Mayhem in the Stands: Ajax vs. Groningen Match Abandoned Amidst Chaos

Ajax’s game with Groningen has been abandoned due to crowd trouble 

Nine minutes into the game between Ajax and Groningen, the match has been called off after irate supporters invaded the field and threw smoke bombs.

After their team was demoted from the Eredivisie this season, the home fans were upset with the club’s board. After smoke bombs were hurled onto the field in the sixth minute, the players were first escorted off the field before a supporter ran onto the field holding a banner calling for the resignation of the Groningen board.

After the pitch was cleaned, the game could resume, but three minutes later, fireworks were launched from the stands. In accordance with the new regulations adopted by the Royal Dutch Football Association, it caused referee Jeroen Manschot to call off the game.

According to those regulations, if a player or official is struck by a projectile from the crowd, the game will be stopped. Additionally, they require referees to briefly suspend games if a projectile is fired but misses someone and to end them completely if it occurs twice.

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After Ajax player Davy Klassen suffered a cut head after being struck by a projectile during a KNVB Cup semifinal match between his team and Feyenoord last month, the Dutch FA decided to tighten their regulations to quell fan unrest.

Crowd disturbances have forced the suspension of four Eredivisie games this weekend, at least briefly. This is a growing issue for Dutch football. Now it’s up to the KNVB to decide if and when Ajax’s game with Groningen will be restarted, with the hosts releasing a statement after Sunday’s events.

“The match between FC Groningen and Ajax was stopped after ten minutes of play on Sunday afternoon. Twice fireworks were thrown onto the field from the stands. After six minutes, the game was stopped for the first time. After fifteen minutes the players came back onto the field, but that didn’t last long,” a message on the club website read.

“Referee Jeroen Manschot had to stop the match definitively moments later. The recently tightened measures of the KNVB stipulate that if an object is thrown toward the field, the match will initially be temporarily stopped and if repeated, permanently.

“If a player or (assistant) referee is hit by an object from the audience, the referee will immediately stop the match. Later, the KNVB will announce how to deal with this match.”

Boss Wouter Gudde called the supporters of his team “morons” for causing the game to be called off and criticized their antics. But after hearing about the protests earlier this week on social media, he asserted that Groningen did everything it could to put a stop to them.

“There was a rumor that all kinds of actions were being launched. Then what can you do? Since last Monday we have been talking to all kinds of supporter groups, and we have had consultations with the security triangle. We also interacted with the police from Germany and Belgium and deployed fireworks dogs,” he said.

“If anyone has the golden solution on how we can counter this, I’d love to hear it. When I look back at our own organization, municipality, and police. We’ve done everything we can.

“I think it’s terrible that we had to send a very large group of people home again, including many children who wanted to see their idols. That has been spoiled by some morons. We have done everything we can to prevent this. I am extremely disappointed at the moment.”