At least nine other people, including six Leeds fans, were injured. In Turkey, two supporters were murdered. I was getting into trouble, drinking and fighting. It makes me proud. Like his father, George has the nickname Spag. Another picture, taken by the Yorkshire Evening Posts Mark Bickerdike, shows Lee Bowyer and Jonathan Woodgate stepping from the tunnel with tangible shock on their faces. The Speights were a close family who lived in the Yorkshire village of Farsley, where Kevin Speight was landlord of the Bay Horse pub. If someone could have shown me those levels of intimidation, Id have refused to play the game unhesitatingly. They didnt care., The Speights were different and left the criminal cases alone. As a subscriber, you have 10 gift articles to give each month. It was weird because when we got in the car, the game (Galatasaray versus Leeds) had just started and was on the radio, Andy says. , updated The Turkish police didnt give a shit about us. When youre seven you cant process something like that, can you? In the circumstances, it was a total irrelevance and too highly-charged. Subscribe to The Athletic for in-depth coverage of your favorite players, teams, leagues and clubs. Phil grew up near Edinburgh in Scotland and is a staff writer for The Athletic, covering Leeds United. Loftus had been stabbed five times and Speight twice. But the Leeds fans do not see it that way. Galatasaray 2-1 Trabzonspor MORE. Nigel Martyn has exclusively told LeedsUnited.News that playing against Galatasaray in the first leg of the UEFA Cup semi-final in 2000 - just 24 hours after the murders of two Leeds fans - is to this day, his biggest regret in football. As always you can unsubscribe at any time. Bits of Istanbul werent in control. Leeds fans have reacted furiously to reports that Ezgjan Alioski has agreed to move to Galatasaray. The eggs were massive and I was chuffed to bits with mine, he says. Uefa, after consultation with the clubs and the Turkish authorities, wavered but eventually decided to go ahead. Anyone can read what . When the Turkish club flew over for the return leg two weeks later, an occasion as venomous and bitter as any Elland Road has hosted, they railed against Ridsdales request that their fans be banned from travelling. And there was the time when Speight took him to Elland Road and George, in his infancy, mistakenly cheered when the opposition scored. The design of the place meant the Leeds players had to take a long walk to the tunnel, flanked by armed police. Why Alex Murdaugh was spared the death penalty, Why Trudeau is facing calls for a public inquiry, The shocking legacy of the Dutch 'Hunger Winter'. Grieving Leeds Faces Galatasaray Rematch : It Is a Matter of Life Or Death, Sometimes. [2] The events happened at 22:00 in Istanbul's Taksim Square during a fight between Leeds fans and Galatasaray fans. The loss ofKevin Speight and Christopher Loftus is still felt incredibly deeply and the feud between the clubs remains. When the press came round, me and my cousin would bounce on my bed to try and get in the photos and in the papers. Galatasaray wanted me from the start. The events of the day started early in the morning when skirmishes broke out in a bar, which led to an Arsenal fan being stabbed. ", "They came to kill; Turk fans arm for war", "Arsenal worried about hooligans at UEFA Cup", "First class thugs; Postmen are caught in Copenhagen football rampage", "Post Office refuses to reinstate worker", https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=2000_UEFA_Cup_Final_riots&oldid=1113653919, Pages containing links to subscription-only content, Short description is different from Wikidata, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License 3.0, This page was last edited on 2 October 2022, at 15:57. [4], It was not clear how the fight started, with reports of it either being started by Leeds fans throwing beer glasses and insulting the Turkish flag,[5] or being started by Galatasaray fans throwing chairs. Within minutes, a pitched battle erupted. It sunk in quickly once we got home. Peter Ridsdale, the Leeds chairman, had been dining with directors from Galatasaray when reports of trouble came through. Away tickets were limited to 80, which effectively covered only senior Galatasaray officials. They had no direct contact with Galatasarays security officials but Fallows and Harry Stokoe, Leedss stadium manager, were able to visit the Ali Sami Yen the day before the game to map the venue out. I tried telling Galatasarays staff to get them out. "We did amazing business in one hour. His brother was following behind us and, quite understandably, he lost it. Its the most terrified Ive ever been, he says. The police claim he was punched. Loftus had already been pronounced dead and in the melee, hospital staff mistakenly assumed Ridsdale was a relative and took him downstairs to the mortuary. In contrast, what Leeds saw in Galatasaray was a baffling lack of sympathy. Bouncers guarded the bars from any English fans. For me, it didnt feel real. The fan responded: "If you did not know then fair enough but your club certainly did and they should be ashamed of themselves. Ali Sami Yen stadium should even go ahead. I prefer to remember that way. George is a regular at Leeds games but until his teens he would wait outside the stadium at the home fixture closest to the April 5 anniversary while a minutes applause played out. Its that attitude of, They must have gone looking for it. All the stuff about cars being tipped over, us disrespecting their women if youd been there, youd know. Some claimed the English sparked it by throwing beer glasses at passing women pedestrians. I like that they remember him. [40], The Danish police were also criticised for their handling of the riots. They know what he did for us.. Andys last memory of Chris is of him rolling his eyes sarcastically and ribbing him for leaving early, in brotherly style. ", Get the FREE Mirror Football newsletter with the day's key headlines and transfer news straight into your inbox. "There was nothing in the days running up to this match to suggest there would be this level of violence," Mr Hunt said. Hello Hell, We Are Leeds, read one banner carried by fans piling through Istanbul airport on Wednesday night. A few hours later two Leeds supporters, Kevin Speight, 40, and Christopher Loftus, 37, were dead from stab wounds. Matt White tweeted: "Wesley Sneijder tweeting a personalised Galatasaray knife set on the 15th anniversary of the murder of 2 Leeds fans in Istanbul? The slit-throat gestures from fans as we arrived on the bus. junio 12, 2022. abc news anchors female philadelphia . At a local police station, at around 4am on April 6, Ridsdale was given a stark message by the UEFA representative who turned up there: play the game, or forfeit it and incur an automatic 3-0 defeat. The 2000 UEFA Cup semi-final violence in Istanbul, Turkey, between fans of English football team Leeds United and Turkish team Galatasaray before the first match of the UEFA Cup semi-final on 5 April 2000, led to two Leeds fans being stabbed to death by Galatasaray fans. Susan chose not to take the children to Speights funeral. I dont know if the club encouraged them to do that but you were well aware of objects hitting the shields. It is part of Leeds Uniteds fabric and it will never disappear: the night when football became murder and so many lives were changed. The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. OFFICIAL DONATION CAMPAIGN FOR THE VICTIMS OF EARTHQUAKE MORE. But where Galatasaray failed, and where Ridsdale specifically felt resentment, was in grasping the scale of the tragedy and in refusing to accept that violence on the streets and a UEFA Cup tie could not be classed as unrelated events once the worst had happened. As kick-off drew near, the drums and the noise from the stadium filtered down to the Ali Sami Yens subterranean dressing rooms. He described the Turkish policing as diabolical and out of control. "There's a lot of anger. In May 2002 Demir, who admitted the stabbings, was sentenced to 15 years in prison with four other men imprisoned for three months each. 2023 BBC. The Turkish media tried to blame English fans for provoking the violence by being drunk and disrespecting the Turkish flag. Bowyer leads out the Leeds team as the first leg went ahead (Photo: Steve Mitchell/EMPICS via Getty Images), A minutes silence is observed before the return leg at Elland Road (Photo: Steve Mitchell/EMPICS via Getty Images). [38], In 2013, Arsenal invited Galatasaray to compete at their annual Emirates Cup tournament. Your mind was elsewhere., Harte also felt a delayed reaction. We looked up the steps and all you could see at the top was the dark sky and riot shields around the entrance to the pitch. Kevin Fallows was the clubs head of security and travelled with the players to all their fixtures in Europe. Ridsdale still struggles to accept Galatasarays indifferent reaction to the stabbings. I got a lot of abuse for that and no wonder. He was showered with stickers and sweets gifts from friends who lived locally and Ridsdale, who supported both families throughout, delivered Easter eggs to the house for him and Holly. Galatasaray away on April 6, 2000; "a huge occasion for the club in a football sense," Ridsdale says. Amid the fall-out and a world of shock in Leeds, Ridsdale suggested that the second leg at Elland Road would be safer without away fans. He rushed to Taksim hospital, near where the men were stabbed. But eventually the issue of what to do about the game had to be addressed. He wasnt one of them who tried to cause trouble. At this juncture, it should be said that Kewell and Alioski were not identical. [8], The stabbings caused anger throughout the United Kingdom, and subsequently members of Arsenal's hooligan firms The Herd and The Gooners,[9] wanted to avenge the deaths of the Leeds fans, and telephoned other British hooligan firms, inviting them to join them in Copenhagen to attack Galatasaray fans. [39] Later on, British media blame also transferred towards Galatasaray fans. Leeds fans have reacted furiously to reports that Ezgjan Alioski has agreed to move to Galatasaray. He had been up all night receiving news of the stabbings, inflicted during violence which broke out on the eve of a UEFA Cup tie between Leeds and Galatasaray. The 2000 UEFA Cup semi-final violence in Istanbul, Turkey, between fans of English football team Leeds United and Turkish team Galatasaray before the first match of the UEFA Cup semi-final on 5 April 2000, led to two Leeds fans being stabbed to death by Galatasaray fans. They ploughed on regardless, much like UEFA, and left Ridsdale thinking that their directors were more worried about distancing themselves from the stabbings than helping Leeds cope with them. Loftus, 35, was a telephone engineer and an easy-going lad. He was taken to identify the other, Chris Loftus, in the morgue after doctors mistook him for a family member. Then you get your head around whats actually happened. Following the two tragic deaths, local police arrested and charged four Galatasaray supporters with murder. [3] Leeds fans had been drinking in bars reportedly taunting local people and Turkish police intervened to stop fights breaking out. There was a sense of relief to be leaving, he says, but I knew that flying out of Istanbul wasnt the end of it. Chris and Kevin were brutally murdered in Istanbul on the eve of our UEFA Cup semi-final fixture with Galatasaray in 2000. I looked at Eddie, he looked at me, we smiled a nervous smile and both said the same thing: Lets go.. He was seven when Speight died, his sister Holly two. Ill hear them saying, Thats Kevin Speights lad and I like that. Some headed for the James Joyce pub 200 metres away and joined a sing-song against Galatasaray. At the hospital, Ridsdale encountered absolute chaos. He liked a drink and a laugh, simple as that, Andy says. At the hotel, Phil went up to his room. UEFA also requested that fences be put up around the perimeter of the pitch. It was obvious that Galatasaray were making no concession for what had taken place, so that was our form of protest. Squad Galatasaray This page displays a detailed overview of the club's current squad. By that stage he was exhausted. And I still blame myself a lot.. [19] The Danish police then moved in to separate the fans, and moved the Galatasaray fans back towards the square. It was horrible. If you ask me now if I made the right or wrong decision by playing it, I still dont know, Ridsdale says. Ill be honest, by the time we were kicking off I had no idea why we were playing. The complication here is that football has no right to dictate how people manage a grievance that goes so far beyond standard rivalry. Even then, it was meant to be closed to the press but loads of them were there and they were being really intrusive, Fallows says. His financial record at Leeds was dismal and Leeds never forget about it. The brother of one of two Leeds United fans killed in Turkey 20 years ago says his death is "still fresh in my memory". [24] It was claimed that the police failed to control the riots,[43] and that they had been undermanned and outmaneuvered, to which Mogens Lauridsen, the police chief in Copenhagen admitted that the police had been "under-prepared". Sneijder's tweet has since been deleted and the midfielder sent a tweet to an angry fan stating: "Very sorry. I thought about Graeme Souness running and planting a Galatasaray flag in the middle of the pitch at Fenerbahce. Because I was so young and the memories arent clear, I get times when I ask myself if it really happened. Holly, as a two-year-old, was left with no memories at all. They carried beer glasses outside, we couldn't stop them, and others followed." [29], In all, four people were stabbed during the riots: two English, one Turkish and one Dutch fan. Leeds and Galatasaray fans clashed in violent scenes in April 2000 at 21:00 in Istanbul's Taksim Square Following the two tragic deaths, local police arrested and charged four Galatasaray. He said getting involved in charity work and fundraisers, including running half-marathons in memory of his brother, had helped him to deal with his sibling's death. Im not sure Ive even processed it now. The Football Associations David Davies said playing the game was the least worst option. Fatih Terim, Galatasaray's coach, had whipped up his side's supporters. I knew the ramifications would be life-long., (Photo: Phil Noble PA Images/PA Images via Getty Images), Ali Sami Yen previously and voiced complaints about their treatment, so Fallows increased the size of Leedss usual security detail from three to five as a precaution. "Their chanting should make Ali Sami Yen [the Galatasaray stadium] hell for Leeds United.". By the time the match kicked off, the ramifications of two fatal stabbings the previous evening were rapidly sinking in and for those who were closest to it, the images wont fade. A couple of lads came back to the hotel on their own and when I asked where the rest of them were, they didnt know. The police were knocking everyone about, says Paul Holmes, a friend of the Loftuses who was in Taksim Square when the violence broke out. I was amazed, he says. The Loftus family gave up on campaigning for justice in Turkey because they did not think the system cared about them. [45] It later arose that the majority of the people in the photos were either not involved or had been acting in self-defence. The death of the two Leeds fans in street fighting in central Istanbul on Wednesday turned Galatasaray's Ali Sami Yen Stadium into an armed camp, with 10,000 police patrolling in and around the . For George, the clearest memories of his dad are few and slightly random. "They came into town to see. Two lives lost and two lives wasted, for nothing. Those killed were "attackers", it said. The first time he went inside to be present, he sat with friends and cried. Later in the evening, a group of around 20 Leeds supporters broke off and found their way to the Riddim bar near Taksim Square, the huge expanse in the centre of Istanbul which was filled with places to eat and drink. Follow Phil on Twitter @PhilHay_, Leeds players needed protection from police with riot shields before their game against Galatasaray in 2000 (Photo: Steve Mitchell/EMPICS via Getty Images). Demir lost his last appeal in 2010 and was jailed for six years and eight months. In the weeks after the deaths, he offered them emotional and financial assistance (the family declined to take any money) and would phone Susan regularly to keep in touch. Wed heard that Istanbul could be a bit dangerous but we never thought anything of it, Andy says. For some of it we were relying on the police and the authorities without knowing if they were going to do the right things. Before England played Turkey in a European Championship qualifier in Istanbul in 2003, Englands staff got in touch with Fallows to ask for logistical advice. [48] In 2001, the tribunal ruled in their favour,[49] and ordered Royal Mail to reinstate them. [26] There were further clashes at the airport the day after the game. He previously worked for the Yorkshire Evening Post as its chief football writer. ', By They stressed as delicately as they could the importance of staying indoors. The set of knives, emblazoned with Galatasaray's colours, are produced by Dutch firm Senvi and are available for 22. George is aware of some of the details but has tried not to dig too deeply. The second leg was totally different. Some Arsenal fans reacted negatively to the news, claiming that there was still bad blood between the two sets of supporters and were concerned that there would be a resumption of hostilities between them.[51]. This led to 19 injuries, including 4 stabbings, and 60 arrests with similar events occurring in England and Turkey in the aftermath of the riots. Gala is an awful football club and Alioski is an awful footballer. He had been involved in the plane crash which Leeds players and coaches escaped from on the way home from a Premier League game at West Ham United in 1998. Its funny what sticks in your head, he says. As a family, I dont know how you come to terms with that., Inside the Ali Sami Yen, hundreds of Leeds supporters attended the first leg as planned and were housed in a small section of yellow seats. We had a coach for the players and a coach for the directors, he says. They felt we were overreacting and on the day of the game in Istanbul there was no attempt to make sure the match passed off safely or securely, not that I could see. We catch up at the cafe in an Asda store near his home in Killingbeck and he speaks bravely but reluctantly; not because he wants to but because he thinks he should, for the sake of his brother Chriss memory. The brother of one of two Leeds United fans killed in Turkey 20 years ago says his death is "still fresh in my memory". Spencer interrupted dinner to advise Ridsdale that they should return to the hotel immediately. Anywhere else in Europe, I doubt it would have been played. For a couple of days afterwards you run on adrenaline, he says. Four men were arrested and charged with their murders. In the context of football, that era was phenomenally good: Leeds in Europe and another trip to the continent always waiting around the corner. He visited his fathers body in the chapel of rest across the road, bringing pictures he had drawn for him with felt tips. By then, you knew exactly what had gone on and you knew the severity of it. Acquittal plea in soccer death trial. The city centre was tense but, thanks to a massive police presence, mainly empty. They just looked at me like I was stupid.. Football authorities condemned the riots and threatened to expel national football teams from European competition if such events happened again. Fallows is convinced that Galatasaray and the Turkish police made deliberate attempts to rattle and unsettle away teams, forcing players to squeeze through tight lines of officers to gain entry to the ground and admitting thousands of home fans to the stadium hours before kick-off. It wasnt a proper A&E unit. I heard the rumours that some Leeds fan wiped his arse with a Turkey flag and things like that but people tell me none of its true. The facilities are great. The 2000 UEFA Cup Final Riots, also known as the Battle of Copenhagen,[1] were a series of riots in City Hall Square, Copenhagen, Denmark between fans of English football team Arsenal and Turkish team Galatasaray around the 2000 UEFA Cup Final on 17 May 2000. Confusion reigned. I feel sorry for her, George says. More importantly, we needed to find out what state the two lads were in and whether we could help them.. People speak well of him. Summarize this article for a 10 years old. I had joked with him and said, At least youll be safe. He gave me a look and said, Or maybe not., The attitude as far as I could see was, Lets intimidate these lads and see what happens. Leeds back then had a lot of kids in their squad. There is very little about the football which Ridsdale cares to remember and at the Ali Sami Yen, the stadium was so overcrowded that he had Galatasaray fans in front of him literally sat on my feet. The next day, he and Leeds players and coaching staff reached the airport, climbed on a plane and flew home. How the violence started is unclear. Asked shortly afterwards whether he thought the tie would still go ahead, Mr Ridsdale said: "It's too early to say. Others that the Turks precipitated it by throwing chairs. I dont think, even to this day, that Galatasaray would see the amount of press coverage or criticism as being fairly labelled against them, Ridsdale said last year. Leeds fans had planned to honour the memories of Speight and Loftus this weekend by holding up photos of the two murdered men at the home game with Blackburn Rovers. The man named as the prime suspect in the killings, a cafe owner named Ali Umit Demir, was arrested by Turkish police within days and he and three other Turks were later convicted in court. They thought we were looking for a sporting advantage, which is just incredible. Thats just how the system worked. If you're Leeds, you don't move to a direct rival, simple. Two Leeds fans were stabbed to death by Galatasaray supporters before game Leeds fans have reacted furiously to reports that Ezgjan Alioski has agreed to move to Galatasaray. I jumped in a taxi and went back to Taksim Square., He has no recollection of how he came to be at Taksim Hospital, only that he found himself there after being told that the fighting had been serious. Twenty Leeds fans, witnesses to the fight, were interviewed. There were reports that a Galatasaray fan had run to a telephone to call for support when he saw Leeds fans arriving. British fans were outnumbered and chased up side streets.
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