Dr. Mark and Mr. Obermars: Behind the Ajax Harassment Scandal
Outwardly he was "Mark Net", the shrewd and successful professional manager who sold players over half a billion euros.
Inwardly, in the face of facts at the club, he was the "horny uncle" who sends lewd pictures and messages to colleagues
Assaf Cohen
09/02/2022
Wednesday, 09 February 2022, 14:30
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Summary: PSV - Ajax 2: 1 (Sport 1)
Sunday evening, the sky of Amsterdam is full of clouds of hope, of happiness.
State on the way out of the corona, restrictions are lifted one after another.
The city's glorious football club won and saw the direct rival lose.
Ajax, once again in front of the loving home crowd, opens a five-point gap at the top over PSV.
Soon returning to the Champions League games, in the early house all the games ended in victory.
Then, just before Ajax fans went to bed, at 11:30 pm local time, they felt the ground shake, the sky fell.
"Mark Obermars resigned from his post after unacceptable conduct and breaking conventions, in which, over an ongoing period, he harassed through co-workers' announcements."
In a statement issued by Ajax, Obermars apologized and added that "I am ashamed of myself. I did not understand in real time what I did but it has been made clear to me in recent days. I apologize. A person in my position can not behave like this, I understand it now, late."
Suddenly the stories come out.
More than six women, colleagues at Ajax, have been harassed by the professional manager.
He did not like to talk in face-to-face conversations, but constantly created communication via WhatsApp.
This is the testimony repeated by colleagues.
Obermars rarely speaks, but writes a lot.
"What are you wearing?", "I'm suddenly hot", "I feel something is growing in me", these are messages sent to women who worked at the club.
At some point these were not just text messages.
Suddenly pictures began to be sent.
Dickpick, the so-called Internet language, pictures of the penis of the strong man in the club.
More on Walla!
In the "sexist culture" in Ajax, Mark Obermars was called "the perverted uncle"
To the full article
Two-faced.
Mark Obermars (Photo: GettyImages, ANP Sport)
Evidence suggests that there were two Mark Obermars.
One is the successful businessman, the best professional manager in the history of the club, the man who has sold for Ajax in the last decade players over half a billion euros (and a profit of about 300 million).
"Mark Net" was his nickname for any of the inconceivable sums he put into the club.
He broke player acquisition and sales records and brought to the humble Dutch league car players from the Premier League.
The doors in football clubs around the world were opened for him because he was a revered player but mostly because he proved himself as a formidable football manager.
Big teams wanted to sign him (Newcastle, Arsenal, Barcelona) but he stayed at Ajax and extended his contract time and time again.
The last contract was signed only about two months ago, until 2026.
The second Obermars is described by colleagues as "The Horny Uncle".
There is evidence that women have been suffering from it for years and share their suffering.
"They did not know how to deal with the powerful man in the system, how to respond to his offers to meet, to go out and spend time together," read the journalistic investigations now being published.
Ajax is described as a club with a macho organizational culture that enabled this behavior.
Turn a blind eye to sexist jokes, sexual comments to club facts.
There is evidence that at the club's party, an employee photographed an employee without her knowledge and in WhatsApp groups she shared a photo with comments of a sexual nature
.
During the period there were several affair that raised question marks around the character of Obermars.
The last of which was published about a year ago.
Obermars worked as a consultant for a crypto company that turned out to be a pyramid-type sting exercise and many people lost thousands of euros.
Obermars denied knowing this was the case and left his position at the company.
At Ajax turned a blind eye, the professional manager was too important and too successful for the club.
"There is someone to talk to."
Edwin van der Sar (Photo: Reuters)
The women who received the messages from Obermars did not necessarily work under the professional manager.
But in a football club, probably one big, glorious and decorated like Ajax, the hierarchy is clear.
This is true for the whole football world, after all.
It's a world of macho, almost one hundred percent of the most senior positions are manned by men: they are the administrative, professional, coaches, stars.
In the world of alpha males, where competition is fundamental to everything, the feeling is that rulers can do anything for anyone - and stay here to serve them.
This of course happens not only in football: see the former president, politicians, Hollywood producers, musical directors.
People reach a position of power and do not see the harm to others and live with the feeling of "who can on me - no one will catch me".
But if in football we are used to sweeping under the rug of such matters, the case of Ajax teaches us that things go out and are taken care of.
It is important to understand the context.
In recent months the Netherlands has been in turmoil after it was discovered that during a TV show like a star was born, for many years, producers and judges harassed young contestants.
This discovery has led organizations to refresh their procedures for dealing with sexual harassment and appointing trustees who can be contacted in such cases.
Ajax CEO Edwin van der Sar also sent a similar email to club employees at the end of January. "Whether a person is hurt by another employee, with authority or not, there is someone to talk to." .
At the same time, it was learned that the reputed NRC newspaper has been working for several weeks on an investigation into the corporate culture at Ajax in general and the conduct of Obermars in particular.
Nothing was written yet and was not close to publication, but the combination of things led Ajax to take action.
In the past week, Obermars has been confronted with the complaints, and in talks with the board of directors van der Sar it has been made clear to him that he will not be able to continue in his position.
If they could save him, they would surely do anything to keep him in office.
But the fact that it was a number of women, over a long period of time and that the behavior was carried out by a man in a senior managerial position did not allow Ajax to close its eyes.
Obermars resigned.
This of course will not end there.
Will the club serve as an example?
Ajax players (Photo: GettyImages, ANP)
Ajax is obliged to report the cases to a prosecutor's office committee that will decide whether there is room to open a criminal investigation.
The whole of Ajax is put to the test: who knew, how much did they know, when was it known, what did they do, are there any more such behaviors.
On the face of it, the club seems to have functioned properly.
There were complaints, they investigated the matter and acted decisively.
Even in front of one of the most senior in the system.
If it turns out that these are complaints that have been known for a long time - Obermars will not be the only one to pay the price for his heinous acts.
Who will give and this case will open the problem of sexual harassment and exploitation of power relations in football in general.
It is clear to everyone that this is not just happening in Ajax, it is a behavior that occurs in many places over a long period of time.
If more clubs operate against harassers, women and men who suffer from them will be helped and may one day be able to get up in the morning and go to work without fear and without a sense of disgust, shame and self-hatred.
Just like the women at Ajax who can now, hopefully, get to work with their heads held high.
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Mark Obermers