Chelsea F.C. and Leeds United A.F.C. rivalry
Encyclopedia
The rivalry between Chelsea and Leeds United is a football rivalry
between London
-based club Chelsea
and Yorkshire
-based Leeds United
. The rivalry first emerged in the 1960s after a series of fiercely-contested and controversial matches, when the two clubs were frequently involved in the pursuit for domestic and European honours culminating in the 1970 FA Cup Final, which is regarded as one of the most physical matches in English football history.
The perceived contrast between the clubs also fuelled the rivalry, summed up as "Yorkshire grit versus flash Cockney". The rivalry between the clubs often spilled out onto the terraces: at the height of British football hooliganism
in the 1970s and 1980s, Chelsea's Headhunters
and Leeds' Service Crew
were among the most notorious football firms and had numerous violent encounters with each other.
In the 2003 Football Fans Census Leeds named Chelsea as their second biggest rivalry, behind Manchester United
. In the Official Chelsea Biography Leeds were cited as one of Chelsea's major rivalries. The enmity between the two sets of supporters continues to this day.
. The clubs first met in a competitive match in the Second Division
on 10 December 1927; Leeds won 5–0. Leeds also won 3–2 in the return fixture at Stamford Bridge that season to clinch promotion back to Division One
. In 1952 they contested a gruelling fifth round FA Cup
tie which took three matches to produce a winner, Chelsea eventually prevailed 5–1 in a second replay at Villa Park
. An aggregate crowd of almost 150,000 watched the three matches and such was the fearsome tackling on display, Chelsea had to make seven changes to their line-up for a subsequent match.
Leeds became a force in English football for the first time, capped by winning the league title in 1969. Chelsea, too, had enjoyed a renaissance under Tommy Docherty
and also challenged for honours in the 1960s. Over the next decade they would meet in numerous important, and fiercely-contested, matches. Chelsea goalkeeper Peter Bonetti
opined that the rivalry between the teams emerged because "Leeds had a name, a reputation as being dirty... [and] We matched them in the physical side of things because we had our own players who were physical... We weren't unalike in the way we played." Tommy Baldwin
said "There were a lot of scores being settled from previous games whenever we played them. It always just seemed to go mad, with everyone kicking each other." Leeds defender Norman Hunter recalled that he and Chelsea striker Peter Osgood
shared a "tremendous rivalry". It was often rumoured that Osgood was top of the list in Jack Charlton
's infamous "black book" of players he intended to exact revenge on, although Charlton himself said it was actually another, unnamed, Chelsea player.
The rivalry was also fuelled by the traditional North-South divide in England, and by the clubs having markedly different images and philosophies. Chelsea were associated with the fashionable King's Road
and celebrities like Raquel Welch
and Steve McQueen
. Leeds were perceived as a cynical, though talented, side with a style which some observers regarded as "dirty". Damien Blake of When Saturday Comes wrote that: "Chelsea were the Beatles
(attractive, clean-cut, fashionable) to Leeds' Stones
(surly, violent, sexy, going out with Marianne Faithful)" According to John King
: "Leeds were... portrayed as dour Yorkshiremen with a reputation for playing dirty... Chelsea, on the other hand, were the wide boys of London, dedicated followers of fashion. While Leeds were drinking tea and playing cards, Chelsea were out boozing and chasing girls [but] when it came to games between the two, however, war was declared."
In 1966, they met in an FA Cup
fourth round tie, and a crowd of 57,000 saw Chelsea win 1–0 with a goal from Bobby Tambling
, a game in which "the young Chelsea team withstood an almost continuous battering from Leeds." The rivalry intensified when they met in the FA Cup again a year later, this time a semi-final at Villa Park
, which Chelsea won 1–0. In a game with "frighteningly ruthless" tackling, Leeds goalkeeper Gary Sprake
kicked Chelsea midfielder John Boyle
in the face as they challenged for a high ball, a grudge which still remained when the teams met in the FA Cup final three years later. Further controversy came when Leeds had two late goals disallowed; a Terry Cooper strike was ruled out for offside, and a long range Peter Lorimer
goal was disallowed because a free kick had been taken too quickly. Opinions on the offside decision were mixed, although Docherty conceded he would not have complained had the second goal been allowed to stand. Six months later Leeds gained revenge by beating managerless Chelsea (Docherty had resigned the previous day) 7–0 at Elland Road
, their biggest ever win in the fixture.
season. Leeds won both league games, 2–0 at Elland Road and 5–2 at Stamford Bridge. The match at Elland Road on 20 September 1969 continued in the same vein as previous encounters. A Yorkshire Post journalist lamented the many "late and early tackles" and condemned the teams for playing "venomously". During the match Allan Clarke
, Jack Charlton
, David Webb
, Peter Houseman
, Ron Harris
and Alan Birchenall
all suffered injuries which ruled them out of subsequent matches. Chelsea gained a measure of revenge by knocking Leeds out of the League Cup
after a replay. The teams also met in the 1970 FA Cup Final, the game which cemented the rivalry.
Chelsea and Leeds contested the FA Cup final at Wembley on 11 April 1970. Leeds were generally regarded as the better team on the day and led twice but a late Chelsea equaliser from Ian Hutchinson took the game to a replay, the first in an FA Cup final since 1912
. The replay at Old Trafford
attracted a British television audience of 28 million, a record for an FA Cup final, and is regarded as one of the dirtiest matches ever. Harris was detailed to mark Wembley Man of the Match Eddie Gray; a series of Harris fouls during the first half effectively immobilised the Scot. Elsewhere, Charlton kneed and headbutted Osgood, Hunter and Hutchinson traded punches, and Eddie McCreadie
flattened Billy Bremner
with "kung fu" challenge. Bonetti was injured after being bundled into the net by Jones and limped through the rest of the match with a heavily bandaged knee.
Modern day referee David Elleray
reviewed the match years later and concluded that he would have issued six red cards and twenty yellow cards. However, referee Eric Jennings
only booked one player – Hutchinson – over the two games. Hugh McIlvanney
wrote that "at times it appeared that Mr Jennings would give a free kick only on production of a death certificate". Mick Jones put Leeds ahead again, but Osgood equalised with 12 minutes remaining. Chelsea eventually prevailed 2–1 after extra time. Charlton was so angry at the loss that he left the pitch without collecting his runners-up medal. Charlton later said: "It wasn't the losing of the game, it was the losing of the game to Chelsea, because there were never two more competitive sides when we played each other over a period of four or five years." The match is regarded as one of the greatest FA Cup finals.
The mutual animosity continued into the 1970s. Geoffrey Green
of The Times
reported that a hard-fought 0–0 draw at Stamford Bridge in December 1971 at times "more resembled some Mafia
vendetta than football". Crowd trouble after a match against Leeds at Stamford Bridge in 1972 led Chelsea to become the first English club to erect fences around the terraces. A 4–0 Chelsea win at the start of the 1972–73
season was "marred by a string of infringements"; Trevor Cherry
, Chris Garland
and Terry Yorath
were all booked, and Leeds lost David Harvey
and Mick Jones to injury.
, their first match for four seasons
, 153 Leeds and Chelsea hooligans were arrested after fighting broke out at Piccadilly Circus tube station
on the London Underground
, and another 60 were arrested at the match itself. In April 1984, when Chelsea beat Leeds 5–0 to clinch promotion to the First Division, Chelsea fans invaded the pitch several times, and Leeds fans smashed up the Stamford Bridge scoreboard. Clashes between rival fans resulted in 41 arrests. More recently, before a Chelsea-Leeds match in 2002 then-Leeds manager David O'Leary
urged fans to behave after recent crowd trouble at other matches although stricter policing and the introduction of CCTV in grounds and all-seater stadia in the 1990s means that crowd trouble at matches is now generally rare.
Both clubs enjoyed another revival in the 1990s, which coincided with a series of "ill-tempered and highly-charged" clashes as "the mutual loathing that characterized these sides three decades ago... resurfaced". In an "X-rated" 0–0 draw in December 1997, eight players were booked and Leeds had two players – Gary Kelly and Alf-Inge Haaland
– sent off. Martin Lipton called the match "a throwback to the worst excesses of the Revie era when the likes of Chopper Harris kicked lumps out of Johnny Giles and Co." Another 0–0 draw in October 1998 resulted in 12 yellow cards and a red card for Chelsea's Frank Leboeuf
. In a 2–0 Leeds win at Stamford Bridge in December 1999, Leeds' Lee Bowyer
was booked a minute into the game and Leboeuf was again sent off. A bad tempered League Cup fourth round match in November 2001 – their first cup clash since 1970 – saw Chelsea win 2–0, with Eiður Guðjohnsen
scoring a goal while Stephen McPhail
was on the ground injured. Graeme Le Saux
was later stretchered off after being hit in the face by Alan Smith.
The clubs have not met since Leeds' relegation from the Premier League in the 2003–04 season
. Their last meeting took place on 17 May 2004, with Chelsea winning 1–0. The animosity between the clubs has still been expressed in the hostility of Leeds fans to the club being taken over by former Chelsea owner and chairman Ken Bates
, and to the appointment of former Chelsea captain Dennis Wise
as manager in 2006, resulting in chants like "Get the Chelsea out of Leeds." Gus Poyet, another former Chelsea player who served as Wise's assistant at Leeds, later commented that "The fans didn't want us there because of the rivalry with Chelsea."
Six months after the heated FA Cup semi-final at Villa Park
, Leeds notched their biggest ever win over Chelsea. Chelsea entered the match in turmoil, their manager Tommy Docherty
having resigned the day before. Albert Johanneson
opened the scoring after five minutes and Leeds were 3–0 up within 14 minutes thanks to further goals from Jimmy Greenhoff
and Jack Charlton
. Peter Lorimer
put Leeds 4–0 ahead by half-time. After the break, Eddie Gray beat Bonetti from outside the area, Marvin Hinton scored an own goal
and Leeds captain Billy Bremner
capped his man of the match performance by scoring the seventh himself.
In the Second Division
, John Neal
's high-flying Chelsea met mid-table Leeds, managed by Eddie Gray and fielding two survivors from the 1970 FA Cup Final, David Harvey
and Peter Lorimer
, knowing a win would secure promotion to the First Division
for the first time since 1979. In Chelsea's first win over Leeds since 1972, winger Mickey Thomas put Chelsea ahead, Kerry Dixon
scored a "perfect" hat-trick and Paul Canoville
completed the win with a goal in stoppage time. At the end of the match Chelsea fans invaded the pitch, while Leeds fans trashed the scoreboard.
moved from Chelsea to Leeds for £1.3 million. Chelsea have never bought a senior player from Leeds, although they did controversially sign Leeds youth players Tom Taiwo
and Michael Woods
in 2006. Duncan McKenzie
, Mickey Thomas, Vinnie Jones
, Mikael Forssell
, Terry Phelan
, David Hopkin
, David Rocastle
, Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink
and Tore André Flo
have also played for both clubs.
Sports rivalry
A sports rivalry is intense competition between athletic teams or athletes. This pressure of competition is felt by players, coaches, and management, but is perhaps felt strongest by the fans. The intensity of the rivalry varies from a friendly competition on one end to serious violence on the...
between London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
-based club Chelsea
Chelsea F.C.
Chelsea Football Club are an English football club based in West London. Founded in 1905, they play in the Premier League and have spent most of their history in the top tier of English football. Chelsea have been English champions four times, FA Cup winners six times and League Cup winners four...
and Yorkshire
Yorkshire
Yorkshire is a historic county of northern England and the largest in the United Kingdom. Because of its great size in comparison to other English counties, functions have been increasingly undertaken over time by its subdivisions, which have also been subject to periodic reform...
-based Leeds United
Leeds United A.F.C.
Leeds United Association Football Club are an English professional association football club based in Beeston, Leeds, West Yorkshire, who play in the Football League Championship, the second tier of the English football league system...
. The rivalry first emerged in the 1960s after a series of fiercely-contested and controversial matches, when the two clubs were frequently involved in the pursuit for domestic and European honours culminating in the 1970 FA Cup Final, which is regarded as one of the most physical matches in English football history.
The perceived contrast between the clubs also fuelled the rivalry, summed up as "Yorkshire grit versus flash Cockney". The rivalry between the clubs often spilled out onto the terraces: at the height of British football hooliganism
Football hooliganism
Football hooliganism, sometimes referred to by the British media as the English Disease, is unruly and destructive behaviour—such as brawls, vandalism and intimidation—by association football club fans...
in the 1970s and 1980s, Chelsea's Headhunters
Chelsea Headhunters
The Chelsea Headhunters are an English football hooligan firm linked to the London football club Chelsea.-Background:The Headhunters have rivalries with counterparts who follow other London teams, such as Arsenal, Millwall, Queens Park Rangers, Tottenham Hotspur and West Ham.There was widespread...
and Leeds' Service Crew
Leeds United Service Crew
The Leeds United Service Crew are a football hooligan firm linked to the English Football League team, Leeds United A.F.C. The Service Crew were formed in 1974, and named after the ordinary public service trains that the hooligans would travel on to away matches, rather than the, heavily policed,...
were among the most notorious football firms and had numerous violent encounters with each other.
In the 2003 Football Fans Census Leeds named Chelsea as their second biggest rivalry, behind Manchester United
Manchester United F.C.
Manchester United Football Club is an English professional football club, based in Old Trafford, Greater Manchester, that plays in the Premier League. Founded as Newton Heath LYR Football Club in 1878, the club changed its name to Manchester United in 1902 and moved to Old Trafford in 1910.The 1958...
. In the Official Chelsea Biography Leeds were cited as one of Chelsea's major rivalries. The enmity between the two sets of supporters continues to this day.
History
Early years
Chelsea were founded in 1905, Leeds United in 1919. Both teams flitted between the First and Second Divisions in their early years, and neither won a major trophy prior to World War IIWorld War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
. The clubs first met in a competitive match in the Second Division
Football League Second Division
From 1892 until 1992, the Football League Second Division was the second highest division overall in English football.This ended with the creation of the FA Premier League, prior to the start of the 1992–93 season, which caused an administrative split between The Football League and the teams...
on 10 December 1927; Leeds won 5–0. Leeds also won 3–2 in the return fixture at Stamford Bridge that season to clinch promotion back to Division One
Football League First Division
The First Division was a division of The Football League between 1888 and 2004 and the highest division in English football until the creation of the Premier League in 1992. The secondary tier in English football has since become known as the Championship....
. In 1952 they contested a gruelling fifth round FA Cup
FA Cup
The Football Association Challenge Cup, commonly known as the FA Cup, is a knockout cup competition in English football and is the oldest association football competition in the world. The "FA Cup" is run by and named after The Football Association and usually refers to the English men's...
tie which took three matches to produce a winner, Chelsea eventually prevailed 5–1 in a second replay at Villa Park
Villa Park
Villa Park may mean:United Kingdom* Villa Park, an association football stadium in Birmingham, EnglandUnited States* Villa Park, California, a small city in Orange County* Villa Park, Illinois, a suburb of Chicago in DuPage County...
. An aggregate crowd of almost 150,000 watched the three matches and such was the fearsome tackling on display, Chelsea had to make seven changes to their line-up for a subsequent match.
1960s
It was in the 1960s that a significant rivalry first emerged between the clubs. Under the management of Don RevieDon Revie
Donald George 'Don' Revie, OBE, , was an English footballer who played for Leicester City, Hull City, Sunderland, Manchester City and Leeds United as a deep-lying centre forward. After managing Leeds United he managed England from 1974 until 1977...
Leeds became a force in English football for the first time, capped by winning the league title in 1969. Chelsea, too, had enjoyed a renaissance under Tommy Docherty
Tommy Docherty
Thomas Henderson "Tommy" Docherty , commonly known as "The Doc", is a Scottish former footballer and football manager.-Playing career:...
and also challenged for honours in the 1960s. Over the next decade they would meet in numerous important, and fiercely-contested, matches. Chelsea goalkeeper Peter Bonetti
Peter Bonetti
Peter Phillip Bonetti is a former football goalkeeper for Chelsea, the St. Louis Stars, Dundee United and England. Bonetti was known for his safe handling, lightning reflexes and his graceful style, for which he was given the nickname, "The Cat"...
opined that the rivalry between the teams emerged because "Leeds had a name, a reputation as being dirty... [and] We matched them in the physical side of things because we had our own players who were physical... We weren't unalike in the way we played." Tommy Baldwin
Tommy Baldwin
Thomas "Tommy" Baldwin is an English former footballer who played in the Football League for Arsenal, Chelsea, Millwall, Manchester United and Brentford. He was capped twice by England at under-23 level....
said "There were a lot of scores being settled from previous games whenever we played them. It always just seemed to go mad, with everyone kicking each other." Leeds defender Norman Hunter recalled that he and Chelsea striker Peter Osgood
Peter Osgood
Peter Leslie Osgood was an English footballer who was active during the 1960s and 1970s. He is best remembered for representing Chelsea and Southampton at club level, and was also capped four times by England in the early 1970s.-Chelsea:Born in a small road named Kentons Lane in Windsor, Osgood...
shared a "tremendous rivalry". It was often rumoured that Osgood was top of the list in Jack Charlton
Jack Charlton
John "Jack" Charlton, OBE, DL is a former footballer and manager who played for Leeds United in the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s, and was part of the England team who won the 1966 World Cup...
's infamous "black book" of players he intended to exact revenge on, although Charlton himself said it was actually another, unnamed, Chelsea player.
The rivalry was also fuelled by the traditional North-South divide in England, and by the clubs having markedly different images and philosophies. Chelsea were associated with the fashionable King's Road
King's Road
King's Road is a street in Chelsea, London, England.King's Road or Kings Road may also refer to:* King's Road * King's Road * King's Road * King's Road...
and celebrities like Raquel Welch
Raquel Welch
Jo Raquel Tejada , better known as Raquel Welch, is an American actress, author and sex symbol. Welch came to attention as a "new-star" on the 20th Century-Fox lot in the mid-1960s. She posed iconically in a animal skin bikini for the British-release One Million Years B.C. , for which she may be...
and Steve McQueen
Steve McQueen
Terrence Steven "Steve" McQueen was an American movie actor. He was nicknamed "The King of Cool." His "anti-hero" persona, which he developed at the height of the Vietnam counterculture, made him one of the top box-office draws of the 1960s and 1970s. McQueen received an Academy Award nomination...
. Leeds were perceived as a cynical, though talented, side with a style which some observers regarded as "dirty". Damien Blake of When Saturday Comes wrote that: "Chelsea were the Beatles
The Beatles
The Beatles were an English rock band, active throughout the 1960s and one of the most commercially successful and critically acclaimed acts in the history of popular music. Formed in Liverpool, by 1962 the group consisted of John Lennon , Paul McCartney , George Harrison and Ringo Starr...
(attractive, clean-cut, fashionable) to Leeds' Stones
The Rolling Stones
The Rolling Stones are an English rock band, formed in London in April 1962 by Brian Jones , Ian Stewart , Mick Jagger , and Keith Richards . Bassist Bill Wyman and drummer Charlie Watts completed the early line-up...
(surly, violent, sexy, going out with Marianne Faithful)" According to John King
John King (author)
John King is an English novelist who has written a number of books which, for the most part, deal in the more rebellious elements driving the country’s culture. His stories carry strong social and political undercurrents, and his debut The Football Factory was an instant word-of-mouth success. It...
: "Leeds were... portrayed as dour Yorkshiremen with a reputation for playing dirty... Chelsea, on the other hand, were the wide boys of London, dedicated followers of fashion. While Leeds were drinking tea and playing cards, Chelsea were out boozing and chasing girls [but] when it came to games between the two, however, war was declared."
In 1966, they met in an FA Cup
FA Cup
The Football Association Challenge Cup, commonly known as the FA Cup, is a knockout cup competition in English football and is the oldest association football competition in the world. The "FA Cup" is run by and named after The Football Association and usually refers to the English men's...
fourth round tie, and a crowd of 57,000 saw Chelsea win 1–0 with a goal from Bobby Tambling
Bobby Tambling
Robert Victor 'Bobby' Tambling is a retired English footballer, who played most notably for Chelsea and Crystal Palace in the 1960s and 1970s...
, a game in which "the young Chelsea team withstood an almost continuous battering from Leeds." The rivalry intensified when they met in the FA Cup again a year later, this time a semi-final at Villa Park
Villa Park
Villa Park may mean:United Kingdom* Villa Park, an association football stadium in Birmingham, EnglandUnited States* Villa Park, California, a small city in Orange County* Villa Park, Illinois, a suburb of Chicago in DuPage County...
, which Chelsea won 1–0. In a game with "frighteningly ruthless" tackling, Leeds goalkeeper Gary Sprake
Gary Sprake
Gareth Sprake is a Welsh former professional footballer. A goalkeeper, he played for Leeds United and Birmingham City and also won 37 caps for Wales....
kicked Chelsea midfielder John Boyle
John Boyle (footballer)
John Boyle is a retired Scottish footballer who played during the 1960s and 1970s.Born in Motherwell, he signed for London side Chelsea as a 15-year-old whilst on holiday in the city. Boyle was one of the lesser-known, but nevertheless important, members of the successful Chelsea side of the...
in the face as they challenged for a high ball, a grudge which still remained when the teams met in the FA Cup final three years later. Further controversy came when Leeds had two late goals disallowed; a Terry Cooper strike was ruled out for offside, and a long range Peter Lorimer
Peter Lorimer
Peter Patrick Lorimer is a former footballer who formed part of the much-admired and feared Leeds United team of the 1960s and 1970s....
goal was disallowed because a free kick had been taken too quickly. Opinions on the offside decision were mixed, although Docherty conceded he would not have complained had the second goal been allowed to stand. Six months later Leeds gained revenge by beating managerless Chelsea (Docherty had resigned the previous day) 7–0 at Elland Road
Elland Road
Elland Road is an all-seater football stadium in Beeston, Leeds, West Yorkshire, England. It has been the permanent residence of Leeds United A.F.C...
, their biggest ever win in the fixture.
1970s
The clubs would meet six times during the 1969–701969-70 in English football
The 1969–70 season was the 90th season of competitive football in England.-First Division:Everton won their seventh title, finishing nine points clear of Leeds United with Chelsea in third and newly promoted Derby County in fourth...
season. Leeds won both league games, 2–0 at Elland Road and 5–2 at Stamford Bridge. The match at Elland Road on 20 September 1969 continued in the same vein as previous encounters. A Yorkshire Post journalist lamented the many "late and early tackles" and condemned the teams for playing "venomously". During the match Allan Clarke
Allan Clarke (footballer)
Allan John Clarke , nicknamed "Sniffer", is a former footballer who played in the Football League for Walsall, Fulham, Leicester City, Leeds United and Barnsley, and won 19 international caps for England.-Early career:Clarke started his career at Walsall and made his debut aged 17, in 1963...
, Jack Charlton
Jack Charlton
John "Jack" Charlton, OBE, DL is a former footballer and manager who played for Leeds United in the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s, and was part of the England team who won the 1966 World Cup...
, David Webb
David Webb (footballer)
David James Webb is an English former professional footballer who made 555 appearances in the Football League playing for Leyton Orient, Southampton, Chelsea, Queens Park Rangers, Leicester City, Derby County, A.F.C. Bournemouth and Torquay United. He became a manager, taking charge of A.F.C...
, Peter Houseman
Peter Houseman
Peter Houseman was an English footballer.-Chelsea:Born in Battersea, Houseman signed professional terms with Chelsea in 1963, having played for the Chelsea Juniors...
, Ron Harris
Ron Harris (footballer)
Ronald Edward Harris , better known as Ron "Chopper" Harris, is a former English footballer who played for Chelsea in the 1960s and 1970s. Harris is widely regarded as one of the toughest defenders of his era - along with players such as Tommy Smith MBE and Norman Hunter - hence the nickname...
and Alan Birchenall
Alan Birchenall
Alan Birchenall MBE is a retired English footballer who played during the 1960s and 1970s.A talented and much travelled player. Alan was a skilful attacking midfielder who started his professional career with Sheffield United in 1963...
all suffered injuries which ruled them out of subsequent matches. Chelsea gained a measure of revenge by knocking Leeds out of the League Cup
Football League Cup
The Football League Cup, commonly known as the League Cup or, from current sponsorship, the Carling Cup, is an English association football competition. Like the FA Cup, it is played on a knockout basis...
after a replay. The teams also met in the 1970 FA Cup Final, the game which cemented the rivalry.
Chelsea and Leeds contested the FA Cup final at Wembley on 11 April 1970. Leeds were generally regarded as the better team on the day and led twice but a late Chelsea equaliser from Ian Hutchinson took the game to a replay, the first in an FA Cup final since 1912
1912 FA Cup Final
The 1912 FA Cup Final was the 41st FA Cup final. It was contested by Barnsley and West Bromwich Albion. It took two matches to determine a winner...
. The replay at Old Trafford
Old Trafford
Old Trafford commonly refers to two sporting arenas:* Old Trafford, home of Manchester United F.C.* Old Trafford Cricket Ground, home of Lancashire County Cricket ClubOld Trafford can also refer to:...
attracted a British television audience of 28 million, a record for an FA Cup final, and is regarded as one of the dirtiest matches ever. Harris was detailed to mark Wembley Man of the Match Eddie Gray; a series of Harris fouls during the first half effectively immobilised the Scot. Elsewhere, Charlton kneed and headbutted Osgood, Hunter and Hutchinson traded punches, and Eddie McCreadie
Eddie McCreadie
Edward Graham "Eddie" McCreadie is a former Scottish footballer who played at left-back, mainly for Chelsea. He later became a manager....
flattened Billy Bremner
Billy Bremner
William John "Billy" Bremner was a Scottish professional footballer, most noted for his captaincy of the Leeds United team of the 1960s and 1970s. He has since been voted Leeds United's greatest player of all time and has a statue outside the South East corner of Elland Road...
with "kung fu" challenge. Bonetti was injured after being bundled into the net by Jones and limped through the rest of the match with a heavily bandaged knee.
Modern day referee David Elleray
David Elleray
David Roland Elleray , is an English former football referee, who officiated in the Football League, the FA Premier League and for FIFA.-Career:...
reviewed the match years later and concluded that he would have issued six red cards and twenty yellow cards. However, referee Eric Jennings
Eric Jennings
Eric T. Jennings is an English former football referee, who operated in the Football League and for FIFA. He comes from Stourbridge in the West Midlands.-Career:Jennings was promoted to the Football League referees List in 1954, aged only 31....
only booked one player – Hutchinson – over the two games. Hugh McIlvanney
Hugh McIlvanney
Hugh McIlvanney is an award-winning, Scottish sports writer. He currently holds a long-running column on the back page of The Sunday Times sports section.- Life and career :...
wrote that "at times it appeared that Mr Jennings would give a free kick only on production of a death certificate". Mick Jones put Leeds ahead again, but Osgood equalised with 12 minutes remaining. Chelsea eventually prevailed 2–1 after extra time. Charlton was so angry at the loss that he left the pitch without collecting his runners-up medal. Charlton later said: "It wasn't the losing of the game, it was the losing of the game to Chelsea, because there were never two more competitive sides when we played each other over a period of four or five years." The match is regarded as one of the greatest FA Cup finals.
The mutual animosity continued into the 1970s. Geoffrey Green
Geoffrey Green
Geoffrey Green was a distinguished English football writer.Geoffrey Green was educated at Shrewsbury School, where he played football to a high standard. He started writing for The Times in the 1930s when football was not afforded much respectability among the paper's traditional readership...
of The Times
The Times
The Times is a British daily national newspaper, first published in London in 1785 under the title The Daily Universal Register . The Times and its sister paper The Sunday Times are published by Times Newspapers Limited, a subsidiary since 1981 of News International...
reported that a hard-fought 0–0 draw at Stamford Bridge in December 1971 at times "more resembled some Mafia
Mafia
The Mafia is a criminal syndicate that emerged in the mid-nineteenth century in Sicily, Italy. It is a loose association of criminal groups that share a common organizational structure and code of conduct, and whose common enterprise is protection racketeering...
vendetta than football". Crowd trouble after a match against Leeds at Stamford Bridge in 1972 led Chelsea to become the first English club to erect fences around the terraces. A 4–0 Chelsea win at the start of the 1972–73
1972-73 in English football
The 1972–73 season was the 93rd season of competitive football in England.-Overview:The Football League announced that a three-up, three-down system would operate between the top two divisions from the following season, rather than the traditional two-up, two-down system...
season was "marred by a string of infringements"; Trevor Cherry
Trevor Cherry
Trevor John Cherry is a former England and Leeds United footballer who also captained his country. He was a defender who also played for Huddersfield Town and Bradford City, and managed the latter club....
, Chris Garland
Chris Garland
Christopher "Chris" Garland is an English former footballer who played in the Football League for Bristol City, Chelsea and Leicester City between the 1960s and 1980s. He was capped once by England at under-23 level....
and Terry Yorath
Terry Yorath
Terence Charles Yorath is a former footballer and has been a manager at both club and international level. He is also the father of television presenter Gabby Logan....
were all booked, and Leeds lost David Harvey
David Harvey (footballer)
David Harvey is a former Scottish internationalist professional association footballer. A goalkeeper, Harvey is best known for his successes with Leeds United.-Leeds United:...
and Mick Jones to injury.
1980-present
By the end of the 1970s both clubs were in decline and would spend many of the ensuing years in the Second Division. Chelsea were relegated in 1975 and again in 1979. Leeds were relegated in 1982, and would not regain their First Division status for the next eight years. No longer challenging for trophies (but frequently competing for promotion), the rivalry often continued off the pitch in the form of hooliganism. When the teams met in the Second Division in the 1982-83 season1982-83 in English football
The 1982–83 season was the 103rd season of competitive football in England.- First Division :Bob Paisley's last season as Liverpool manager ended on a high as they topped the First Division with a comfortable lead. Bob Paisley retired as Liverpool manager with a record 21 prizes in nine years. His...
, their first match for four seasons
1978-79 in English football
-FA Cup:Manchester United had seemingly pulled off a remarkable comeback against Arsenal in the 1979 FA Cup Final to make the score 2–2 after being two goals down, but a last-minute goal from Alan Sunderland saw Arsenal lift the trophy with a 3–2 scoreline...
, 153 Leeds and Chelsea hooligans were arrested after fighting broke out at Piccadilly Circus tube station
Piccadilly Circus tube station
Piccadilly Circus tube station is the London Underground station located directly beneath Piccadilly Circus itself, with entrances at every corner...
on the London Underground
London Underground
The London Underground is a rapid transit system serving a large part of Greater London and some parts of Buckinghamshire, Hertfordshire and Essex in England...
, and another 60 were arrested at the match itself. In April 1984, when Chelsea beat Leeds 5–0 to clinch promotion to the First Division, Chelsea fans invaded the pitch several times, and Leeds fans smashed up the Stamford Bridge scoreboard. Clashes between rival fans resulted in 41 arrests. More recently, before a Chelsea-Leeds match in 2002 then-Leeds manager David O'Leary
David O'Leary
David Anthony O'Leary is an Irish football manager and former player. His managerial career began at Leeds United and later he managed Aston Villa. He most recently worked as the manager of Al-Ahli Dubai...
urged fans to behave after recent crowd trouble at other matches although stricter policing and the introduction of CCTV in grounds and all-seater stadia in the 1990s means that crowd trouble at matches is now generally rare.
Both clubs enjoyed another revival in the 1990s, which coincided with a series of "ill-tempered and highly-charged" clashes as "the mutual loathing that characterized these sides three decades ago... resurfaced". In an "X-rated" 0–0 draw in December 1997, eight players were booked and Leeds had two players – Gary Kelly and Alf-Inge Haaland
Alf-Inge Haaland
Alf-Inge Rasdal "Alfie" Håland , anglicised to Haaland, is a retired Norwegian football defender. He grew up at Bryne and played his club football for Bryne FK, and later played for Nottingham Forest, Leeds United and Manchester City...
– sent off. Martin Lipton called the match "a throwback to the worst excesses of the Revie era when the likes of Chopper Harris kicked lumps out of Johnny Giles and Co." Another 0–0 draw in October 1998 resulted in 12 yellow cards and a red card for Chelsea's Frank Leboeuf
Frank Leboeuf
Franck Alain James Leboeuf or Lebœuf is a former French international footballer who played as a defender...
. In a 2–0 Leeds win at Stamford Bridge in December 1999, Leeds' Lee Bowyer
Lee Bowyer
Lee David Bowyer is an English professional footballer born in Canning Town, London, who plays as a midfielder for Ipswich Town of the Football League Championship....
was booked a minute into the game and Leboeuf was again sent off. A bad tempered League Cup fourth round match in November 2001 – their first cup clash since 1970 – saw Chelsea win 2–0, with Eiður Guðjohnsen
Eiður Guðjohnsen
Eiður Smári Guðjohnsen is an Icelandic footballer who currently plays for AEK Athens F.C. in the Superleague Greece. He has previously played for Premier League club Chelsea and FC Barcelona of Spain, having made his name with Bolton Wanderers. He was the captain of the Iceland national team until...
scoring a goal while Stephen McPhail
Stephen McPhail
Stephen John Paul McPhail is an Irish footballer who plays for Cardiff City. He has won 10 caps for his country, the Republic of Ireland, and scored one goal...
was on the ground injured. Graeme Le Saux
Graeme Le Saux
Graeme Pierre Le Saux is a retired English footballer of French ancestry who played for the Premier League clubs Chelsea, Blackburn Rovers and Southampton, and for the England national football team. Primarily a left back, he was sometimes also played in midfield or on the left wing.After...
was later stretchered off after being hit in the face by Alan Smith.
The clubs have not met since Leeds' relegation from the Premier League in the 2003–04 season
2003-04 in English football
The 2003-04 season was the 124th season of competitive football in England.-Overview:Arsenal completed the entire campaign without losing a single league game....
. Their last meeting took place on 17 May 2004, with Chelsea winning 1–0. The animosity between the clubs has still been expressed in the hostility of Leeds fans to the club being taken over by former Chelsea owner and chairman Ken Bates
Ken Bates
Kenneth William Bates is a British businessman and football executive. The current chairman and now owner of Leeds United AFC, Bates was previously chairman and majority shareholder of Chelsea FC from 1982 until 2003....
, and to the appointment of former Chelsea captain Dennis Wise
Dennis Wise
Dennis Frank Wise is an English former football manager and player, and former Executive Director at Newcastle United....
as manager in 2006, resulting in chants like "Get the Chelsea out of Leeds." Gus Poyet, another former Chelsea player who served as Wise's assistant at Leeds, later commented that "The fans didn't want us there because of the rivalry with Chelsea."
Notable matches
- Leeds United 7–0 Chelsea (7 October 1967)
Six months after the heated FA Cup semi-final at Villa Park
Villa Park
Villa Park may mean:United Kingdom* Villa Park, an association football stadium in Birmingham, EnglandUnited States* Villa Park, California, a small city in Orange County* Villa Park, Illinois, a suburb of Chicago in DuPage County...
, Leeds notched their biggest ever win over Chelsea. Chelsea entered the match in turmoil, their manager Tommy Docherty
Tommy Docherty
Thomas Henderson "Tommy" Docherty , commonly known as "The Doc", is a Scottish former footballer and football manager.-Playing career:...
having resigned the day before. Albert Johanneson
Albert Johanneson
Albert Louis Johanneson was one of the first high-profile black players, of any nationality, to play top-flight football in England.-Career:Johanneson, a skilful and swift left winger, was recommended to Leeds United by a South African schoolteacher and joined the club in April 1961...
opened the scoring after five minutes and Leeds were 3–0 up within 14 minutes thanks to further goals from Jimmy Greenhoff
Jimmy Greenhoff
James "Jimmy" Greenhoff is an English former football player. He was a skilful forward and although capped five times at under-23 level, once as an over-age player, he never played for the full side, and is labelled as the finest English player never to play for England...
and Jack Charlton
Jack Charlton
John "Jack" Charlton, OBE, DL is a former footballer and manager who played for Leeds United in the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s, and was part of the England team who won the 1966 World Cup...
. Peter Lorimer
Peter Lorimer
Peter Patrick Lorimer is a former footballer who formed part of the much-admired and feared Leeds United team of the 1960s and 1970s....
put Leeds 4–0 ahead by half-time. After the break, Eddie Gray beat Bonetti from outside the area, Marvin Hinton scored an own goal
Own goal
An own net occurs in goal-scoring games when a player scores a goal that is registered against his or her own team. It is usually accidental, and may be a result of an attempt at defensive play that failed or was spoiled by opponents....
and Leeds captain Billy Bremner
Billy Bremner
William John "Billy" Bremner was a Scottish professional footballer, most noted for his captaincy of the Leeds United team of the 1960s and 1970s. He has since been voted Leeds United's greatest player of all time and has a statue outside the South East corner of Elland Road...
capped his man of the match performance by scoring the seventh himself.
- Chelsea 5–0 Leeds United (28 April 1984)
In the Second Division
Second Division
In sport, the Second Division, also called Division 2 or Division II is usually the second highest division of a league, and will often have promotion and relegation with divisions above and below...
, John Neal
John Neal (footballer)
John Neal is a former English football player and manager.Neal was a full-back whose playing career included numerous clubs, including Hull City, Southend United and Swindon Town...
's high-flying Chelsea met mid-table Leeds, managed by Eddie Gray and fielding two survivors from the 1970 FA Cup Final, David Harvey
David Harvey (footballer)
David Harvey is a former Scottish internationalist professional association footballer. A goalkeeper, Harvey is best known for his successes with Leeds United.-Leeds United:...
and Peter Lorimer
Peter Lorimer
Peter Patrick Lorimer is a former footballer who formed part of the much-admired and feared Leeds United team of the 1960s and 1970s....
, knowing a win would secure promotion to the First Division
Football League First Division
The First Division was a division of The Football League between 1888 and 2004 and the highest division in English football until the creation of the Premier League in 1992. The secondary tier in English football has since become known as the Championship....
for the first time since 1979. In Chelsea's first win over Leeds since 1972, winger Mickey Thomas put Chelsea ahead, Kerry Dixon
Kerry Dixon
Kerry Michael Dixon is a retired English professional footballer who played most notably for Chelsea and England.-Early years:...
scored a "perfect" hat-trick and Paul Canoville
Paul Canoville
Paul Canoville is an English former professional footballer, most notable for being the first ever black player to play for Chelsea.- Early career :...
completed the win with a goal in stoppage time. At the end of the match Chelsea fans invaded the pitch, while Leeds fans trashed the scoreboard.
Head to head summary
| Club | P | W | D | L | F | A | +/- |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| League | |||||||
| Chelsea | 90 | 26 | 25 | 39 | 107 | 136 | -29 |
| Leeds United | 90 | 39 | 25 | 26 | 136 | 107 | +29 |
| FA Cup FA Cup The Football Association Challenge Cup, commonly known as the FA Cup, is a knockout cup competition in English football and is the oldest association football competition in the world. The "FA Cup" is run by and named after The Football Association and usually refers to the English men's... |
|||||||
| Chelsea | 8 | 5 | 3 | 0 | 17 | 6 | +11 |
| Leeds United | 8 | 0 | 3 | 5 | 6 | 17 | -11 |
| Football League Cup Football League Cup The Football League Cup, commonly known as the League Cup or, from current sponsorship, the Carling Cup, is an English association football competition. Like the FA Cup, it is played on a knockout basis... |
|||||||
| Chelsea | 3 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 5 | 1 | +4 |
| Leeds United | 3 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 5 | -4 |
| Totals | |||||||
| Chelsea | 101 | 33 | 29 | 39 | 129 | 143 | -14 |
| Leeds United | 101 | 39 | 29 | 33 | 143 | 129 | +14 |
Scorelines
- Biggest win:
- Chelsea 7-1 Leeds United (Saturday 16 March 1935)
- Leeds United 7-0 Chelsea (Saturday 7 October 1967)
Honours
These are the major football honours won by Chelsea and Leeds United.| Competition | Chelsea Chelsea F.C. Chelsea Football Club are an English football club based in West London. Founded in 1905, they play in the Premier League and have spent most of their history in the top tier of English football. Chelsea have been English champions four times, FA Cup winners six times and League Cup winners four... |
Leeds United Leeds United A.F.C. Leeds United Association Football Club are an English professional association football club based in Beeston, Leeds, West Yorkshire, who play in the Football League Championship, the second tier of the English football league system... |
|---|---|---|
| First Division Football League First Division The First Division was a division of The Football League between 1888 and 2004 and the highest division in English football until the creation of the Premier League in 1992. The secondary tier in English football has since become known as the Championship.... / Premier League |
4 | 3 |
| FA Cup FA Cup The Football Association Challenge Cup, commonly known as the FA Cup, is a knockout cup competition in English football and is the oldest association football competition in the world. The "FA Cup" is run by and named after The Football Association and usually refers to the English men's... |
6 | 1 |
| Football League Cup Football League Cup The Football League Cup, commonly known as the League Cup or, from current sponsorship, the Carling Cup, is an English association football competition. Like the FA Cup, it is played on a knockout basis... |
4 | 1 |
| UEFA Cup Winners' Cup UEFA Cup Winners' Cup The UEFA Cup Winners' Cup was a football club competition contested annually by the most recent winners of all European domestic cup competitions. The cup is one of the many inter-European club competitions that have been organised by UEFA. The first competition was held in the 1960–61 season—but... |
2 | 0 |
| Inter-Cities Fairs Cup Inter-Cities Fairs Cup The Inter-Cities Fairs Cup was a European football competition played between 1955 and 1971. The competition was the idea of Swiss pools supremo Ernst Thommen, Ottorino Barassi from Italy, and the English Football Association general secretary Stanley Rous, all of whom later became senior officials... |
0 | 2 |
| Second Division Football League Second Division From 1892 until 1992, the Football League Second Division was the second highest division overall in English football.This ended with the creation of the FA Premier League, prior to the start of the 1992–93 season, which caused an administrative split between The Football League and the teams... |
2 | 3 |
| FA Community Shield FA Community Shield The Football Association Community Shield is English football's annual match contested between the champions of the previous Premier League season and the holders of the FA Cup at Wembley Stadium. If the Premier League champions also won the FA Cup then the league runners-up provide the opposition... |
4 | 2 |
| UEFA Super Cup | 1 | 0 |
Player transfers
There have been few direct player transfers between Chelsea and Leeds United. The first came in 1991, when left-back Tony DorigoTony Dorigo
Anthony Robert Dorigo is a retired English football player who played for Aston Villa, Chelsea, Leeds United and the England national side as a left-back.-Career:...
moved from Chelsea to Leeds for £1.3 million. Chelsea have never bought a senior player from Leeds, although they did controversially sign Leeds youth players Tom Taiwo
Tom Taiwo
Thomas James William "Tom" Taiwo is an English footballer who plays for League One club Carlisle United as a midfielder....
and Michael Woods
Michael Woods (footballer)
Michael James Woods is an English professional footballer who last played for Chelsea F.C. as a midfielder.-Club career:...
in 2006. Duncan McKenzie
Duncan McKenzie
Duncan McKenzie is an English former footballer who played as a striker in the Football League for Nottingham Forest, Mansfield Town, Leeds United, Everton, Chelsea and Blackburn Rovers in the 1970s, in Belgium for Anderlecht, in the North American Soccer League for the Tulsa Roughnecks and the...
, Mickey Thomas, Vinnie Jones
Vinnie Jones
Vincent Peter "Vinnie" Jones is an English film actor and retired Welsh footballer.Born in Hertfordshire, England, Jones represented and captained the Welsh national football team, having qualified via a Welsh grandparent. He also previously played for Chelsea and Leeds United. As a member of the...
, Mikael Forssell
Mikael Forssell
Mikael Kaj Forssell is a Finnish footballer who plays as a striker for Football League Championship team Leeds United and for the Finnish national team.-Club career:...
, Terry Phelan
Terry Phelan
Terrence "Terry" Phelan is a former footballer who played as a left-back for a number of clubs, including Leeds United, Swansea City, Wimbledon, Manchester City, Chelsea, Everton and Fulham...
, David Hopkin
David Hopkin
David Hopkin is a Scottish former professional football player who is assistant manager at .-Club career:Hopkin started his career at Morton before earning a move to Premier League side Chelsea in 1992...
, David Rocastle
David Rocastle
David Carlyle Rocastle, nicknamed Rocky, was an English football player, who spent the majority of his career at Arsenal...
, Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink
Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink
Jerrel Hasselbaink usually known as Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink is a Dutch former football striker who played for various clubs in the Netherlands, Portugal, England, and Spain, as well as the Dutch national team. He scored more than 200 career goals...
and Tore André Flo
Tore André Flo
Tore André Flo is a Norwegian football striker, who plays for the Norwegian club Sogndal. He initially retired after being released by the Milton Keynes Dons in 2009, but announced his comeback in March 2011. His brothers Jostein Flo and Jarle Flo, and cousin Håvard Flo are also professional...
have also played for both clubs.
From Chelsea to Leeds United
| Name | Date of transfer | Fee paid | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Tony Dorigo Tony Dorigo Anthony Robert Dorigo is a retired English football player who played for Aston Villa, Chelsea, Leeds United and the England national side as a left-back.-Career:... |
June 1991 | £1,300,000 | |
| Danny Granville Danny Granville Daniel Patrick "Danny" Granville is an English footballer who plays for Hemel Hempstead Town in the Southern League Premier Division, having signed for them in October 2009... |
June 1998 | £1,600,000 | |
| Michael Duberry Michael Duberry Michael Wayne Duberry is an English footballer who plays for League Two club Oxford United. He started his career with Premier League side Chelsea and also played for Leeds United, Reading, Stoke City, Bournemouth and St... |
July 1999 | £4,600,000 | |
| Jody Morris Jody Morris Jody Morris is an English football midfielder. He plays for Scottish club St. Johnstone. He has previously played for Chelsea, Leeds United, Rotherham United and Millwall.-Playing career:... |
July 2003 | Free | |
| Neil Sullivan Neil Sullivan Neil Sullivan is an English-born Scottish ex-international professional Association footballer. A goalkeeper, Sullivan currently plays for Doncaster Rovers after signing on a permanent basis from Leeds United at the end of the 2006–07 season, following two loan moves to Doncaster... |
July 2004 | Free |