Leeds United: the good, the bad and the ugly.
In order to progress and learn the dark lessons of history you need to confront the past. Failure to learn from the lessons history teaches you leads to repetition of past mistakes. Today scenes in Austria, after Leeds United’s 2-1 defeat to German side Eintracht Frankfurt, were testament to that dark era of football. As violence erupted on the sidelines, fighting breaking out amongst the fans, neutral onlookers were tutting so loud that you could hear them on Twitter.
It didn’t look good, fighting at what was a ‘friendly’ and in a small stadium in an Austrian village. But still, it happened and reminded many of the dark era of football when some ‘fans’ thought it was part and parcel of a football Saturday to have a bit of a rumble with the opposition fans. Hooligans was the term then, a word that took on a nasty taste in the mouth. Now it is ‘Ultras’, an almost glamourised word to deal with the fervent way that certain fans support the team, almost living and breathing its colours and ethos.
Social outrage at what has happened is already being reported in the media, both local and national – it will soon stretch beyond that and the ripples will widen. Was it planned? I’m pretty sure that Leeds fans would say ‘not on our part’ and the same from the Eintracht Frankfurt fans too. Leeds United fans will say that they were heading over to shake hands with the fans of the German side, a Leeds flag was reportedly torn down and then tribal rivalries took over. I don’t know, I wasn’t there. Others were though, others were.
Why that group from Frankfurt were allowed in tonight I'll never know. Police clocked them as soon as they arrived. pic.twitter.com/NinGJeDxjM
— Phil Hay (@PhilHay_) July 21, 2015
The Yorkshire Evening Post reporter Phil Hay was there, he took this photograph before the game started and it shows a certain section of the Frankfurt support garnering the attention of the local police. Spoken to before they even entered the ground. A Leeds United fan, Neil Slinn, injured in the melee is quoted in the Yorkshire Evening Post saying,
“A few of us went over to applaud the Frankfurt fans. I was going to shake their hands. Then their ultras jumped over the [advertising] boards and started attacking us. Some were wearing balaclavas and we were outnumbered.” Neil Slinn – Yorkshire Evening Post July 21, 2015
You read it right…balaclavas.
Leg it, lads, he's got a bucket! #lufc pic.twitter.com/nonbFpRH0f
— MrPaulRobinson (@MrPaulRobinson) July 21, 2015
Balaclavas, first worn by English soldiers fighting in the biting cold of the Crimea to avoid frostbite. Now they are sported by a wholly different warrior, in Austria, during the summer and 30+ degrees of Austrian heat. Now I am not saying that every single Leeds fan is innocent, the massive majority will be as horrified as you are reading this and as I am writing it. There will be some that aren’t innocent, that likely enjoyed being in a bit of a ruck. However, read Twitter using a hashtag search for #lufc and you’ll likely see what the vast majority of Leeds fans think about this outrageous behaviour.
One thing still puzzles me though, the balaclavas and those sporting them inside the Eugendorf Sportzentrum stadium in ridiculous degrees of heat. Why would you take those with you as part of your normal football day attire unless you were planning something Machiavellian with them. That’s the question that we should be asking, not who threw the first punch or insult.
The good? Well that has to be the behaviour and demeanour of the vast majority of fans of both teams. The bad? The fact that football was dragged back into the dark annals of history once more. The ugly? Well it is the scenes that were played out for all to see and that has been captured on celluloid.
Again, Leeds United: die guten die schlechten die hässliche; simply a case of the good, the bad and the decidedly ugly.
