Dirty Leeds

Not every welcoming

It’s always hard if you are a fan and you feel the need to boycott a game through no fault of your own. This weekend hundreds of Cardiff City fans will be in that position due to Leeds United derisory allocation of 500 tickets. In the reverse fixture earlier in the season at the Cardiff City Stadium, Leeds fans were offered 2,200 tickets.

Officially, there will be no Cardiff City fans at the ground but that has not stopped Cardiff fans purchasing tickets to sit among the Leeds fans. There could be the potential for trouble. Leeds have up to 2,500 tickets for away fans and earlier on in the season Birmingham who have had their own fan problems in the past took over a thousand fans to Leeds around the same figure Cardiff would have expected to take for this game.

Leeds have not confirmed why such a low number of tickets have been allocated. Was it down to the club itself, council, or police. It is rumoured that they offered 2,000 tickets with restrictions on those travelling to Yorkshire before offering an allocation of 500 without restrictions.

Cardiff City Football Club and its supporters groups are both in agreement over the boycott. The latter are looking for answers on why they made the call to reduce the ticket allocation down to 500. Firing off letters to Leeds Football Club, Leeds Council, and West Yorkshire Police under the Freedom of Information Act requesting all correspondence and meetings that have taken place with the Safety Advisory group among others

Cardiff City Supporters club are even considering legal action with the support of the Football Supporters' Federation. If I was travelling to this game, I would be happy to boycott. Away fans at most grounds are treated like a burden. Extra stewarding and policing but they forget it swings both ways when their fans visit our stadium. It’s not cheap being an away fan once you factor in travel, match ticket, food, and drinks it’s a big commitment on anyone’s pocket.