WHITES UNITED First Issue
YOUR BRAND NEW SUPPORTERS MAGAZINE
WRITTEN BY FANS FOR FANS
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WHAT WE ARE ABOUT
White’s United is your new independent supporters magazine that documents the lifestyle of everything related to football in our city. I feel that a supporters magazine should not just be based on the football, but the togetherness of fans in regards to been a family, idolizing the atmosphere and loyalty of all the fans of different ages. Written for the supporters by supporters, White’s United intends on publishing features regularly evidencing the passion people have for sport within the city of Leeds. The aim is to become the leading supporters magazine looking into a variety of stories ranging from day to day supporters, to the days out, to the football itself and a glimpse into the Leeds Ladies Football. Published fortnightly, we look to expand and thrive from the pleasure of our support.
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IN THIS ISSUE THE EXTREME FAN
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LEEDS FANS SIMPLY THE BEST
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THE FOOTBALL LEAGUES CORRUPT
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THE POLICE OF ELLAND ROAD
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LEEDS LADIES ON THE MEND
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THE EXTREME FAN Uniteds extreme fan Mick Hewitt has attended 2020 consecutive games without failure
It has certainly been a long rollercoaster ride for Leeds United Football Club and their supporters. The club are known as the Premier League’s ‘sleeping giants’, with the West Yorkshire club been extradited from the Premier League for over
1969 when Leeds played out a goalless stalemate against Arsenal with his proudest moment coming against Arsenal three years later in the FA Cup Final thanks to Allan Clarke’s fine headed goal giving Leeds a 1-0 victory and their one and only
eleven years and their long absence seems set to continue.
FA Cup Trophy.
Leeds is the third largest city in the UK with an estimated population of 750,000 and rising. This mega city houses only one football club presenting a massive opportunity for anyone interested in investing and transforming this famous club. Leeds United thrives from a huge fan base, which is to be expected due to the size of the city. However the global loyalty of the supporters is phenomenal considering their long-term absence from England’s top division. One supporter totally committed to the cause is mighty whites supporter Mick Hewitt, who can boast not missing a Leeds United fixture since 1969 in which time he has attended 2020 consecutive Leeds games.
Attending 2020 Leeds games on the spin takes real dedication, and comes along with many complications especially with work commitments and travel costs. With regards to these issues, Mick explains:
“Sometimes when we have played in London or Brighton on a Wednesday night, I will not get home until 5 in the morning and then I would be back at work that morning”.
Mick has no intention of ever missing a Leeds United game, providing he doesn’t get too poorly
A difficult issue for Mick occurred during Leeds United’s 1981 pre-season tour, which started off in Denmark where Leeds were going to a place called Ikast, a small Danish town. The game had been announced with plenty of notice, however it was revealed a week before the match that Leeds United had a friendly against Cologne in Germany
with age, of course, but even then you would expect him to find a way. Mick’s journey began as a 9-year-old boy back in
resulting in Mick having to wangle some extra time off work, which he successfully managed to achieve before jetting off to Ikast , only to then find
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out Leeds United had announced another pre-season game in Lavinia located in southern Spain. The efforts Mick goes to in order to attend all the matches is an example of great dedication that is a great example of the true loyalty of Leeds United supporters. Once Mick discovered the news of United’s next friendly match, his first objective was to fly back home to Leeds and arrange further time off work. What summed up Mick’s true dedication to Leeds United was travelling to and from places in short time spells in order to attend the games. Mick adds: “I set off straight from work in the evening on the train all the way down to southern Spain to get to this game and then while we were down there they arranged this other game in Toronto so while I was in Spain I had to ring work up to get some extra time off to go to Toronto but I had to go back to England first to get a Visa, straight to the Canadian tourist office in London to get the Visa, book a flight from Gatwick airport via New York, to get to the two games in Toronto and then back to work again”. Alongside the incredible journey Mick experienced in the 1981 campaign, Mick also runs ‘The Vine’ Leeds United Supporters Club, which took its name from the pub the supporters club originated on the Headrow in Leeds City Centre. The Supporters Club has successfully taken groups of Leeds United fans to all away games for many years. The coaches take supporters to and from away matches and the supporters are treated to a pub stop on the way to the game, giving the
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supporters an enjoyable and memorable day out. Mick describes the supporters group ‘as a family’ and says his proudest moments are when registering new members who have never been to a Leeds game before.
Mick Hewitt, Leeds United’s Extreme Fan.
“You can just take a step back and watch them bond in with rest of the members. They join in playing Killer Pool and join in with all the banter, you just watch everyone and it feels like a family. It’s just a great feeling”.
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LEEDS FANS SIMPLY THE BEST Leeds United leading the way for the Football League’s best away supported team
The 5000 travelling Leeds supporters celebrate taking the lead against Wigan Athletic at the DW Stadium.
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Being a supporter of Leeds United Football Club, one will certainly have the experiences of the ups and downs, with the majority of fans arguably witnessing more of the downs. The popular home chant “and we’ve had our ups and downs” projects around all four corners of the stadium and never goes unnoticed by the opposing supporters. For many football clubs playing in the Championship division, welcoming Leeds United to town is a financial windfall with so many supporters entering through the turnstiles. The away supporters are always full of energy and turn up in large numbers certainly making their presence known.
a ticket, again on a Tuesday night, for a game with Norwich City at Carrow Road. Despite the journey and the ridiculous price hike they still managed to sell out their allocation. Other away games included Tuesday night trips to Bournemouth and Brighton ensuring the furthest away grounds were yet again the most difficult to reach. The loyalty simply proves how fanatical the football club’s supporters are, which despite the hatred that’s often inflicted by many opposing teams and for a team that has been absent from the Premier League for a decade is just incredible.
No matter what is thrown at Leeds United away fans, no matter what obstacles are placed in the supporter’s path, such as unholy kick off times, games being played on Friday and Tuesday nights often on the south coast to the price increases of away tickets from the usual admission fee charged to other travelling supporters. The Leeds fan will still turn up.
The current generation of United fans have seen the clubs most recent achievement coming from promotion to the Championship during in the 2009/10 campaign as a success story following a three-year drought in League One, however for Leeds United’s older supporter’s this is perceived as an ‘all time low’ for the club, especially compared to the 1960/70s under the Don Revie era, when Leeds United were English footballs top club winning many trophies in England and Europe.
Last season Leeds United took as many as 7,000 supporters to Blackburn Rovers in a Championship fixture, a game that was classified as a category A+ game, with only Rover’s derby rivals Burnley classified the same. This game saw the home supporters charged as little as £18 for tickets whilst Leeds fans found themselves, unfairly, paying £30. Similar issues have continued throughout the current season, Leeds United were charged £40 for
There is more to being a Leeds United supporter than just watching the game, the loyalty and passion of their support is astounding. Despite their fall from grace, the club leads the English table for away day match followings, which is unlikely to change anytime soon with many organised independent supporters clubs ensuring transportation is available to take the vast followings to each and every game that Leeds United are involved.
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All Leeds aren’t we All Leeds aren’t we ALL LEEDS AREN’T WE
The mighty Whites army celebrate Alex Mowatts 3rd minute strike against high-flying Middlesbrough at the Riverside Stadium.
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Leeds United lead the way for the Championships Away attendances for the 2014/15 campaign Position
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24
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Team
Leeds United
Middlesbrough Nottingham Forest Sheffield Wednesday Derby County Norwich City Wolverhampton Wanderers Birmingham City Watford Ipswich Town Blackburn Rovers Brentford Fulham Huddersfield Town Brighton and Hove Albion Rotherham United Bolton Wanderers Millwall Cardiff City Charlton Athletic Reading AFC Bournemouth Wigan Athletic Blackpool
Average
2593
High
6839
Low
1390
2453 2070
6988 3011
398 1263
2063
4018
652
1952 1867 1776
4132 3929 2561
677 554 948
1508
2589
510
1416 1371 1298
2749 2520 4362
417 278 327
1225 1219 1180
2787 3003 2700
472 211 391
1152
3123
479
1127
4650
301
1110
3920
240
1057 1040 927
3929 2715 2024
234 149 240
848 722
2731 1828
242 245
720 627
2529 1423
161 193
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THE
FOOTBALL LEAGUE'S CORRUPT
...and now you’re going to believe us! 10
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Leeds United merge with Blackpool supporters to demonstarte against the clubs unfair treatments by the Football League. Leeds United fans gathered with a small representation of Blackpool supporters on Tuesday 6th January at the football league headquarters in Preston to protest against the clubs ‘unfair treatment’ by the Football League their respective football clubs. Angry Leeds fans made their feelings known but in a peaceful but noisy demonstration aimed at the Football Leagues decision to suspend Chairman Massimo Cellino from running the club until the beginning of April over a controversial conviction for tax evasion on the purchase of a
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yacht that took place in Italy. The Blackpool fans were objecting to their current owners and chanted for ‘Oyston out’, who is not only their club chairman but also a member of the FL’s board of directors. Around 100 Leeds fans had made the trip to Lancashire on a cold cloudy morning to not only protest against the decision to ban Cellino, but to support a petition calling for a review of the Football Leagues owners and directors test, which had over 25,000 signatures.
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Jason, Dean and Darren pose for the camera before handing the 20,000 signed petition over to the members of the Football League. Not only have Leeds United supporters had issues with the Football League, although the majority of the poor decisions do tend to be directed at United. Blackpool, Coventry and Birmingham supporters have also had disputes due to the many poor decisions made by the Football Leagues that potentially could have ruined the future of these football clubs. The organised demonstration shows just how a peaceful protest involving two sets of supporters united in a common goal can make people sit up and take note. This can only encourage supporters of other football clubs to join together and take a stand if they believe unfair treatment is being dealt from the Football League.
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Many Leeds fans at the protest believe the decisions made by the Football League have “destabilised the club�, the timing of the ruling came at a crucial moment, which could result in their season ending in turmoil. The mighty Whites have already had their fair share of problems entering administration in May 2007 which saw them relegated to the third tier of English football for the first time in the clubs history. A club the size of Leeds United would be a significant loss to the game of football if the club was ever to disaffiliate from the Football League. The club have the largest fan base inside the
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Football League, fans that are fanatical and passionate about their club, fans that will not lie down and see their great clubs future put in further jeopardy. The Football League has yet to respond to the petition that United fans demonstrated, but throughout this period the supporter remain as strong as ever.
“The Football League have destablised the club�
- Jason Fawcett,
Leeds United supporter
Leeds United supporters show the red card to the Football League members at their headquaters in Preston.
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THE POLICE OF ELLAND ROAD The duties of being a police officer on match days
The police on patrol before Leeds United’s 3pm clash with Millwall at Elland Road.
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A club the size of Leeds United attracts large crowds with an exhilarating atmosphere, however large crowds require police officers to ensure the peace is not breeched. Many Leeds fans would argue that many games are ‘over-policed’, but does this mean that ‘really’ the police are doing a good job? According to police liaison officer Bryn Stokes “Some would say a good and well-policed game is where something has happened and you’ve had enough people to deal with it. I would say if nothings happened, then that’s a good game as well”. It has being well documented over the years that Leeds United attracted an element of unruly supporters particularly when hooliganism was in its prime during the 1970/80s, a reputation that is still remembered by the majority of English football clubs. Many football clubs have reduced ticket allocations to Leeds United supporters because of the disorder that has taken place in the clubs past and due to the large numbers United take away from Elland Road. Due to this old perception they are the first set of fans that regional police officers and the football clubs review when the fixtures are announced. Trouble at football matches usually occurs at the local derby games or in the bigger games where the two opposing sides have a reputation in football disorder making it challenging for the authorities to police.
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Bryn Stokes, who is currently in his 10th season as a football intelligence officer goes on to say: “The difficulty in the planning process is trying to get it exactly correct and whether or not it’s through changes in kick-off time, if it’s on a bank holiday weekend, if it’s a Tuesday night/midweek game or if its an important fixture: first games of season; big attendance; huge expectations”. Bryn mentioned that his worst incidents concerning Leeds United fans were during a home league cup tie with Manchester United. Due to traffic issues, groups of Manchester United supporters got off the coaches on the motorway and started walking down to the ground to get to the South Stand where Leeds fans waiting for them to come past. Due to the animosity between the clubs, fans goaded each other with verbal exchanges. Away from home fans clashed in a league match at Middlesbrough, in which both sets of fans came together underneath a flyover near the train station, the incident was quite intense due to the area been confined for the amount of people involved. Credit for supporting Leeds United is certainly something not taken lightly. United are a huge club and have supporters up and down the country resulting in high expectations of the club and this impacts on the expectations of hard working police officers to cope with such large numbers.
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The host club will know Leeds United will be their the biggest attended game of the season. The Whites took nearly 5000 fans to a midweek clash with Fulham on Wednesday 18th March, where as other Yorkshire sides would be lucky to take 500 fans down to the west end of London.
arrests, vandalism and the occasional smoke bomb being let off. With regard to the age of hooliganism, Bryn believes that the less policing at the football games may result in an opportunity for small young groups of hooligans to re-emerge, he says:
Leeds United’s great fandom is envied by many football clubs, United were voted in a poll as the ‘most hated team’ in England and by various football clubs, United will be in several opposing fans ‘top three’ for their biggest and most anticipated game of the campaign. Bryn says: “Leeds are a victim of their own success really, because they are big headliners” due to the size of United’s fan base they will receive such recognition and will always hit the headlines.
“The bigger issues being the huge reduction in the budgets for police. There is less and less police at games each year, which will then open up places and opportunities for the small younger group who don’t know how to behave at football”.
Every week on match days there is disorder at football games all over the country. Bryn understands that many supporters of Leeds United may feel victimised for the blame of football disorder, which is maybe due to the clubs attraction to the media. Bryn says: “For Leeds games, it can be as little as 3 or 4 in a season, but as many as a dozen and it depends on the level”. The levels of disorder range from street fights,
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“The difficulty in the planning process is trying to get it exactly correct and weather or not it’s through changes in kick-off time, if it’s on a bank holiday weekend if it’s a Tuesday night/midweek game or if its an important fixture: first games of season; big attendance; huge expectations” - Bryn Stokes Football Intelligence Officer
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forever
leeds
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LEEDS LADIES ON THE MEND Leeds Ladies coach Garry Lee believe’s the future is bright for the girls The summer of 2014 was the greatest test for Leeds Ladies when the Leeds United Foundation decided to disband the club, fortunately the club was saved by a loyal group of supporters. Once known as Leeds United Ladies, the women’s football team almost ceased to be when in 2005 Leeds United FC decided it could or would no longer financially support the Ladies team. Despite this unfortunate situation, the team received a stay of execution when they received an offer of sponsorship from Leeds Metropolitan University, resulting in them changing their name to ‘Leeds Carnegie Ladies’ in 2008.
Garry Lee, The Leeds Ladies Head Coach
“It will be sooner rather than later when Leeds Ladies are back where it is seen and should be”.
Further problems arose when the Football Association (FA) introduced a new Women’s Super League (WSL), this resulted in significant penalties for the club during which period Leeds Metropolitan University had stopped funding the club therefore preventing the team affiliating with the WSL. In the summer of 2010 the club once again found a saviour, this time in the guise of the Leeds United Foundation, unfortunately the club failed to gain status in the Women’s Super League or Premier divisions and eventually suffered further demotion to the Premier Leagues Northern Division with
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A New Era many players departing the club, therefore leaving the team with only young and inexperienced individuals. Under the chairmanship Gary Cooper and the management of Garry Lee the club are now on the mend and are enjoying a successful season in the Women’s Premier Northern Division and have experienced a splendid run in the FA Cup. With the club currently positioned in the top end of the division, manager Gary Lee said “It will be sooner rather than later that Leeds Ladies is back where it is seen and should be”, believing that his Leeds Ladies team have a bright future and is excited about the many adventures that lie ahead for the club. The former Doncaster Belles development coach and current Leeds Ladies boss believes that the women’s football should receive equal publicity with men’s football, although he admits many will disagree with this opinion, Gary believes that the women’s game is undervalued and the female athletes within the game are often put down with regard to comparing them to their male counterparts.
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“To me it’s a different ball game, I would love any Leeds United fan who goes and watches the men’s team religiously and gets home and tweets about it, talks about it in a pub about how rubbish they are and they don’t show any passion. I would honestly say to them come to a women’s game and you’ll see a team that plays with passion and really know what it means to be a footballer”.
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The coach Garry Lee and the Leeds Ladies team warming up a training session at the Leeds Sports Centre. However, the Leeds Ladies captain Emma Bentley and fellow team mate Fiona Berry, (who were both around during Leeds Ladies transformation during the summer) do not believe that the women’s football should receive the same identification. Fiona mentioned: “Personally being a female footballer myself I would rather watch the men than women I just think its better standard and will always be the fitter and stronger. But we do deserve a bit of credit we put a lot of hard work in and we do it for the badge”. In regards to the women’s football, captain Emma stated:
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“People look at women’s football, watch it, slate it and be like ‘It’s rubbish its not up to a good standard’ we don’t want to be as good as the men and we are not asking you to look at us and think ‘oh look at you your better than Manchester United’. We don’t care really; this is our hobby and we enjoying playing our football”. Emma agrees with Fiona as they both prefer to watch a man’s game of football to a woman’s and as captain she takes great pride in the city she was born and raised in, whilst also being a season ticket holder at Leeds United.
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Emma is a well-motivated member of the squad and whilst she wants to do best for her team, she wants to do the best for her friends too and adds: “I think sometimes in a football team you can have a team that are full of team mates that will do it for each other, but once they are off the pitch they don’t really socialise much, but I think the difference with us is that we are not just team mates, we are friends as well” The Leeds Ladies season has been a tremendous one for the fans with a successful FA Cup run and a
Emma Bentley, Leeds Ladies Captain 23
great challenge for the league. Both manager and captain have great hopes for the team the coming season and believe that the club are heading in the right direction on and off the field.
“we don’t want to be as good as the men and we are not asking you to look at us and think ‘oh look at you your better than Manchester United’. We don’t really care” -- Emma Bentley, Leeds Ladies Captain
Fiona Berry, Leeds Ladies