The legendary number 14
When Johan Cruijff died in early 2016, voices were soon raised to honour his name in places around Amsterdam. The most obvious renaming, that of the Amsterdam ArenA, got under way soon after Cruijff's death (though it ultimately proved a bumpy ride). So there was some surprise in the city when the city council announced on 21 February 2018 that it was going to rename the square in front of the Olympic Stadium in Zuid the Johan Cruijffplein. The surprise soon turned to anger, particularly among residents of the Stadionplein itself, and a petition against the name change was launched. According to the residents there were better places to honour Johan Cruijff, and besides, the name would not fit in with the series of street names in that neighbourhood taken from Greek mythology. That last argument does not entirely hold up, mind you: after all, the Van Tuyll van Serooskerkenweg runs at right angles to the Stadionplein. In 1898 Van Tuyll was the first Dutchman to be appointed to the International Olympic Committee. His story is told in this article.
Council too enthusiastic
Investigations by de Volkskrant and AT5, among others, revealed that the committee that advises the city government on name changes had given negative advice on this change. Despite that negative advice, the city council pressed on with preparations for the renaming. Later, research by the city broadcaster showed that sloppiness in the procedure, combined with enormous enthusiasm within the council, was to blame for the messy process. Eric van der Burg later said in an AT5 documentary that he had been surprised by the criticism. He had expected the name change to be "received with enthusiasm" and had not really reckoned with any opposition at all. In May 2018 the renaming of the square was to become a fact, but at the last moment the city council postponed the unveiling of the new street signs.
No Johan Cruijffplein after all
In early September 2018 the verdict was in: the plans to rename the Stadionplein the Johan Cruijffplein were definitively off the table. Various officials had worked on the naming proposal, as a result of which initially negative advice from the city council's street names committee was ultimately presented as positive advice. Although acting mayor Van Aartsen did indeed receive the negative advice, the legend of Cruijff was big enough to push the new name through. In the end the 9-month saga surrounding this renaming was perhaps a bit of a blot on the enthusiasm around the ideas for honouring the city's football hero. All the more gratifying, then, was the eventual renaming of the Amsterdam ArenA to the Johan Cruijff ArenA.
