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Scribe
Join Date: Jun 2004
Location: Leeds, England
Posts: 57
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April 2000
This is one a few things I'd like to post, looking for improvements and constructive criticism. Thanks, any help is appreciated =)
April 2000
Anger blazed through the stadium. Forty thousand people around me were tense, angry and desperate for revenge. This was no normal game of football…
Before I begin, I will go back to the start. Two Leeds United fans were tragically, brutally murdered the night before the UEFA cup semi final’s first leg between Leeds and Galatasaray. The football no longer mattered, and the result meant nothing. The Istanbul hardcore had crossed the line and gone beyond passion and into the realms of pure evil.
Yet Galatasaray football club failed to separate their hooligan element from themselves by bypassing the chance to condemn them publicly. A minute’s silence did not take place – the Leeds players conducted their own as the intense hate around them in the stadium continued.
The Galatasaray team showed no remorse and ignored participating in the token gesture of wearing black armbands. Leeds players had a military style escort into the ground as if they were entering a battleground, not a sporting arena. The Turkish fans were as disrespectful and hating as ever, if not worse as they littered the pitch with missiles as the game began and chanted extreme racial abuse.
The match ended in a 2-0 defeat for Leeds. The team were in no mental state to play the game – they, themselves had received death threats, yet UEFA allowed the game to go on. In the following two weeks, relations got worse instead of slowly improving. A bitter argument ensued between Leeds, Galatasaray and European football’s governing body, UEFA about whether Turkish supporters could travel to the game. In the end, the decision was made for the second leg to be played in front of home fans only.
Inside Elland Road, ten minutes before the second leg of the UEFA cup semi final began I stood in my seat. Anger boiled and erupted around me. I was in a cauldron of hate. I could not help to feel this bitterness myself as I imagined the two Leeds fans had been relations.
Yet in a way, they were. They were fellow Leeds fans, killed for supporting the club that I myself supported. As these thoughts swirled round my head, I sat down, feeling sick and almost on the verge of tears. I looked round. Some fans were stood aggressively, looks of pure fury on their faces, looking for something to vent their anger on. Others looked dejected and afraid. Small children were confused, unable to understand what was going on around them.
The Galatasaray players walked onto the pitch, once again failing to wear black armbands, once again increasing the feelings of villainy we felt towards them. All the anger, hate and bitterness in the ground was quickly vented against them – vociferate chants of ‘scum, scum, scum’ were roared over and over and the Leeds fans pointed accusing fingers towards the opposition players.
When both teams were settled on the pitch, a minute’s silence took place. Everyone inside the stadium could feel the grief and acrimony.
The game kicked off and the atmosphere changed swiftly, sharply, and the great sense of urgency around the ground mirrored the situation we were in. Two goals were needed to even ensure we stayed in the competition.
The match itself was over shadowed by a shameful performance by the referee. The decision to appoint this young, inexperienced official in a match so significant and meaningful was nothing short of shambolic, another disgrace from the inept governing body UEFA.
[The long list of UEFA’s ‘crimes’ against Leeds United and English football in general throughout football’s history ranges from laughable to shocking. Surrounding the Leeds and Galatasaray tie, they have made many poor decisions. These include failing to punish Galatasaray in any significant way. They were let off with a small, meaningless five-figure fine. Leeds United however, were threatened with expulsion from the competition in future years after a single coin was throw onto the Elland Road pitch by a single supporter. To us, it seems that UEFA are the same Turkish club, taunting and mocking Leeds.]
The referee awarded Galatasaray a soft early penalty after what seemed like a perfectly legitimate tackle by Woodgate that they converted. Leeds pushed ahead, and Eirik Bakke scored from a corner around quarter of an hour into the game. Leeds drove ahead once again, pushing hard for another goal. Then disaster struck as Galatasaray scored a second goal putting them back in the lead.
Moments later Harry Kewell was sensationally sent off for supposedly stamping on Georghe Popescu – replays showed Kewell had simply stood over the player who covered his face with his hands. Cheating… same old Turkey, always cheating. Emotions boiled now more than ever. The players and fans were incensed and the ground was filled with a wall of noise. The referee was visibly taken aback; his inexperience was obvious at this point.
Incredibly though, the numbers were evened up as Emre did a late, vicious challenge on Bowyer and was this time deservedly shown the red card seconds before half time.
Another wall of noise greeted the referee and Galatasaray players as they walked off the pitch. My head was aching. The Galatasaray player’s behaviour confirmed they felt no respect or remorse towards Leeds United.
In the second half Leeds equalised with another goal from Eirik Bakke but it was too late to win back the tie. Leeds United had lost in a match where the result did not matter – yet in many ways, it did. Leeds were a better footballing side than Galatasaray, but were cheated on and off the pitch.
Supporters from all over England felt united against Galatasaray. Arsenal had qualified for the final, however, and we all felt they could soundly beat the Istanbul side. Arsenal fans let down their team off the pitch by fighting with the Turkish supporters and Arsenal gave their worst performance of the season, losing the match.
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Three years later, the emotions we all felt in April 2000 remain for most of us. England look set to qualify ahead of Turkey for Euro2004. A draw or a win is all that is needed, but the trip to Istanbul looks tough. England supporters have been ruled out of travelling to the match. Emotions run high.
England can do it.
A 2-0 win against Turkey in the home tie was surrounded with, compared to the instances in Istanbul, moderate amounts of trouble. A small number of England fans ran onto the pitch in ecstasy after England scored and were quickly removed. Yet UEFA threatened England with expulsion if it the events repeated themselves. Injustice at its greatest – Turkish fan’s behaviour in recent international matches has been worse then ever, yet has been ignored… but through it all:
England will do it.
[September 2003]
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John
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