On this day 13 May

Double Dutch

Ajax win two European trophies

 

This day has been a good one for Ajax over the years. They won the Cup Winners’ Cup in 1987, beating Lokomotive Leipzig 1-0. They also won their only UEFA Cup 1992, despite only drawing the match 0-0, beating Torino the cup 2-2 on away goals from the first leg.

This day is also special in Dutch football for another reason. The legendary Johan Cruyff played his last competitive match, winning the KNVB Cup for Feyenoord against Fortuna Sittard in 1984.

Outside of football, in 1981 Pope John Paul II was shot four times as he blessed the crowds in St Peter’s Square in Rome. The incident happened at 17:15 local time as the Pope was being driven in his Popemobile through a crowd of about 20,000 worshipers when 23-year-old Turkish citizen Mehmet Ali Hagca fired at him from about 15 feet away. The Pope eventually made a full recovery and even visited Hagca in prison to forgive him.

It’s Maciu Samaidrawa Dunadamu! as they say in Fiji to the better looking Toure brother Yaya (25), the (possibly) less annoying half of the daytime TV duo, Richard Madeley (52), part-time cross dresser, part-time Carmen Electra husband (we heard he played basketball as well) Dennis Rodman (47) and the best blind piano maestro since Ray Charles, Stevie Wonder (58).