Ajax vs Feyenoord: The Netherlands' Klassieker Rooted in City Pride & Resentful Rotterdamers

From an outsider's perspective, Dutch football has generally been revered for revolutionary ideas on how the game should be played, false dawns on the international stage and uncanny knack of producing talents who underwhelm in the Premier League.

Major club rivalry hasn't really been synonymous with the heartland of 'Total Football'.

But it appears the country's iteration of 'The Classic' - De Klassieker in their native tongue - has slipped massively under the radar in the discussion of Europe's fiercest derbies. Ajax and Feyenoord simply can't stand one another.

It's a rivalry which dates back to as early as the 13th century, when both Amsterdam and Rotterdam received their city rights. Over 600 years later, following the formation of Ajax in 1900 and Feyenoord in 1908, these two clubs swiftly established themselves as the pride and joy of their respective cities.

Despite a little over 70km separating Amsterdam and Rotterdam, theirs is a rivalry which transverses an ideological, political and regional divide, and, for a small country, a chasm of cultural identity.

Amsterdam, as a melting pot of the entire world, remains liberal, both politically and otherwise. Rotterdam, in contrast, remains a labour stronghold tinged with right-wing flavour, and is home to the Netherlands’ largest population of non-western foreigners. 

The old Dutch saying which goes: "While Amsterdam dreams, Rotterdam works," depicts the significant cultural differences between the two. The feeling of civic pride in the tight-knitted blue-collar worker community of Rotterdam is overwhelming, while Amsterdam is for art, escapism and complete freedom.

Over time, these values have been absorbed by Ajax and Feyenoord - who have come to embody their surroundings like few others in world football.

The rivalry kicked into gear from a footballing perspective in October 1921, as Ajax recorded a 3-2 victory in Rotterdam only for the result to later be declared a 2-2 draw following Feyenood's protest at a dubious goal decision.

The 1ste Klasse laid the foundations for a long and storied on-field feud between the two sides.

However, the fixture was certainly a slow-burner in its formative years. As a result of a non-existent national league in the country and Feyenoord's inability to win their regional division, the two sides didn't meet in a competitive fixture for almost ten years between 1947 and 1956 - a time where Rotterdamers were growing resentful of their flashy city rivals after seeing their city obliterated in World War Two.

It wasn't until the turn of the 1970s where we saw the rivalry between the two sides reach unrivalled heights.

This was a time where Ajax and Feyenoord were at their very best. They were football's answer to Muhammed Ali vs. Joe Frazier and it expanded way beyond the mere borders of the Eredivisie. For a five-year period, these two were often competing to earn the tag as Europe's supreme outfit.

Spearheaded by the great Johan Cruyff and masterminded by the genius of Rinus Michels, this era made Ajax's Total Football notorious, but it was only the competitiveness of Feyenoord that helped complete it.

Under Austrian manager Ernst Happel, the Rotterdammers created a side full of quality, ingenuity, and guile and consistently vied at the top of the Eredivisie at a time when the Dutch were simply revolutionising the game.

Feyenoord found a consistent way of counteracting Michels' tactical set-up, and some claim to this day that the Rotterdamers and Happel - who encouraged fluid interchanges between attackers to outwit opponents and deployed a rarely seen number ten to deadly effect - remain largely overlooked in the annals of Total Football history.

Nevertheless, despite Feyenoord's success which saw them lift six major honours, including the European Cup in 1970 as they become the first Dutch side to win the competition, it was Ajax who reigned supreme in this golden era. The Total Football pioneers lifted 13 major honours between 1965 and 1974, as they were crowned European champions for three consecutive years.

The plucky Rotterdamers helped elevate them, though, and they themselves weren't far behind.

However, as De Klassieker entered its pomp at the start of the '70s, the emergence of hooliganism added an unsavoury element to the fixture.

Acts of violence between both sets of fans of both clubs rose exponentially following the formation of opposing ultras groups - the F-side (Ajax) and Vak S (Feyenoord) - and came to a head in March 1997 when an Ajax fan, Carlo Picornie, was beaten to death during what became known as ‘The Battle of Beverwijk’, an incident which saw supporters of the F-side clash with those of the S.C.F Hooligans group - associated with Feyenoord - along the A9 motorway near Beverwijk.

Despite various sanctions imposed by the Dutch FA in the aftermath of Picornie's death, incidents of violence continued to be a fixture in the Klassieker throughout the 2000s.

Despite the heightened animosity built up between the two clubs as the years have progressed, over 40 players have crossed Dutch football's iron curtain since Eddy Pieters Graafland made the switch from Ajax to Feyenoord in 1958.

The most notable of which was undoubtedly Cruyff - who, in 1983 at the age of 36, was denied a contract extension at Ajax and opted for a move to Rotterdam.

Despite the anger within both fanbases at the transfer - with some Feyenoord fans even boycotting games to avoid the former Ajax icon - Cruyff, 8-2 embarrassments aside, was nonetheless a success at Feyenoord as he guided the club to a domestic double, winning his fifth Dutch Footballer of the Year award in the process.

Nevertheless, while the time both these sides spent at the pinnacle of their sport was relatively short-lived, there's no disputing De Klassieker remains Holland's premier derby and the most eagerly anticipated fixture in the Eredivisie calendar.

This is a rivalry which stretches way beyond the mere realms of a football pitch. Ajax vs. Feyenoord is rooted in deep city pride and the significant cultural differences which exist between the two cities these football clubs represent.

And as Ajax continue to be seen as arrogant in the eyes of resentful Rotterdamers, this is a rivalry that'll never lose its edge as Feyenoord persistently attempt to knock them right off their f*cking perch.