Service Crew: The Inside Story of Leeds United's Hooligan Gangs by Caroline Gall

Author:Caroline Gall [Gall, Caroline]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781908479105
Publisher: Milo Books Ltd
Published: 2011-12-25T23:00:00+00:00

From about 1983 onwards, a new generation of lads were starting to make their mark. The Very Young Team (VYT) was made up of about twenty youths from Seacroft, thirty from East End Park, sometimes referred to as ‘the Liverpool of Leeds’ for the criminal tendencies of its residents, twenty from Hunslet and Bell Isle, ten from Burley and Kirkstall and thirty from Doncaster. On a good day, they could pull in more and see numbers top 200. Eddie Kelly and Skiz were seen as the main two lads and led the way. The hardcore included China, Tobin, Jimmo and Dave Granger, Ashley, Tubby, Chalky and Sinbad, O’Neil, Farrah and the Twinnies, Simon, Gav, Buggles, Carrot, Lockie, Ricky Gott plus others from Harehills. Derek and Andy D lived near Bradford and were slightly older but knocked about with the VYT lads and always got stuck in with them over the years.

Although there had been fallouts between neighbourhoods in the past – East End Park and Seacroft were two areas that did not always get on – the VYT stuck together. From about 1981, while they were still at school and too young to enter pubs, they hung about in the cafes dotted around the city. China, Skiz, Derek and Andy D were big for their age and found it wasn’t long before they could get in the pubs with the older lads.

The VYT quickly built up a reputation for ‘slotting’ in amusement arcades, shoplifting and other ‘earners’ and were often seen around the city centre with Head bags filled with stolen goods. They would head off to Manchester on shopping trips, in particular to a stall in the underground market where Trimm Trabb, Tacchini, Lacoste and straight-legged cords were in plentiful supply. ‘Where are you lot from, Little Leeds?’ the stallholder would jokingly ask. Skiz in particular was known for his ‘little earners’ over the years, the proceeds of which seem to have supported his gambling habit. He started going to matches with his parents, as many lads did, and had his fifteen minutes of fame at Elland Road in the Seventies.

I was about eleven years old and me and my mum and dad had a season ticket in the West Stand. After every match we’d stay behind for a drink. I used to take a tennis ball with me and play football. I’d done it for years and I used to kick it up and down and get egged on by all the half-cut adults. ‘Go on lad,’ they’d say, ‘You’ll play for Leeds one day.’

On this occasion I was being Eddie Gray. I dribbled past one, then another, only the defence to beat, nearly there. ‘Shoot!’ shouted a woman merry on a G and T. Not yet, I say, just a bit further, now’s the time. I kicked the ball with all the strength I had and the crowd cheered, but I’d missed and CRASH, I’d smashed a window. Everyone went silent and then the stewards arrived with a member of the Elland Road staff.

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