Anne Frank Stichting active in football stadiums

#THIS ARTICLE IN DUTCH is written by Leo Aquina | translated by Liesbeth Wallien

“We are more than the museum’, says Joram Verhoeven of the Anne Frank Stichting. ‘We try to create awareness of the danger of discrimination and antisemitism.’ In the vein of founder Otto Frank, Anne’s father, the foundation wants to widely spread its message and since 2014 that includes football fields. Verhoeven: ‘The most popular sport in the Netherlands, football is a mirror of our society.’ The foundation organises fair play workshops at clubs and organises chanting projects with supporters of professional football clubs. It was a big hit at Feyenoord and FC Utrecht. So far Ajax has not taken part.

The Anne Frank Stichting started its football projects in 2014. Joram Verhoeven: ‘One of our first projects was the fair play workshop, a classic prevention workshop of our own design. At the time we got in touch with the KNVB. They were on the same track, but sparsely so. Over the past years they have become more active.’


Lifting the blinkers
The fair play workshop is targeted explicitly at young players between 12 and 15. Verhoeven: ‘We want to lift the blinkers when it comes to discrimination, racism and homophobia. These are often abstract ideas for young people that age. So we play a digital game with different scenarios. For example, someone has to take a corner and someone in the crowd makes a racist comment. Let’s say you are the captain, and you are at the edge of the penalty area waiting for that corner. What do you do? There is no right or wrong answer. The main point is that it gets those young people thinking. It is incredibly difficult to take a stand, or to start a discussion, but keeping silent is even less effective.’

Of course trainers, coaches and parents play a role with youth teams. ‘We compel coaches to take part’, Verhoeven says. ‘But during the workshop they are not the ones speaking. It’s all about listening and contributing ideas. The ultimate goal is that by the end of the workshop we come to agreements. We do not involve parents in the workshop, for they would be talking and not their children.’

Chanting projects
The fair play projects and the contact with the KNVB showed that professional clubs would be the best way for the Anne Frank Stichting to get a foothold in the football world. Verhoeven: ‘All professional clubs have a community department, and they do great projects. The fair play workshops quickly taught us that there was a lot of room for raising awareness of the danger of discrimination and antisemitism. It was largely new territory, and a good fit.’ The contact with professional clubs inspired the chanting project. ‘Ajax supporters have adopted ‘Jews’ as an honorary title and for decades that has led to anti-Jewish chants. Not just distasteful but a criminal offence even.’

In 2019 the collaboration with professional clubs got an impetus. Ironically because of a sad incident, when Ahmad Mendes Moreira of Excelsior faced racism from the supporters of FC Den Bosch. ‘The football world was in a frenzy’, Verhoeven remembers. ‘The government and the KNVB came up with a strategy called “Our Football Belongs to Everyone”. We are also involved in the surrounding network. Just like the Mijnals committee we advise, solicited and unsolicited.’

German inspiration
In designing the chanting projects at professional clubs, the Anne Frank Stichting took a leaf from German clubs. ‘Germany takes a firm line on chanting supporters. A club like Borussia Dortmund knows exactly what to do to change supporters’ behaviour. The point is to do projects together with supporters. They go on educational trips, for example to former concentration camps. They follow the story of Dortmund, the city. We did the same thing in Rotterdam, with a city tour along characteristic locations from World War II. And we tell them that Feyenoord has Jewish supporters who are deeply hurt by the chanting, and no longer come to matches.’

With FC Utrecht, another one of Ajax’s arch rivals, the Anne Frank Stichting also collaborated on a chanting project. Again the most important lesson was to strike up a dialogue with the supporters, and hold back on prejudices. ‘Most supporters chant things because of the love for their club and out of rivalry with the opponent. Often their comments are not meant to be racist, or they don’t realise how hurtful they can be’, Verhoeven explains.

Although the success is difficult to gauge, all parties involved in Utrecht are enthusiastic. A Jewish supporter who stopped coming to the matches, has now returned to the Galgenwaard stadium. General director Thijs van Es of FC Utrecht concludes: 'It is important that we realise that punishing and pushing out is not the way to move forward. In the Netherlands we are used to calling each other to account, telling people when we don’t like something, enforcing. We have lost the ability to connect to others. I should like to see a turnaround at a national level, like we are trying at a local level. Make sure you understand each other, build bridges.’

Ajax has not yet asked for a chanting project, why’s that? Verhoeven: ‘The short answer is that Ajax has no interest. Prominent figures at Ajax disagree on how desirable or undesirable the honorific title is. The club claims that the chanting of “super Jews” is not a criminal offence, unlike the antisemitic response it evokes.’

Social unrest
The conflict in the Middle East has caused unrest in society related to the subject of antisemitism. Does this hinder the Anne Frank Stichting in its football projects? Verhoeven: ‘What happens there definitely has an effect here. Antisemitism and Islamophobia as well are on the rise, and it’s obvious every time conflicts flare up in the Middle East. It doesn’t really play a role in the chanting projects, because they are usually not associated with anti-Jewish sentiments. The number of antisemitic ideas among football supporters is not different than in the rest of Dutch society. They do not talk about Israel and Gaza, but about Ajax. The discussion can come up in de fair play workshops but you shouldn’t shirk that discussion. We want participants to see and experience what discrimination is, and get them to think about their own attitudes and choices. The goal for them is to work together on building respect, sportsmanship and inclusion. The point is to give everyone space for their own point of view.’
 
For more information: www.annefrank.org