The shadow of Istanbul is longer for Andy Loftus. He rushed to Taksim hospital, near where the men were stabbed. Gray remembers OLeary going out of the team hotel to visit a barbers for a shave beforehand. On the 20th anniversary of their deaths, he said: "I suffered quite badly after it happened. Both had numerous other wounds. He just happened to run into some tossers with knives., George was so young that the aftermath almost strayed into boyhood adventure. "It's just a bit of a rollercoaster ride really but we get by," he said. On this Wikipedia the language links are at the top of the page across from the article title. (Main photo of Kevin Speight with his son George and daughter Holly). On April 5 2000 two Leeds fans, Kevin Speight and Christopher Loftus, were stabbed to death before the 2000 Uefa Cup semi-final first leg against Galatasaray in Taksim Square, Istanbul. Can you list the top facts and stats about 2000 UEFA Cup semi-final violence? "They came into town to see. Everything was muddled. Galatasaray fans entered the area shortly afterwards which precipitated a fight between the two sets of supporters. After a long legal process in Turkey, four men were jailed in 2010. As. Fallows is a security guard with ample experience. [5] As a result of the stabbings, Leeds United banned Galatasaray fans from attending the second leg at Elland Road, claiming that the safety of fans could not be guaranteed. At no stage between arriving at the hospital and Leeds playing the first leg against Galatasaray the following night did Ridsdale sleep. It triggered something and I ran into the ward. Demir lost his last appeal in 2010 and was jailed for six years and eight months. I knew the ramifications would be life-long.. The police were doing nothing to stop them. If the thought of a transfer like that sits uncomfortably then perhaps it should. It was horrible. Its completely different. That deal took Kewell back to a stadium where he and Leeds once needed protection with riot shields. The images are so vivid in Peter Ridsdales mind that he can describe every aspect of the hospital where Speight and Loftus were taken after they were attacked. "Maybe they thought they were being funny but to Turks who do not speak good English, it was very offensive.". Peter Ridsdale, the chairman who guided Leeds through the tragedy, is approaching 70. 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. Ill hear them saying, Thats Kevin Speights lad and I like that. He was eight when the deaths occurred and he was 25 when he came to England as a professional. He was taken to identify the other, Chris Loftus, in the morgue after doctors mistook him for a family member. 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. Leeds and Galatasaray fans clashed in violent scenes 21 years agoat 21:00 in Istanbul's Taksim Square. The police told us themselves that the shoe-shine boys had been trailing us for a while, waiting to see when some of us had split away from the main group.. Another supporter who tried to resuscitate Chris was hit with batons. Theyd turned on their tellies and it was all over the Turkish news, Fallows says. Both families come here each April 5, to lay flowers and let another year pass. "There's a lot of anger. [6] Demir was later found guilty of murder and was sentenced to 15 years imprisonment, but released in 2004. Association with the tragedy can be difficult. [30] In total, nineteen people were injured and sixty people were arrested,[27] with 15 of the arrested being subsequently banned from attending Euro 2000. They had been a couple since their teens. It was obvious that Galatasaray were making no concession for what had taken place, so that was our form of protest. Gala is an awful football club and Alioski is an awful footballer. The 45-year-old was an unused sub when Leeds were defeated by Galatasaray in an infamous 1999-00 Uefa Cup semi-finals - a match that was overshadowed by the death of two Yorkshire fans in the . The fan responded: "If you did not know then fair enough but your club certainly did and they should be ashamed of themselves. Riots and 2 English deaths around UEFA Cup matches Galatasaray from Turkey against English teams in 2000 ", "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. And I still blame myself a lot.. And there was the time when Speight took him to Elland Road and George, in his infancy, mistakenly cheered when the opposition scored. Over a coffee in Starbucks, George Speight finds a way to be philosophical about his fathers death. He must have been off his head., Ian Harte, the left-back, is more vivid in describing it. According to a waiter at a nearby restaurant, the Turkish club's fanatical fans had heard through the grapevine that trouble was brewing. Galatasaray away on April 6, 2000; a huge occasion for the club in a football sense, Ridsdale says. 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. He previously worked for the Yorkshire Evening Post as its chief football writer. I was amazed, he says. I didnt want to be standing there telling them what to do and I understood that they didnt want to hear it. Kewell grew up in Leeds academy and was in the starting line-up for both legs against Galatasaray. Its a game. 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. For me, it didnt feel real. 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. Fri 7 Apr 2000 20.36 EDT. Summarize this article for a 10 years old. Galatasaray supporters, despite everything that had gone on, were pelting the buses and trying to smash the windows. The Turkish. [31] Nineteen of the arrested were British, thirty-six were Turkish and the rest of the arrested included people from Sweden, Germany and the Netherlands. The city centre was tense but, thanks to a massive police presence, mainly empty. And it is far too late to redress that now. Rory Carroll in Istanbul and Martin Wainwright. Through different eyes and different viewpoints, a picture built up of the disregard and indifference with which they had been treated by those they looked to for help. He started shouting for Christopher to wake up. My mum always says the same: Hed gone out there for the football, nothing else. More than a dozen police watched but initially did not intervene. Nicolo Zaniolo signed on a permanent deal MORE. ", Get the FREE Mirror Football newsletter with the day's key headlines and transfer news straight into your inbox. Obviously he liked his football too. The slit-throat gestures from fans as we arrived on the bus. "There was nothing in the days running up to this match to suggest there would be this level of violence," Mr Hunt said. But from 10.30pm local time, any sense of complacency seemed tragically misplaced, as a brutal battle began between Leeds supporters and a group of Turks, with running fights in the streets. [17] This came after Arsenal had warned the police before the final that there could be hooligans travelling to Copenhagen. In 2014 he was spoken to by a Turkish website, a free man again. Football is sport here and for many Istanbul residents Galatasaray - who won the league last Sunday - is football. The plaque on the wall by Elland Roads East Stand says Never Forgotten and Leeds United swore themselves to those words. As a subscriber, you have 10 gift articles to give each month. Something went wrong, please try again later. [38], In 2013, Arsenal invited Galatasaray to compete at their annual Emirates Cup tournament. Loftuss brother Andy jokes that he had thicker hair back in the day. 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. [45] It later arose that the majority of the people in the photos were either not involved or had been acting in self-defence. More importantly, we needed to find out what state the two lads were in and whether we could help them.. CATEGORIES . [21] This lasted 20 minutes[19] before the Danish police attempted to break up the melee with dogs[22] and tear gas. It is 10 years since he last went to the grave. What they were seeing was pretty graphic so we said to them, Turn the tellies off, go to bed and wait for us to get some proper details. The footage was grainy and frightening, capturing a helpless Loftus with bloodstains on his shirt. Disgusting. 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. Galatasaray fans attempted to provoke the Arsenal fans in the bars, and the two sides began chanting at each other until bottles were thrown from both sides around 16:00. 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. Turkish Prime Minister Blent Ecevit also made a call for fans to avoid violence after the riots, stating: Sports should be an initiative for friendship, not for fighting. 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. To this day, it is used as a tribute every time the anniversary comes round. This morning the Dutch international tweeted: "Finally my GalatasaraySK knife set is now available and can be delivered everywhere.". And others, like Eddie Gray and Ian Harte, have moved on with their lives. 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. It is regarded as a significant act of betrayal by many fans for a Leeds player to join Galatasaray. I spent the whole night thinking, What are we doing here? And when the Leeds fans turned their backs to the pitch, total respect to them because the football meant nothing. A week or so later, we lost 4-0 to Arsenal. This caused a severe riot in the city square, with several restaurant facilities used by fans to fight each other, with iron bars and knives also being used. Football authorities condemned the riots and threatened to expel national football teams from European competition if such events happened again. If you ask me now if I made the right or wrong decision by playing it, I still dont know, Ridsdale says. "Once more English hooligans, once more, blood," said the mainstream Hurriyet newspaper. Everything happened in a flash. "They were using very bad language," said Abdul Garlad, a manager. Send any friend a story. Even so, the counterargument holds water. If someone could have shown me those levels of intimidation, Id have refused to play the game unhesitatingly. Right up to the attack, I didnt see any trouble. Other fans in Istanbul spoke of isolated incidents here and there but nothing serious. Galatasaray football player Wesley Sneijder has released a commemorative knife set - on the 15th anniversary of the fatal stabbing of two Leeds fans by Turkish supporters. galatasaray leeds death; marfan criteria calculator; galatasaray leeds death. The passing of time is there in all of them. From my point of view I was only interested in getting that game over and done with as safely as possible. [27], At Parken Stadium, where the final was to be played, the police erected iron fencing outside to separate the Arsenal and Galatasaray fans as a precaution. ', And: 'Alioski can f*** off, he obviously knows the history between the two clubs.'. He wasnt one of them who tried to cause trouble. Away tickets were limited to 80, which effectively covered only senior Galatasaray officials. The atmosphere was electric like, scarily electric. He has a busy job as an electrician and a twinkle in his eye. Chris and Kevin were brutally murdered in Istanbul on the eve of our UEFA Cup semi-final fixture with Galatasaray in 2000. But eventually the issue of what to do about the game had to be addressed. 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. If you're Leeds, you don't move to a direct rival, simple. Grieving Leeds Faces Galatasaray Rematch : It Is a Matter of Life Or Death, Sometimes. It makes me proud. Like his father, George has the nickname Spag. . I know bits and bats but it doesnt help me to go over it, he says. 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. Maybe, he says, and his voice tails off. In its opinion, contesting the game was the least worst option. In the circumstances, it was a total irrelevance and too highly-charged. Leeds fans have reacted furiously to reports that Ezgjan Alioski has agreed to move to Galatasaray. We had a coach for the players and a coach for the directors, he says. 'There were a lot of other clubs out there but this is perfect for me. 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. The eggs were massive and I was chuffed to bits with mine, he says. But it was common sense. Im not sure Ive even processed it now. From 5pm local time more than 100 Leeds fans had arrived shouting, singing and demanding beer, according to Batu Dedeler, the bar owner. Those April nights were as close as Leeds will get to it. But he didnt make much of it, like it was something of nothing. Sneijder's tweet has since been deleted and the midfielder sent a tweet to an angry fan stating: "Very sorry. The Speights were a close family who lived in the Yorkshire village of Farsley, where Kevin Speight was landlord of the Bay Horse pub. Anger: Leeds fans are angry that Galatasaray's Wesley Sneijder has announced a new knife range on the 15th anniversary of the stabbing of two fans in Istanbul, Violence: An injured fan is taken away after riots between Leeds and Galatasaray fans before match in Turkey, Horror: A fan is escorted away from the violence by a police officer after riots between Leeds and Galatasaray fans. I thought about Graeme Souness running and planting a Galatasaray flag in the middle of the pitch at Fenerbahce. The Football Associations David Davies said playing the game was the least worst option. sauce pizza and wine mac and cheese. ', By A group of rival fans gathered and jeers were exchanged. He liked a drink and a laugh, simple as that, Andy says. This year is the 20th anniversary of the mens deaths in Istanbul and many of their relatives carry those events as if they happened yesterday. I tried telling Galatasarays staff to get them out. [30] A Danish police officer[22] and a Turkish cameraman were also injured in the riots. [29], In all, four people were stabbed during the riots: two English, one Turkish and one Dutch fan. "We came out of a bar and there were 100 people waiting for us with machetes, knives, bits of chair and table legs and they just attacked us. Spencer stepped in and paid with his personal credit card. junio 12, 2022. abc news anchors female philadelphia . 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. Follow Phil on Twitter @PhilHay_, George and Holly Speight with Peter Ridsdale after their fathers death. Gray, a Glaswegian, was in the Celtic end with his wife Linda on the day of the Ibrox disaster in 1971. Ridsdale was told by staff at the hospital that Speight was in a critical condition and needed an urgent transfusion but that the blood had to be paid for. So Leeds did. My mum flicked it straight off again. Uefa, after consultation with the clubs and the Turkish authorities, wavered but eventually decided to go ahead. Last year, on the 20th anniversary of the killings in Istanbul, The Athletic spoke to some of the people closest to the tragedy and some of the people most affected by it. The road to justice for the Speight and Loftus families was long and demoralising. Everyones different., A brass plaque commemorating Speight and Lofus was set into brickwork outside Elland Road in 2001. You dont take much notice of whats said because youre out there for a beer and a laugh. ", Jack Connolly added: "That Wesley Sneijder knife launch is disgusting, scum of the earth.". At least nine other people, including six Leeds fans, were injured. Within minutes, a pitched battle erupted. Ridsdale is someone the Speights hold in high regard. Wed spoken about doing something beforehand, he says. Phil grew up near Edinburgh in Scotland and is a staff writer for The Athletic, covering Leeds United. Chelsea 1-0 Leeds LIVE: Blues finally find the breakthrough as Wesley Fofana heads home the opener in the second half in a game Graham Potter really needs to win as Brighton and Aston Villa . 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. Hed just met a girl. 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. Harry Kewell (born 22 September 1978) is an Australian association football coach, manager and former player. [38] In Turkey, the media portrayed Galatasaray fans as acting in self-defence, with criticism directed at the British fans for allegedly attacking members of the press. He previously worked for the Yorkshire Evening Post as its chief football writer. Ridsdale still struggles to accept Galatasarays indifferent reaction to the stabbings. Former Leeds United Chairman Peter Ridsdale said: "The lasting impact has been to see the devastating effect it's had on Christopher and Kevin's families. Ill be careful here but I have to say that I felt uncomfortable welcoming Galatasarays delegates to Elland Road. [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. Alioski was not part of that history but the history exists and the real story here far more significant than Alioski or any other footballer per se is the absence of any reconciliation over a night which feels as raw to those who witnessed it now as it did two decades ago; the lasting bitterness produced by a vacuum of empathy. There was the time when he was caught stealing two pounds from the pub till and sent by Speight to sit in the office until Susan came home to read the riot act. We werent talking about Leeds General Infirmary. Speights treatment failed to save him. US-made cheese can be called 'gruyere' - court, AOC under investigation for Met Gala dress, Canadian grandma helps police snag phone scammer, The children left behind in Cuba's exodus. [10][12] This led to the final being considered "high risk"; 2,000 members of the Danish police were assigned to the game, with assistance from members of British and Turkish police forces. Who really cares?. I dont think, even to this day, that Galatasaray would see the amount of press coverage or criticism as being fairly labelled against them, Risdale 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. The first time he went inside to be present, he sat with friends and cried. Galatasaray away on April 6, 2000; "a huge occasion for the club in a football sense," Ridsdale says. Football riots in City Hall Square, Copenhagen, Denmark (May 2000). "I haven't seen a single Englishman all day," said a newspaper vendor. One Love was a controlled situation. [36], In August 2000, Arsenal banned thirty-seven people involved in the Copenhagen riot from Arsenal's Highbury stadium. It sunk in quickly once we got home. Galatasaray accused him of trying to gain an unfair sporting advantage. I dont think a single one of the lads wanted to play that night.. Fans in nearby bars remained unaware of the violence. And worse things too. Both had numerous other wounds. 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. How the violence started is unclear. There was the time when the pub opened its doors early to allow the locals to catch an early kick-off between Leeds and Manchester United. junio 12, 2022. abc news anchors female philadelphia . Leeds had taken over an entire corridor at the five-star Kempinski and the squad were in their rooms, ready to sleep ahead of the game the next night. Kevin Fallows was the clubs head of security and travelled with the players to all their fixtures in Europe. Within an hour of the stabbings in central Istanbul, some of David OLearys squad emerged to speak to him. I had no idea where we were going or why we were going there, he says. But the Leeds fans do not see it that way. Others that the Turks precipitated it by throwing chairs. 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. Its a strange thing but its important to me. 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. By that stage he was exhausted. 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. But if you back out, youll forfeit the game and incur a 3-0 defeat. For players and supporters alike, this has become one of the most fraught and difficult venues in Europe. We could only do what we thought was best at that moment. The journey to the stadium prior to kick-off made him wish he had forfeited it and taken the consequences. Devastated., The next 24 hours were a blur. The first the Leeds players heard of the incident in Taksim Square was when phone calls started reaching them in their hotel. The security guard who was in Turkey with the clubs players and directors is into his 50s and taking it easy after neck surgery. Harry Kewell is in front of him, carrying a ball and looking bewildered. Andy has paid for the plaque to be cleaned a couple of times and it could do with another polish now. He was seven when Speight died, his sister Holly two. Four men were arrested and charged with their murders. They phoned their parents back home but the media had already informed them of Chriss death. The brothers went to the British Embassy but, in Andys words, found them to be worse than useless. Me and the security team tried to create a bit of a cushion between them so the players werent worried about getting batoned, Fallows says. No one meant for it to happen. Surprise me? People know me because of my dad, he says. Four men were arrested and charged with their murders. In Turkey, two supporters were murdered. Send your story ideas to yorkslincs.news@bbc.co.uk. Kewell was quoted after joining Galatasaray as saying that to blame Galatasaray for the tragedy in Istanbul is simply wrong and discriminatory. Every year, the families of Kevin Speight and Chris Loftus place wreathes at the plaque and go together for a drink, to catch up and reflect. I got a lot of abuse for that and no wonder. It was completely against your idea of law and order. I just said to them, Good luck., Galatasarays reputation went before them. Soon, they arrived at a flight of steps and a spot which would generate one of the lasting images of the entire tragedy. The loss ofKevin Speight and Christopher Loftus is still felt incredibly deeply and the feud between the clubs remains. In contrast, what Leeds saw in Galatasaray was a baffling lack of sympathy. ', While a third posted: 'They suit each other. One of 13 Turks arrested in Istanbul has confessed to stabbing Leeds United fan Christopher Loftus, whose body is expected . UEFA, after a week of consideration, agreed with Leeds. Andys last memory of Chris is of him rolling his eyes sarcastically and ribbing him for leaving early, in brotherly style. I make no secret of that., Leeds were beaten 2-0 in Istanbul and lost over two legs after a 2-2 draw at home. Leeds will on Saturday afternoon mark 15 years since the deaths of supporters Christopher Loftus and Kevin Speight, who were stabbed by a Galatasaray fan in April 2000. British fans were outnumbered and chased up side streets. I dont want to imply criticism of the hospital for that, Ridsdale says. You were dealing with young lads and the last thing you wanted to do was scare them.. 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. When they came back to Elland Road they thought our request for no away fans was inappropriate. Gray, one of OLearys assistants, tried to focus his attention elsewhere. [23] The violence, which included fans from other English clubs[24] and Turks living in Denmark,[25] lasted for 45 minutes. You dont get it.. I looked at Eddie, he looked at me, we smiled a nervous smile and both said the same thing: Lets go.. 2000 fights between English and Turkish football fans. There was nothing you could say to him. Anywhere else in Europe, I doubt it would have been played. The police warned a postponement could cause more trouble. [38] The photos led to some postmen working for Royal Mail losing their jobs because they had been seen in the photos and in television coverage,[46] even though they had not been arrested. Mr Loftus's brother Andy said: "I know it may seem a long time but it's still very much like yesterday really.". 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). The design of the place meant the Leeds players had to take a long walk to the tunnel, flanked by armed police.