Manchester United and Leeds United are rivals, and have one of the oldest rivalries in English football. Every time the two sides meet, there is a bitterness between both fanbases.
This season, Leeds have played the Red Devils at Elland Road, only managing a draw. They will face Michael Carrick’s side again in April, when the relegation battle will have reached a critical point. The Whites are just three points above the relegation zone with nine games to go. Daniel Farke’s men have a difficult game against Crystal Palace this weekend.
Manchester United join forces with Leeds United to stop inappropriate chants
Manchester United and Leeds United have come together this week in an effort to stamp out inappropriate chants. The West Yorkshire club have taken a huge step to get Jimmy Saville chants classified as a hate crime. Leeds’ ownership are against the inappropriate chants and have asked the footballing authorities and police to classify them as a public order offence.
The two clubs have joined Liverpool and Bradford City on the Premier League’s ‘Tragedy Chanting Working Group’ in a bid to stop the chants. 2023 saw the Crown Prosecution Service state that “tragedy chanting”, such as songs about the Munich air crash, Hillsborough disaster or the Bradford fire, could be classed as a hate crime. Leeds want the Jimmy Savile chants to be treated in the same way.
The only stumbling block now is the legislation, which could reportedly take months to be completed. Fans have petitioned the club to take action over the last few years, and Leeds have taken numerous steps, including displaying warnings on the big screens in the stadium.
Right decision by the club
Leeds United have not been in the headlines for the right reasons over these last couple of weeks. From losing two games in the relegation battle, to the controversy over the Ramadan break, the news coming out has not been great. So the club taking this huge step alongside Manchester United to get these chants banned is a step in the right direction.
Leeds are a big club, and have very high prestige in England. They cannot afford some section of fans bringing bad news to the club every weekend. This is a measure more teams must take in football, with the rise of hooliganism and other bad crowd incidents. Hopefully this push will distance the club from this whole Jimmy Saville issue for a long time to come.
