Legends of Club Football: Johan Cruyff

The first names any kid would think of when someone says “Football’s Greatest”, is easily Pele or Maradona – or even the current-day almighty Lionel Messi or Cristiano Ronaldo. In between all these names, is one that is forgotten by a majority of fans today. All the Barcelona fans and Spain fans have one man to thank for all the success and accolades they get for their playing style today. The one who revolutionised football and yet, stayed an enigma. Johan Cruyff.

Born in Watergraafsmeer, a polder in Amsterdam, located close to the old de Meer Stadion – the old home of AFC Ajax, Johan Cruyff grew up as any other Dutch boy would have – playing football on the streets. However, after his father died when Cruyff was merely 12, Ajax took a bigger role in his life. His stepfather was the groundskeeper at the football club and his mother worked there too. Hence, for the major part of Cruyff’s childhood, the de Meer was his second home. Cruyff grew up there. He’d just be kicking a ball around and help bring the players water or fetch balls. He was Ajax’s little mascot.

When Cruyff joined the youth setup and fairly swiftly, joined the first team, some of those players were still at Ajax. They were this little star’s guides and applauded him for a good match, but if his head grew too big, they would prick it and deflate it back to normal. Scoring on his debut as a 17-year-old, Cruyff was nothing short of a prodigy. But it didn’t intimidate him. He was surrounded by players he’d seen everyday as a kid, the dressing room he’d visited everyday.

The 1965-66 season was when Cruyff announced himself to the Netherlands. Scoring 25 in 23 games, the 19-year-old centre forward helped Ajax lift yet another Eredivisie title, initiating the Amsterdam club’s domination of first the Netherlands, and then Europe.

The 1960s signalled the start of the Dutch contribution to Total Football. Started by the Magyars, picked up by Ajax coach Jack Reynolds, who then inspired Rinus Michels, who was in charge of Ajax when Cruyff was there as a player. Ajax were playing a type of football the Netherlands had never seen before, a fluid conglomeration of technical ability, teamwork and skill. Michels needed a translator – someone who could convert his ideas into action and bring it out on the pitch and in Cruyff, Michels found exactly that.

But Cruyff had his own issues with Michels. The coach enacted a strict no-smoking policy and as a rebellious youngster, Cruyff was caught smoking with the 2nd goalkeeper during training once; as a result, Michels banned Ajax’s very symbol from training sessions. Between 1967 to 1969, Cruyff won the Dutch Footballer of the Year award consecutively. In 1969 for the first time, Cruyff took to field wearing a #14 shirt, something that was considered out of the ordinary then but became synonymous with his name ever since, with Ajax even retiring the number in his honour.