Cleaning Up

By Moxcowhite • Daniel Chapman in Essays on May 10, 2019

The tag 'Dirty Leeds' was invented by newspapers but, importantly, confirmed by the Football Association in the summer of 1964, as Leeds United prepared to play their first season in the First Division since Don Revie became manager.

The FA's official journal published an article about increasing ill discipline besmirching the beautiful game, saying foul play was threatening soccer's future. It wasn't enough to make a general point; the article included a table of disciplinary points with Leeds at the top, leaving readers in no doubt about how the FA already viewed Revie's Leeds: as an affront to their game.

Of course the table didn't tell the full story, and Revie put the FA straight. It included points incurred by the club's junior and schoolboy teams, accounting for the vast majority of United's offences; we can only imagine now what the level of aggro was in the Leeds schools' leagues in 1963, compared with, say, Buckinghamshire. The first team had been one of the few in the Second Division not to have a player sent off, and only one Leeds player had been booked often enough to be suspended; Billy Bremner, obviously.

"We would point out that we have only had two players sent off at Leeds in the last 44 years," said Revie. "We maintain that the 'dirty team' tag which was blown up by the press could prejudice not only the general public but the officials controlling the game, and, to put it mildly, could have an effect on the subconscious approach of both referee and linesmen, to say nothing of the minds of spectators, especially some types who are watching football today. It could lead to some very unsavoury incidents."

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