The new home of Ajax but we're going there for something completely different. It's football Jim but not as we know it. The ball is oval like rugby but you can throw it forward (once) like basketball and unlike a try in rugby you do not need to touch the ball on the ground for a touchdown and the scoring is six for a try / touchdown and one for a conversion / extra point. Oh the game goes on for three hours which is about the same as a football match at Wembley if you include the time to get out of the car park and navigate your way out of North West London / Middlesex.
The classic thing about going to something at Wembley was to try and outsmart the rest of the spectators by doing something different in order to meet up for a meal or a drink before the game only to find the pub / restaurant is packed with people like you doing exactly the same thing. We can tell you now the stadium is being rebuilt that we used to use the Wembley Stadium station 12 minutes from Marylebone but with a half hour service or Wembley Central if coming from the North West and I believe they are building a road to the traffic jam on the North Circular so queuing up near the Neasden underpass will be a thing of the past.
Perhaps a tip is to book a table at one of the area's curry houses and wait for the traffic to die down but tricky in midweek. Our personal view was that the stadium should have been in somewhere like Birmingham and Wembley should have been converted to a giant Taj Mahal curry house with a replica of the real thing as it is well connected to the tube network and would have made alternative to Brick Lane if you are in The West End rather than the City. The view down Wembley Way would have been just as striking. I guess the question when the new stadium is opened is what does one ware to a stadium costing over GBP 100 million and how much will a programme and a pint of beer cost or will it be G&T or Pimms ?
No time for the usual departure board shot as the train is in the station and runs non stop to Schipol - looks like wee going to be early. Train commuters will think this is some sort of mirage but I can assure you the photo is genuine and unaltered.
The stadium is on the South East corner of the city so we let our train continue towards Amsterdam Centraal and change onto the stopping service stoptrein though some of the InterCity trains also stop at Duivendrecht.
Another pleasing sight.
The stadium has it own metro station but on a nice day such as this you may as well walk from Duivendrecht. This is a huge area of motorway and railway intersections with connections to all over The Netherlands- a bit like the M6 - M42 - M40 area around Birmingham (UK) NEC. It means that most of the population can get out in the middle of the week and see their team (oops.)
We see the construction of the Utrechsteboog that will enable trains to go to Schipol directly from Utrecht and the South and East of The Netherlands. The entire project is due for completion in 2006.
The initial view of the structure on the way from Duivendrecht mainline station..
Our favourite. The stadium and training field.
The main entrance to the new home of this famous club.
Flags are popular in Holland so we thought we'd include this one.
Like Wembley the area also houses two concert venues. The small Pepsi Stage ..
And the larger Heineken Music Hall reputed to have the best acoustics in Holland.
This is the staircase from the multiplex cinema owned by a company called Pathé who originally started in Britain as makers of newsreels a long long time ago.
The current team is not doing as well as Louis van Gaal's team of the mid-nineties and maybe this is a hint to their supporters to try and produce a team capable of winning the Champions League around 2020 as they start them young here.
The area good communications attract companies from around the World but here we have an office of Holland number one bank and sponsor of Ajax ABN Amro b.v.
Something bland from Price Waterhouse Coopers.
And some American office architecture.
To further emphasise the hint implied by the outlet designers we include this long shot. The lamp post in the middle has been removed using the clone tool in The GIMP. To make this easier we lined the shot up so the post was at a colour boundary. It great when a plan comes together.
Some people prefer wild flowers but I should add that I have gone overboard with the clone tool.
Back to the stadium and they all have to have a fan shop and a museum these days.
Into the stadium and we see the two teams warming up ...
Giving us time to check out the extensive catering facilities of this state of the art facility.
Unfortunately thats where our story ends as we forgot our spare film and weren't allowed out to buy some. A classic first half ending 20-20 with the Rhine Fire looking the better team with two fast running backs. Amsterdam had a good spell however and their second touchdown was excellent in that it had the opposition and the entire crowd fooled. A dummy hand off had everyone thinking the ball was being carried to the right when really it was on the left just about to cross into the end zone.
Compared with the NFL the defence (DEfense in American English) wasn't as good with it being easier to run the ball. Also the catching was just a bit off but this did lead sometimes to a more open and attacking game. Anyway the Fire won in the end much to the delight of their large away following.
