NOS Football•today, 01:01
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According to Daphne Koster, Ajax women’s football manager, the main cause of the fear culture at the Amsterdam club is the performance climate. “A risk that everything is about that performance is that the rest is not seen. That is very dangerous.”
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Koster responded on Monday in Studio England to her statements about the cross-border behavior of Marc Overmars, the former director of football affairs at Ajax. In the documentary series On the way to the top said the former player of Ajax (2012-2017) that the stories about Overmars had been around for some time.
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“You don’t say anything about it because you know, it’s the technical director and you can’t prove it. You come into an environment where a lot of people already say: what are these women doing here?” she said in the documentary.
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Koster about Overmars: ‘An incident, but it is something that all women have to deal with’
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Koster was thus one of the first Ajax employees to express themselves explicitly about the Overmars case. How has Ajax reacted to her performance?
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“I already discussed it internally. From the moment it came out, there have been a number of moments when the staff came together. Women also came together. I already discussed how I saw the world. Then I got this also indicated that I knew. Or knew… You knew about the story.”
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indoor rooms
Koster thinks he knows why Overmars’ behavior remained indoors for so long. “You want to belong and you actually feel that a large part of the environment would rather have you away and not embrace you. Women were not seen as part of football or of the club.”
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“You will behave accordingly,” she continues. “That we’d better keep our mouths shut. Or we’d better not discuss it.”
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According to Koster, Ajax has fully cooperated in the documentary series, which is about the rise of women’s football. This allowed her to speak freely and answer all questions.
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ANP
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“I immediately indicated that this is about the culture that women have to deal with in football. If I want to look at myself honestly in the mirror, I cannot avoid such a question. And this was an incident, but it’s something all women have to deal with.”
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Ajax announced at the beginning of May that the club working on a culture change after Overmars’ transgressive behavior. All this after the results of a research agency hired by Ajax.
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Top of mind
Koster: “Due to this incident, it is also at Ajax top of mind become. That we are aware. That we recognize the culture. And also acknowledge. And that the next step is that something will actually be done about it.”
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Does she think that has any chance of success? “Changing a culture really takes time. And guts to be really honest. It’s not just sexual behavior that crosses borders, but you can also think of racism, discrimination, bullying… It’s much bigger than that one incident. “
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“But the will to change is there. I hope that in a few years we can look back with pride and see that Ajax has been leading in this.”
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