It’s Mother’s Day today in the UK, and given that there’s no football to make the day special, we hope you’ve managed more than petrol station flowers for the maternal figures in your life.

But even if you’ve gone completely overboard with your generosity, it’s unlikely that your efforts will have surpassed the gesture that Ajax’s players made for their mothers in May 2015.

Back then, on Mother’s Day in the Netherlands, Ajax invited each first team player’s mother to take the place of matchday mascots, and lead out their side at the Amsterdam Arena.

As you would expect, the mothers turned out in their numbers, and received a huge round of applause from the 40,000 fans in attendance as they walked hand in hand with their sons.

Each was given an Ajax jacket emblazoned with their son’s number, and naturally, probably gave their son a hug and a kiss before the Eredivisie game with Cambuur Leeuwarden.

Take a look for yourself below. It’s lovely to see the mothers’ faces as they emerge from the tunnel, and quite amusing to watch some the Ajax players try desperately to stay in ‘game mode’.

You might think that such an occasion might at least embarrass the younger players in the Ajax side, but to be fair to them, they all looked pretty proud and content with proceedings.

The whole occasion turned out pretty well for everyone involved. Ajax ended up winning the game 3-0, with Viktor Fischer hitting a double and Lasse Schöne recording a late third.

And given that Ajax didn’t pick up a single booking during the game, you have to wonder whether some of the mums might have reminded their sons about fair play before the first whistle!

The challenge for British clubs now is to find a way to make their teams’ mothers feel that special, once football comes back into all of our lives.