Footage from Yorkshire Film Archive
On 2 October 1976, Leeds United played Manchester United at home.
The West Yorkshire Metropolitan Police filmed a record of crowd control operations that day, covering Elland Road football ground and the wider city of Leeds.
1. West Yorkshire Metropolitan Police briefing.
2. The football special arrives at Leeds railway station, and the away fans flood out.
3. More travelling fans, herded en route to Elland Road.
4. Nearer the ground, one group play up for the camera.
5. Home fans are searched.
6. The crowds begin to snake along the west side of Meadow Lane, past Frank Fletcher Motorcycles.
7. Fans began to gather outside the gates. Tickets cost 75p (equivalent to £5.68 today). For the 2015-16 season, adult ticket prices range from £21 to £37 per match.
8. Outside The Old Peacock, located opposite the ground. It’s a meeting point for fans, and is still in business.
9. Inside the pub, police advise drinkers not to overdo it.
10. Badges, presumably confiscated from local supporters.
11. Leeds United players emerge from the tunnel, led by Trevor Cherry.
12. ‘Big’ Gordon McQueen (holding ball) strides out. The 6ft 3in defender joined the team on a £30,000 transfer from St Mirren, making 140 appearances before moving to Manchester United for a price of almost £500,000.
13. Sammy McIlroy trips over the ball.
14. Police book in arrests at the ground. The year before, it was the site for a daring desecration by one of Slade Prison’s old lags in a classic episode of Porridge (actually filmed at Loftus Road in London).
15. An injured fan is shown to camera.
16. Outside the ground, the more limber supporters attempt entry.
17. After the match, home fans head home.
18. In a different area, the away crowd do the same.
19. Some trail past the Dragonara Casino (now the Hilton Leeds City on Neville Street). One contributor to a local forum recalls a family windfall at the gaming tables. “Overnight we were moving into the biggest house in the street – fish pond, car port – the lot,” he recalls. “Next thing the keys for the big house went on the roulette table and we moved back into the back-to-back.”
20. The police version of a match scorecard.
Leeds United finished the 1976-1977 season in tenth place and made it to the FA Cup semi-finals.
The film and stills on this page are taken from Britain on Film, a digital archive of UK places that mean the world to you. 10,000 film and TV titles from 1895 to now will be digitised and can be watched for free on BFI Player.
Britain on Film is funded by the National Lottery funding and the Esmée Fairbairn Foundation.
