Erik ten Hag commented on the issue surrounding Winston Bogarde on Wednesday evening during the press conference in the run-up to the Champions League match with Benfica. The assistant coach was in the news on Monday evening when it came out that he, like Marc Overmars, was guilty of transgressive behaviour. It NRC was able to report that Bogarde sent unwanted messages in private to a female victim, who described this as ‘sexual harassment’.
Ten Hag was asked during the press conference about the news about Bogarde. “These are issues that you would rather not hear, that someone from the club is confronted with them,” said the Ajax trainer. “But it is a private matter. Two independent bodies have looked at it. The case has been declared inadmissible by both bodies. We have to leave it at that. It was somewhat to be expected that these kinds of matters would be discussed. But this group can deal with that very well. It knows how to keep the focus and switch very well.”
Bogarde, who is in his third season as assistant coach of Ten Hag, sent unwanted messages to a female victim in the private sphere. Ajax had the matter investigated externally, but concluded that it was a ‘private matter’: Bogarde was therefore allowed to stay on. The conclusions of the external agency that investigated the case are clear. According to the researchers, Bogarde ‘actively contributed to an interaction pattern that was destructive for the complainant’. The woman was left with serious psychological damage from the incident, a psychologist concluded. Later, the woman was also diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder.
“It is true that an anonymous complaint was received at Ajax on October 1, 2020 about cross-border behavior by an Ajax employee,” Ajax said in a statement. “Ajax then immediately took action. The report was independently investigated by two external bodies. The first authority, the Institute for Sports Law (ISR), has dismissed the case. The ISR has also determined that the relationship between the reporter and the employee of Ajax arose outside the sport and must be regarded as a private matter. The other body is an investigation agency that Ajax has asked after the ruling of the ISR to investigate the complaint independently. This after consultation with and consent of both the reporter and the employee.
New scandal at Ajax: Bogarde stayed on after serious ‘sexual harassment’
Monday evening it came out via the NRC that Bogarde would have been guilty of transgressive behaviour.
“The investigation and report of this second body did not result in a finding of merit for the complaint,” the statement continues. “Based on the report, Ajax concluded (May 2021) that this matter should be regarded as a private matter and also established that no further actions were necessary from the Ajax employer. Ajax believes that care has been taken from the first report. for careful follow-up.” Also the NOS was working on the Bogarde case. According to football chief Arno Vermeulen, investigative journalist Guido van Gorp had already completely ‘unraveled’ the story, he told Monday at Along the line†
“There’s a lot more to report than the NRC writes about this,” said Vermeulen. “We had an internal discussion about whether it was a private matter or not. When we knew that Ajax would start an investigation, we were convinced that it was no longer a private matter. That is essential in this whole story. Guido has put a lot of work into it. He made contact to speak to the victim, which is very interesting for the story. But we weren’t surprised when it came out, because we knew.”