Leeds United Service Crew

leesparky · Post by **leesparky** » Sat 15 Nov, 2008 10:33 pm

I went to Leeds matches home and away from 1987 to the mid 90s.I was then (and still am) embarrassed by the thugs who 'posed' as Leeds fans. I have no respect for any of the idiots who travelled to fight.I remember a group of us going to Brighton away in 89 I think, and nearly being set upon by other 'Leeds fans' - until they heard our accents. Pathetic.

Trojan · Post by **Trojan** » Sat 15 Nov, 2008 10:52 pm

leesparky wrote: I went to Leeds matches home and away from 1987 to the mid 90s.I was then (and still am) embarrassed by the thugs who 'posed' as Leeds fans. I have no respect for any of the idiots who travelled to fight.I remember a group of us going to Brighton away in 89 I think, and nearly being set upon by other 'Leeds fans' - until they heard our accents. Pathetic. I remember in 1982 travelling to London on the train with my wife and then 7 & 5 year old children. Leeds were then in Div 2 and playing in London that day. There were Leeds fans in the same carriage as us and they were discussing where they could cause trouble with other fans e.g. Arsenal are at Man U we'll get them at Euston etc. These weren't football fans they were just out looking for trouble. It baffled me then and it does now. If they want to expend physical energy why don't they just go and play the game. Better still if they fancy collision they should try Rugby (either code) when I was playing after 80 minutes I was too knackered to cause trouble.

Leeds-lad · Post by **Leeds-lad** » Sun 16 Nov, 2008 8:38 pm

No one forced anybody to join the SCThe SC were watched by police If you wanted to avoid trouble by travelling in small groups you were easily picked off by opposing hooligansSafety in numbers is my mottoThe Media will print whatever is the Topic of the day and in those days LUFC were hated by everyone outside Leeds/still are to this day,even the FA hate LeedsThe SC were no worse than any other set of supporters,every teamhas violent fans even Sunday League sides have problemsWe must count ourselves lucky in Leeds that we don't have the same knife culture/gang culture that is all too prevalent nowadays in other Towns/Cities,and has nothing to do with football.

Post by **cnosni** » Mon 17 Nov, 2008 8:41 am

Leeds-lad wrote: No one forced anybody to join the SCThe SC were watched by police If you wanted to avoid trouble by travelling in small groups you were easily picked off by opposing hooligansSafety in numbers is my mottoThe Media will print whatever is the Topic of the day and in those days LUFC were hated by everyone outside Leeds/still are to this day,even the FA hate LeedsThe SC were no worse than any other set of supporters,every teamhas violent fans even Sunday League sides have problemsWe must count ourselves lucky in Leeds that we don't have the same knife culture/gang culture that is all too prevalent nowadays in other Towns/Cities,and has nothing to do with football. See the above post mate,thats nothing to do with safety in numbers,theyre planning the violence.

jonleeds · Post by **jonleeds** » Mon 17 Nov, 2008 7:37 pm

Leeds Service Crew? I heard that in this recent book that only a few service crew members consented to having their names included and that apparently some of the profits from the sales of the books were supposed to be given to charity, but when the charity were offered the money they refused it when they discovered how the money had been raised thinking it was 'immoral' !!! So there is now a scandal over where the charity donation money actually went. Has anyone ever heard of a Service Crew member called Dave 'Surgeon' ?

Leeds-lad · Post by **Leeds-lad** » Mon 17 Nov, 2008 11:35 pm

cnosni wrote: Leeds-lad wrote: No one forced anybody to join the SCThe SC were watched by police If you wanted to avoid trouble by travelling in small groups you were easily picked off by opposing hooligansSafety in numbers is my mottoThe Media will print whatever is the Topic of the day and in those days LUFC were hated by everyone outside Leeds/still are to this day,even the FA hate LeedsThe SC were no worse than any other set of supporters,every teamhas violent fans even Sunday League sides have problemsWe must count ourselves lucky in Leeds that we don't have the same knife culture/gang culture that is all too prevalent nowadays in other Towns/Cities,and has nothing to do with football. See the above post mate,thats nothing to do with safety in numbers,theyre planning the violence. I read the above post and unless there were 3.000 fans in that carriage (average away support for LUFC) then you don't understand what I was trying to get across.There are a few mindless thugs but the majority of fans travel on organised trips and have to be members to get away tickets,one of the reasons why there is safety in numbers.As regards rugby the swearing is worse than any football ground along with the occasional melee and that's just the women.Mate

Reginal Perrin · Post by **Reginal Perrin** » Tue 18 Nov, 2008 12:39 pm

jonleeds wrote: Leeds Service Crew? I heard that in this recent book that only a few service crew members consented to having their names included and that apparently some of the profits from the sales of the books were supposed to be given to charity, but when the charity were offered the money they refused it when they discovered how the money had been raised thinking it was 'immoral' !!! So there is now a scandal over where the charity donation money actually went. Has anyone ever heard of a Service Crew member called Dave 'Surgeon' ? So they tried to give it to charity and it was refused? You can't do right for doing wrong can you. i think you better reveal the source of your information as this is quite a nasty allegation. I can't imagine this book made the author any money at all to be honest, it's hardly sold in huge quantities has it? If it sold a couple of thousand around Leeds I'd be surprised.Yes I've heard of Dave Surgeon, it's his name. Easy mistake to make I suppose but funny neverhtheless.Don't believe everything you hear.

jonleeds · Post by **jonleeds** » Tue 18 Nov, 2008 5:30 pm

Reginal Perrin, I dont know the original source of the rumour about the charity donation been rejected, nor do I know who the alleged charity was, I heard the rumour from an ex-SC member. I was doubtful about the book having raised much money but apparently it became something of a best seller albeit on a local basis I guess. However I heard something about a sum of £30,000 and that people had contributed material to the book on the basis that some of the profits (if any!) would be given to this charity, I believe it was some kind of kiddies hospice or something. The fact that the charity refused to accept the money on the basis it was raised from sales of a book about football hooligans seems a little ludicrous and snobbish, and surely if this had been the case the money could have been donated anonymously. I dont know anymore as I only heard it from someone who heard it from someone else if you know what I mean!I'm not personally that interested in football or violence but I know a few people who are / have been and from what I can gather they all seemed to lap up going on organised trips to panel like-minded groups of hooligans, I'm not going to hold it against them as long as innocent bystanders / dads and lads etc dont get hurt.Perhaps somebody on this forum could find out more about this scandelous rumour regarding the charity money?Johnny

Reginal Perrin · Post by **Reginal Perrin** » Tue 18 Nov, 2008 6:01 pm

JohnnyThanks for clearing that up. It's not always wise to repeat rumours if that are not substantiated. I don't mean to be melodramatic but in law you are just as open to legal action if you repeat a libelous comment even though you might not be the source.Hooliganism was nothing more than Mods n Rockers, no different and will be viewed as such by history, a further generation of British youth without a war to die in. They wanted a dust up, it really was not what it was made out to be in thre press. Bad news sells, Thatcher over-reacted as well. Yes it needed controlling and curtailing a bit but it was never really that serious. The fact that lots of ex-Service Crew (with kids of their own) agreed to donate money is a nice gesture and proof they are just normal blokes. Do people demonise ex-teddy boys? Skinheads? Not really, it was a social movement in which involved some low grade violence, it wasn't new then and isn't shocking now.

wiggy · Post by **wiggy** » Thu 20 Nov, 2008 11:27 am

AS AN EX-EMPLOYEE OF SAID FIRM,THIS IS MY KIND OF THREAD....WHEN YOUR GOOD,NO-ONE REMEMBERS,WHEN YOUR BAD NO-ONE FORGETS.