Question #1: Doesn't Ajax already have "partnerships"of one kind or another with Ajax Cape Town, Ashanti Goldfields, Germinal Beerschot Antwerpen, and HFC Haarlem? This leads to question #2: What could possibly be the reason for a partnership with another eerste divisie club? and to question #3: Weren't there news stories about Ajax lessening their involvement in, for example, GBA? I find the idea of a partnership with Sparta intriguing; especially since we all know who else plays in Rottendam( And no,I don't mean EXCELSIOR!).

-- Anonymous, October 10, 2002

According to football weekly Voetbal International, First Division side Sparta Rotterdam wants to start a partnership with Ajax. It is as yet unknown what type of partnership Sparta has in mind.

-- Anonymous, October 10, 2002

A f@#king horrible start for FC Haarlem in the Gouden Gids Divisie (a.k.a. the First Division), losing at Heracles Almelo by no less than 7-0. To make things a little bit more painful for Haarlem: the game will surely be remembered, because Heracles striker Rik Platvoet equalled Wim van Hanegem's 1971 record of the fastest hattrick in the history of Dutch football! Platvoet scored three goals in exactly six minutes' time. Van Hanegem did it for the F-Word in the 1971 Rotterdam derby against Excelsior.

-- Anonymous, August 16, 2002

A co-operation with a football team from Hawaii???

Check this report on Starbulletin.com?

Here's the full text... I made the key paragraphs bold.

Bulls seek new experiences on Holland trip

The Honolulu Bulls Soccer Club's Under-18 boys team will spend 12 days in Holland, Aug. 6-18, for training, scrimmages, an eight-team tournament and a little sightseeing. The Bulls are one of eight teams invited to the 37th International Youth Tournament of Doetinchem held in Arnhem.

"We will remain in Holland all 12 days," Bulls director of coaching Phil Neddo said. "It's a better use of our time to stay in one place since the goods are there.

"We are going to be meeting kids who will be putting on a show because this is their life. Sports is a way out of poor economic conditions for some of these players. It's a life-changing time for them. That's going to be an eye opener for our players."

The other participants in the tournament, all U-18 or U-19 teams run by top professional clubs, include Ajax Amsterdam, host Doetinchem and De Graafschap from Holland, Dynamo Tbilisi from the Republic of Georgia (formerly of the Soviet Union), RSC Anderlecht from Belgium, FC Copenhagen from Denmark and Norwich City from England.

The tournament starts two days after the Bulls arrive and is a three- day event. A travel day Aug. 12 has the Bulls moving to Bunnik, where they will play a training match with Haarlem the following day.

A friendly match against Sportclub AZ is scheduled for Aug. 15, followed the next day by a friendly with Ajax Amsterdam, the most storied club in Holland. It's the team U.S. World Cup midfielder John O'Brien plays for.

"One of the biggest things we hope to do is establish a relationship with Ajax Amsterdam," Neddo said. "We would like their youth teams to come here in the future."

"Ajax Amsterdam has limited relationships with maybe six or seven clubs, but we offer them something different -- Hawaii -- and we want them to look at some of our kids with ability in the future."

A visit to the Dutch National Training Center in Zeist on Aug. 17 with another friendly match completes the Bulls' on-field activities. "I think the word 'Hawaii' got us in the door," Neddo said. "Some of these European teams look for places to go train in the winter. Hopefully this will be a positive for Hawaii, give Hawaii more credibility because they will know there are people here who know soccer.

"Having our kids go there gives them a chance to see what it takes to be a professional player. We can talk to them until we're blue in the face, but they have to see and experience it. We would like to send a team over there every year and start doing it with some of our younger teams."

The Mililani Soccer Club has changed its name to the MSC Strikers. The club never had a common nickname for its teams, although several of the age-group sides were called Strikers. Director of coaching Ric Miller felt it was time for a club nickname, and Strikers seemed a good fit. The MSC scholarship winners are Gainor Nitta and Bronson Yee. Both honorees are recent graduates from Mililani High School.

-- Anonymous, July 31, 2002

A few days after their game against Ajax, Norwich City FC was going to play a pre-season match against Deportivo Alavés from Spain. However, the Spanish side had to cancel, after which the official Norwich City website (Canaries.co.uk) announced that Ajax' Belgian satellite club Germinal Beerschot Antwerp will come to Norwich instead, for a friendly game on Friday, 02 August.

For English Ajax fans who want to see the sister club in action. Here's the report, including ticket info, on Canaries.co.uk.

-- Anonymous, July 19, 2002

p$v Netwerk reports that Ajax' Belgian satellite club Germinal Beerschot Antwerp will present itself to its fans for the new season in a friendly game in Antwerp against - how remarkable - PSV. The game is scheduled for 04 August (Ajax plays FC Barcelona the same day, at the Amsterdam Tournament). Four Ajax players are currently playing for GBA: Aaron Mokoena, Anthony Obodai, Kwame Quansah and Walker Fronio.

-- Anonymous, July 10, 2002

OneFootball.com: Lokeren supremo in GBA takeover attempt

Here's the full text:

Lokeren supremo in GBA takeover attempt

Lokeren chairman Roger Lambrecht is negotiating to buy a controlling interest in Belgian top-flight rivals GBA, who are currently majority- owned by Ajax. "The talks were meant to be secret, so I'm wondering who had an interest in making this public," he said on Monday.

Dutch giants Ajax are desperate to offload their GBA stock as they want cash for use in the transfer market and Lokeren chief Lambrecht is among four candidates trying to take control at the Antwerp club. "We have already had negotiations about the takeover, but a definitive decision has not been made yet. If it comes to a takeover, we will think carefully about what happens next. Maybe there could be a merger or a strong co-operation between Lokeren and GBA. I have spoken about this with other clubs like Aalst, Beveren and Ghent," he added.

Lambrechts explained that he would talk to Ajax general manager Arie van Eijden and financial chief Jeroen Slop again on Monday. "At the very least, we will be in contact by phone," he said. The revelation has plunged the future of GBA into doubt and the current management have been forbidden from commenting on the situation.

But coach Franky van der Elst fears his preparations for the new season will be disrupted. "I will wait and see what happens, but as soon as the new bosses are known I will seek a meeting with them," he vowed.

-- Anonymous, July 08, 2002

From VI Planet.nl:

Heini Otto, who coaches First Division satellite club Haarlem on behalf of Ajax, has undergone some serious, extremely heavy heart surgery. The surgery was risky, but went well. However, Otto will need several months to recover.

During his absence, he will be replaced at Haarlem by Leo van Veen. Van Veen was a central forward for Ajax and Oranje. He was the head-coach of VVV Venlo and RKC Waalwijk before he signed a contract with Ajax. He coached South-African sister club Ajax Cape Town for one year, before becoming one of Co Adriaanse's Ajax-1 assistants. After Adriaanse's dismissal, he worked as a scout for Ajax.

-- Anonymous, June 25, 2002

Ajax has officially announced the names of three Young Ajax players who will play for Germinal Beerschot Antwerp next season: Walker, Anthony Obodai and Kwame Quansah will be loaned out to Ajax' Belgian satellite club for one season. They are to join Aaron Mokoena, who already played for GBA last season and will stay there for another season. Technical director Leo Beenhakker underscores that this is not a way for Ajax to get rid of some players who are no longer needed. Beenhakker: "For these players, this is an opportunity to develop and possibly return to Ajax to join the first selection." (Source: Ajax.nl)

-- Anonymous, June 06, 2002

I read this on Ajax Netwerk: according to major Belgian newspaper Gazet van Antwerpen there are unconfirmed but persistent rumors that Ajax wants to sell its Germinal Beerschot Antwerp stock. Reportedly, Ajax is dissatisfied with what the majority's stake (62%) in 'GBA' is bringing. According to the newspaper, Ajax wants to continue the co-operation (exchanging players, for example), but not as the majority's stakeholder in the Antwerp club.

My thoughts? I don't really have any when it comes to this stuff, I must admit... :-/

-- Anonymous, May 25, 2002

Ajax vs Feyenoord was a 1-1, Young Ajax vs Young Feyenoord was a 1-1. On Friday, an interesting little 'Classic' was played: Haarlem vs Excelsior, in the Dutch First Division. Ajax' satellite club (Haarlem, currently 11th) versus Feyenoord's satellite club (Excelsior, currently 1st). Quite surprisingly, "Ajax" booked an excellent victory over the team most likely to jump to the Eredivisie for next season: 3-0 to Haarlem. All goals were scored by Ajax contracters: Brutil Hosé (15') scored the first one, Darl Douglas added one just before (45') as well as just after (50') the half time break.

We might want to include a Haarlem home game in next year's Ajax USA trip to Amsterdam. A nice game of First Division football, followed by some beers in downtown Haarlem - a truly beautiful city. Who knows...

-- Anonymous, March 16, 2002

There's quite some news about the sister clubs these days... Here's an update:

First of all: only days after coach Rob McDonald announced that he will leave Ajax Cape Town at season's end to join Dutch First Division side Cambuur Leeuwarden (see my post below), he was fired by Ajax' South-African 'satellite club', due to a recent string of poor results. Cavin Johnson, head scouting of Ajax Cape Town and the 'discoverer' of Young Ajax players Steven Pienaar and Gabriël Mofokeng, willtake over. He was already on the bench during Saturday's league game against Manning Rovers, but it didn't make much of a difference: Ajax Cape Town lost, 2-1.

Next: FC Haarlem! Hennie de Regt, currently coaching the Ajax C1 youth (= under 15), has signed a contract as manager of Haarlem's youth system. De Regt will combine both jobs until the end of the season. After that, he'll fully focus on his new job at Haarlem.

FC Haarlem is still looking for a new coach-assistant for the first team. Heini Otto will stay the head coach, but his current assistant, former Ajax player Rob Witschge, announced earlier that he will leave Haarlem. Witschge wants to become a professional head coach himself.

There's not only interaction between Ajax and its satellite clubs, but also from one satellite club to the other... Gregory Scattone, Belgian youth international and player of Germinal Beerschot Antwerp, has joined FC Haarlem's first team (on loan).

In the mean time, another 'GBA' player has joined Ajax-1 on a try- out. But that news will appear on the Ajax USA homepage tonight...

-- Anonymous, February 27, 2002

For those of you interested in literally everything about Ajax... This was in de Volkskrant this morning (and on Ajax.nl - everywhere, really):

Rob McDonald, currently the head coach of Ajax Cape Town, will leave South-Africa at season's end. This week, he signed a two year contract to become the coach of Dutch First Division side Cambuur Leeuwarden.

Englishman McDonald (43) played for a string of Dutch clubs, including Willem II, FC Groningen and PSV, before becoming a coach- assistant at First Division sides Emmen and FC Zwolle. His first job as a head coach was at De Graafschap. He was fired in November, 2000, and then moved to Ajax' South-African satellite club in April of 2001.

-- Anonymous, February 19, 2002

Ajax.nl reports that Rob Witschge (former Ajax player, Richard's older brother and currently Heini Otto's coach-assistant at Haarlem) will leave Haarlem at the end of this season. Rob Witschge stopt aan het einde van dit seizoen als assistent-trainer van Haarlem. Witschge has announced that he wants to find a job in football in which he has full responsibility himself (probably a job as a head coach somewhere).

-- Anonymous, January 24, 2002

If you want to check out how HFC Haarlem is doing in the Dutch 'Yellow Pages Division' (Gouden Gids Divisie, the sponsored name of the First Division, Holland's second highest division), you'll find the latest results HERE and the league table HERE.

If you want to check out how Germinal Beerschot Antwerpen is doing in the First Class, Belgium's highest football league, you'll find the latest results HERE and the league table HERE.

-- Anonymous, November 12, 2001

The 'hand of Ajax' is getting visible in the youth system of Ajax Cape Town. No less than eight players of Ajax' South-African satellite club were selected by national coach Steve Komphela for the South-African U20 national team. The team prepares for the Cosafa Cup, taking place in Johannesburg from 24 November to 2 December. The current selection consists of 25 players, a number which will have to be brought down to 20 for the tournament.

The Ajax Cape Town talents selected are:

GOALKEEPER: Oscar Ramogodi

DEFENDERS: Brett Evans, Dominic Isaacs, Ashley Opperman

MIDFIELDERS: Lynch Pule, Shaun Potgieter

FORWARDS: Orlin Powell, Rashied Thorne

Chances are that we'll se one of them in Amsterdam in the near future!

More news from South-Africa: the South-African league will, from now on, have its own version of the Dutch 'Classic', Ajax vs Feyenoord. Ajax' Rotterdam rivals have confirmed a coöperation with Supersport United from Johannesburg. The first upcoming edition of the South- African 'Dutch' Classic is on 10 February of 2002, in Cape Town...

-- Anonymous, November 12, 2001

Guess what? Gonna check out a Haarlem home game on Sunday. Ajax-1 doesn't play, Young Ajax plays in Heerenveen and I believe there's no Ajax-A1 home game either. And since I'm a complete addict, I figured I might as well check out Haarlem. Well okay: it's also got to do with the fact that my girlfriend is having one of her occasional 'Sundays with the girls'... They will drink tea and eat all kinds of horrible sweet stuff (chocolate and all that). Most of those girls are really beautiful and I really like beautiful women, but unofrtunately they tend to *talk*, too... In fact: they talk a lot and they never stop. So I've decied to go in hiding. The Haarlem stadium is a good place for that (no-one there)... ;-)

It's a (relatively) good game, by the way. They're playing ADO Den Haag (one of the bigger First Division sides). It's actually very weird that The Hague (third city in Holland) doesn't even have a decent Eredivisie team.

-- Anonymous, October 05, 2001

From Ajax Netwerk:

Ajax Cape Town has not succeeded in reaching the semi finals of the CAF Cup, the African equivalent of the Champions League. After having lost the away leg against L'Étoile du Sahel from Tunisia, 2-0, Ajax CT lost the second game as well: 0-1. L'Étoile du Sahel won the CAF Cup in 1996 and 1999.

Ajax CT put the visitors under pressure from kick-off, but failed to score, which allowed the Tunisians to get back into the game. Keita Abdeel's 49th minute goal destroyed Ajax CT's hopes.

-- Anonymous, September 24, 2001

For those who are interested, here's an update on Ajax Cape Town (taken from Ajax Netwerk):

Ajax Cape Town has lost its first game in the quarter finals of the CAF Cup (the African equivalent of the Champions League). In Tunisia, Ajax CT lost 2-0 at L'Étoile du Sahel. Goals were scored by Ghodhben en Dini, both in the second half. Ajax' South-African satellite club will therefore have to score three goals to reach the semi-finals.

In the mean time, Ajax Cape Town is doing very well in the South- African league. The team is second on the table, with ten points from five games, three points behind league leaders, Moroka Swallows.

-- Anonymous, September 17, 2001

Results in the Toto Division (First Division) of Ajax' satellite club, HFC Haarlem, so far:

HFC Haarlem - Dordrecht '90 1-3

Cambuur Leeuwarden - HFC Haarlem 1-1

Helmond Sport - HFC Haarlem 0-3

Two of the Ajacieden at Haarlem, goalkeeper Serge van de Ban and Darl Douglas, were selected for 'Young Oranje' (U21). Douglas scored the first goal for Holland in their 6-0 win over Estonia. Currently, the Ajax delegation at Haarlem consists of five players: Van de Ban, Douglas, Marc Stuut, Didi Longuet and Serginho Greene. None of them scored for Haarlem in the league. Douglas did score no less than four goals in Haarlem's Amstel Cup group games against AFC '34 (2-2), AZ (2-0 defeat) and Noordwijk (1-6 victory).

-- Anonymous, September 09, 2001

In addition to Bastiaan's post above: Hersi said on AT5 that he was happy to go to Haarlem for a year (or two), so he could develop as a footballer, etcetera. He either lied or changed his mind, because later he started coughing up Bobson/Hosé-like remarks about Ajax' decision to send him to Haarlem... To be continued.

Anyway, NOS TeleTekst reports that three more players of Ajax-2 will play for Haarlem next season: Didi Longuet, Serginho Greene and Darl Douglas.

Personally, I don't expect any complaints from them, since they're Ajax-2 players. They have not played for Ajax-1 yet, and were not transferred to the first team for next season. Compared to Ajax-2, playing for Haarlem in the First Division is actually an improvement. It's a different story than the stories of Bobson, Hosé and Hersi, since they already know what it's like to play in front of 35,000 at the ArenA. They think they're Ajax-1 players (or that they're close to becoming Ajax-1 players). That's why the step back to Haarlem is unacceptable to them.

For your information: Haarlem home games are visited by some 3,000 people or whatever. Not much, but it's still almost ten times more than the average attendance at Ajax-2 games...

Frankly, I can understand how Bobson, Hosé and Hersi are feeling about it. The 'Haarlem connection' was not there yet when they signed their contracts, so they're now confronted with an unwanted career move they didn't know about when they signed. On the other hand, Ajax has no choice but to suspend them if they refuse. I mean: they decided to use Haarlem for this. Being loaned out to Haarlem is now officially an option in the Ajax youth system, so they have to be strict. Refusing to play for Haarlem is now the same thing as refusing to play in any other Ajax team. You just can't dig that from an 18 year-old kid.

But - and this is my point - if it shows that Ajax starts losing talents regularly, because they don't want to go to Haarlem (or if young players decide not to join Ajax, knowing that getting sent to Haarlem can be part of the deal), I think Ajax should call it quits. It makes no sense if this structure scares off young players. That would be a disaster.

-- Anonymous, June 10, 2001

Youssof Hersi and Didi Longuet (newly champions of the reserve- league, with Ajax-2) will be playing for Haarlem next year. To AT5- news they said to be very pleased with this move. This can be called remarkable, since other players like Hosé and Bobson before refused to go to this satellite club in the first division.

-- Anonymous, May 15, 2001

hi

i am a germinal beerschot fan from belgian i read you want some news, so here you have some first of all, gba (germinal beerschot antwerpen) is buzy with transfers. The first problem is Marc Degryse, it is the great man on 'het Kiel', our stadium, and he is 35 years old and costs about 18 000 000 belgian francs which is very much for us The second problem is our striker Severeyns and our Midfield player Lendvai, both scouted by other teams and we want to keep them but they are out of contract so... That is all bad news but there is also some good news, we've transfered some very good belgian youth players and we have won the derby against antwerp Antwerp is beerschots archenemy, they are also a antwerp-team and think they are the best, we won with 3-1 Beerschot has also won against lierse, a topper in Belgian, with 6-0 3 goals of de Cisse Severeyns, 1 of Huysmans and 2 of de Fons But there are other problems: we have had some problems with violance: in the match anderlecht-beerschot have we shouted to the refery: your mother is a h**ker and he was very mad, we also have had some 'illegal players'in our squad, and a fan has shot a player into hospital for a broken??? That's all Salu

-- Anonymous, May 10, 2001

Cheers to all our American Ajax-fans! Let us know when you'll see a game of Germinal Beerschot Antwerpen.

-- Anonymous, May 09, 2001

Dear Menno,

Allow me (chief of the Apaches and fanatic Beerschot-supporter long before I killed my first buffalo) to answer that.

It is still mathematically possible, yet not very likely... We are ranked 4th, 5 points behind Standard (a sad bunch of wankers) with only two games left. So if they lose one and draw one and we win both, then we end 3rd and get our ticket for Europe. Otherwise we end 4th and don't get to go. Still we had a great season and hope to do even better next year.

Greetings from the Kiel,

Geronimo*

-- Anonymous, May 08, 2001

Hi Jesse!

Thanks for visiting our forum. We publish news about GBA every once in a while (especially now you're having such an excellent season), but more info is always welcome! We are very interested in any news on GBA. Why don't you keep us posted in this thread? Can you still qualify for the UEFA Cup, for example?

-- Anonymous, May 08, 2001

Does anyone know Germinal Beerschot Antwerp ? I'm a fan of Germinal Beerschot, and I want to know if you are fans of us to ?

Let me invite you to come and watch a Germinal Beerschot game, very much fun !!!

Greetings from Belgium

-- Anonymous, May 03, 2001

AT5 News reported today that Rob Witschge (former Ajax player and brother of Richard) will be the new assistent of coach Heini Otto at Haarlem. Witschge is at the moment trainer of an amateur side in Holland.

-- Anonymous, May 01, 2001

You will need all the help you can get.I think Steve Haupt was doing great untill you disrupted it.Henk got back and sent you down the league table again.You have really stuufed up.

-- Anonymous, April 19, 2001