Leeds United AFC: Open Goal…As another football season slowly drifts to its conclusion, many thoughts and opinions have been offered by various members of the White Army up and down the county in various publications, forums and blogs. However, there is one voice which is seldom heard and that belongs to the long suffering partners of we football supporters, our very own WAGS if you like…
The football fans “Wives and Girlfriends” never really seem to get a mention, yet they have to put up with a lot more than the pampered princesses that the football players attract. So, in a moment of weakness, I invited the missus to pen a few words to let the world get a better understanding of how my football misery affects her – In other words – an open goal!:“Seventeen years ago I met the man of my dreams, my true diamond! As we all know, most diamonds are not perfect and the same could be said about my man. He is obsessed with football and in particular, Leeds United AFC. If he is not watching them, he is writing about them. Or searching on the net or Sky sports news looking for anything Leeds United related, looking for breaking news or double checking facts from history. Every waking hour it seems is spent thinking, talking, texting about them and I am sure he dreams about them too!
He has more mood swings than a hormonal teenager and the last few years have been really bad as the team has slipped into decline. It was clear from the moment I met him that he was a big Leeds United fan and over the years I have been somewhat of a football widow as he trekked to all the home and most of the away matches. I should have known from the moment he bought me my first gift, a pair of solid silver Leeds United White Rose earrings. I wasn’t sure if he was trying to get rid of me, I mean, I’m a simple girl & flowers would have done.
What was I going to do with these earrings as I sure as hell was never going to wear them! I have kept them, today they still sit in their box, a never worn & lasting memento of a time when ebay didn’t exist! I am sure that if Leeds United had done a selection of diamond rings, I would have been given one as my engagement ring. Thankfully that wasn’t the case. Talking of marriage, instead of a honeymoon I was forced to sit through my first ever game. Leeds at home to PSV in the UEFA Cup.
My lasting memory of this is how near we were to the away fans and I feared for my life. It may sound an exaggeration to the hardened members of the “White Army” (Its what he calls you lot), but for a first game to be sat close to the bloody nutter’s firing flares at each other in the away end, it was quite scary and I never even got a hotdog (and I won‘t let him forget it!). It is fair to say that it’s not exactly how I imagined my first day of married life to be and I should have realised there and then that I would never come first.
In the end they lost 3-5 and my new husband was not best pleased, miserable as sin and wittering on about jinx’s and bad luck, it was not one of my best experiences in life. Still he decided we should go to another match this time on the Boxing day, Newcastle I think, unfortunately or fortunately depending on your perspective, we didn’t make it due to an accident on the way. Someone up on high must have been looking down on me! After that, it was some years later before my next experience.
Away at Birmingham, in the relegation from the Premier League season. With more police presence than a Royal state visit and what seemed like Birmingham nutters on every corner, this football lark was hardly being sold to me. Oh and guess what, they lost 1-4 and once again the words Jinx and bad luck appeared! You would have thought he would have given it up as a bad job, but I got another bite at the cherry as you football fans say. This time match was a surprise as we were on our way back from an exhausting family holiday .
We had been up since 2am and not being the best flyer in the world, you can imagine I was pretty wound up as we were taking off. My husband decided this was time to whisper gently in my ear that we were going to watch a match as soon as we landed! As you can imagine, it took my mind off the flying, but I thought it was a ploy to do just that! Sure enough, when we landed a friend was there to pick us up and take us to the match. I couldn’t believe it, again it ended in defeat and I was now known as the jinx and bad omen.
That said, I have seen Leeds win once, 1-0 at home to Luton in 2006, though they did go on to be relegated. I have suggested to him on many occasions that perhaps he is the jinx? After all compared to my handful of games he has seen Leeds lose hundreds of times! Over the years some of our friends think he has got away with murder, our lives are planned around that damned team. I was still sure that if something important came up I would be his first priority. Though when I was pregnant, there was that semi final in Spain.
It was on the same day as our first parent craft class. He wanted to go to this game and told me in no uncertain terms that if he didn’t go to it he would still be watching it on TV. So off I went with a friend to my class as he jetted off to watch them lose in the sun. I had the whole class thinking I was a young single mother and could see they were talking about me. I must admit, it was funny watching him get quite a lot of ribbing about it at the next class after he was forced to explain where he was the week before and rightly so!
Thank god our son wasn’t born on a match day, as I think the only way my husband would have been there was if I had given birth on the pitch! Talking of our son, when choosing the name I told in no uncertain terms that it could not be Leeds United related. I had visions of a Lucas, a Billy or a Charles. After lots of constructive conversations about it, I really believed he wouldn’t and thought the name he chose in the end was beautiful. It was 4 years later, via a Leeds magazine, that I found out the truth.
After holding court with his mates, they worked out a way round matters and our son was indeed named in some way named after a bloody Leeds player! You may be wondering if I have a learnt anything over the past 17 years? Well, I have learned the offside law and all about the history and traditions of the club. I have also learned how to brainwash a young child into following his fathers team (Is it legal or even sane to threaten to make your child sleep in the garage if he doesn’t?).
Finally, the biggest thing I have learned is to not use the phrase ‘It’s only a game’. After all, even though in the grand scheme of things it is, to you who know better, its more than that. To end with, I would like to wish the team and all members of the White Army all the very best for the next 2 games. Please god get promoted because I am not sure I can take yet another summer ruined by Leeds United AFC. It was going to be bad enough with the World Cup going on, but I dread to think how another season ending in tears will further affect the male members of my family!
Keep Marching On Together!”
http://keepfighting.wordpress.com/2010/04/26/leeds-united-afc-open-goal/
