March 30, 2005

I Suddenly Feel So...American

The NY Times ran an article about Ajax, Amsterdam's home soccer team. It seems that the team's unofficial nickname is "The Jews" for no reason other than that there used to be a lot of Jews in Amsterdam. This leads to typical soccer hooliganisms like when the supporters of opposing teams yell "Jews to the gas!" and "Hamas! Hamas!" I'm guessing (hoping) that this is exactly akin to the "Tomahawk Chop" and we have nothing to fear but the loss of good taste. Right?

The Ajax fight song: "De herdertjes lagen bij nachte, zij lagen bij nacht in het veld, daar hoorden zij engelen zingen: AJAX! AJAX! AJAX!"

"The shepards lay by night, they lay by night in the field, then they heard the angels cry: Ajax!" Maybe this works better in Dutch.

Check out this freaky collection of Ajax fight songs which includes the Hava Nagila (sort of) and these two ditties, which I believe are clear enough:

Ajax JODEN
Super JODEN
He, He

Waar komen Joden toch vandaan?
Israël hier ver vandaan
Wonen daar ook super joden?
Ja daar wonen super joden
Vinden joden voetbal fijn?
Als ze maar voor Ajax zijn

Sensibly, the list also includes the requisite Queen anthem. Some fellow has even written a book (Ajax, the Dutch, the War: Football in Europe During the Second World War) sorting out "The Holocaust, the Second World War, the Jewish community of Amsterdam, all seen through the filter of football."
Ajax's own web page has a related section written in Approximately English.

Anyhoo, if any of you feel the need to buy me (another) nice present, let me suggest

this jersey from team Karl Marx Stadt.

1 Comments:

Blogger JAB said...

Suggested Kaarl Marx Stadt
Fight Song

Nein! We will not Shop at The Gap!
Yah! The West Shall Feel Our Wrath!

The Owners of the Means of Goal Production

Attempt a Cowardly Purchase of Victory

But this Attempt
Must Inevitably Fail!

The purpose has Hietherto
been to defend the goal!

But the point, however,
is to Score!

March 31, 2005 at 9:10 AM  

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