club so much.

C'mon boys - Champions 2006/2007 :eusa_dance:

Henk de Gier · Bericht door **Henk de Gier** » vr jul 07, 2006 10:23 am

can't go, but if Ko cheers loud enough I might hear him. I'll be on the roof of the Nemo building.

Bericht door **Kowalczyk** » za jul 08, 2006 9:39 pm

This was a very nice afternoon.

The game itself (final score: 1-5) was nothing too special, as you'd expect (the first game is never anything special, football-wise), but we saw a few nice goals, it was hot and sunny, the ground was nice and the beer tasted good. I had a wonderful day out and it was veeery nice to see my good old Ajax again. The new home jersey kicks major butt. It's great.

Good crossing from Tom De Mul. Couple of really nice goals via the flanks.

K.

Bericht door **Kowalczyk** » zo jul 09, 2006 12:12 am

The first match report of the new season is up, ladies and gentlemen...

http://www.ajax-usa.com/matches/m06-07/ ... y-1-5.html

K.

Van der Vaart · Bericht door **Van der Vaart** » zo jul 09, 2006 1:56 am

How was ,Poepon ,Boakye ,Sarpong ,Vermeer and Vertoghen ??

and about the Urby injury ??

343 · Bericht door **343** » zo jul 09, 2006 9:46 am

Van der Vaart schreef:and about the Urby injury ??

In Urby his own words (about his 'injury'...)

"Just out of precaution", insured Emanuelson after the match, "Nothing to worry about!""

08 Jul 2006: JOS Watergraafsmeer - Ajax

08 Jul 2006: JOS Watergraafsmeer - Ajax

Re: 08 July 2006: JOS Watergraafsmeer - Ajax

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