First Match

28th August 2010 - my daughter's first wedding anniversary.  Congratulations and lots of love to Jayne and Jamie - wishing you many more happy years together.  Looking forward to the birth of your first baby at the end of September.

28th August 1920 - Leeds United's first match in the football league, 2nd Division.  We lost 2-0 away at Port Vale.  I guess that Leeds United supporters back in 1920 were looking forward to their first win and many more seasons in the football league.

Leeds United 1920/21 Season

Incidentally Port Vale were the club that replaced Leeds City in the   football league when City went out of business the previous season.

Leeds United had been formed in 1919 and played their fist season in the Midland League along with Barnsley, Rotherham Town, Halifax Town, Scunthorpe United and a few other clubs reserve sides.

In that first season United chose to start the campaign in blue and white striped shirts and white shorts.  The team colours changed a few times until the club settled on the famous all white.  The club badge has also been changed regularly and we'll have a look at these in future blogs.

In my blog I want to look back at the club's history, talk about some of the players, relive some of the great memories, tell you about games I have been to, remember the good and bad times and comment on what's happening now.  There are a lot of other Leeds United blogs and forums for fans - I will add links to these over time.  I am going to try to write something each week.  I hope you will find it interesting and sometimes amusing. 

Until I started supporting Leeds United in the 1960's no one from my family had shown much interest in the fortunes of the club.  My brother Trevor also became a supporter but our dad was more of a Leeds Rhino's rugby league man.  Whenever United lost my dad could always be relied on to utter his immortal phrase "bloody mugs".  I think he thought football was a bit of a cissies game.

Over the years we've had some awful players, some mediocre players, some good players and some great players. We've had players from all over the Uunited Kingdom and from across the world.

I think it took a long time for the city to get really interested in the football club - rugby league was well established since the 1860's and the Yorkshire Cricket Club headquarers are in Leeds.

To be honest for the first forty years or so United supporters probably didn't have much to shout about.  That all changed in  the early 1960's and the sleeping giant began to stir.  The next fifty years were much more successful and the club was established as a major force in the game - at home and abroad.  There have been some lean years but the optimism and expectation of the Leeds fans is always enduring.

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