It's amazing how ridiculous our Straits Times sports pages are. Yesterday was the opening day of the Coca Cola Championship season, and not a single article yesterday or today covered the Championship games. Instead the so-called sports editors chose to focus on old, out-dated stories such as Wayne Rooney's mandatory red card, Chelsea's despicable tapping up of Ashley Cole, Arsenal's reluctance to sell Reyes, Liverpool's deserved 5-0 drubbing, and Newcastle's lame-excuse striker shortage. I mean, who gives a damn about these stories .... do they put these in just to fill up their mandatory 5 page minimum of sports? Hello, not to say that these stories are crap, but the same stories about the same clubs make the headlines every day.
And yesterday was opening day of the Championships, with one of the big 5 of English soccer playing their opening game. Yes, I am talking about Leeds United, who ruled English soccer in the 70s and early 80s, before Liverpool surprisingly took over as the kings of England. Yes, people might scorn at the idea of Leeds reigning supreme before, but it's true .... league champions in 1968, 1973 and 1991; FA Cup winners in 1972 (beating Arsenal); UEFA Cup winners in 1968 and 1971; European Cup Winners Cup finalists in 1973, just to name a small number of Leeds' acheivements. You might be wondering where the European Cup (now called the Champions League) figures in Leeds' history. Well, in the season of 1975, Leeds defeated Barcelona to reach the European Cup finals, facing off against Bayern Munich. Leeds eventually lost 2-0, but neutrals alike agreed it was a game Leeds should have won, and not because Leeds played poorly, but because the referee was bribed by Bayern officials prior to the match. So here's a brief summary of what unfolded. Bayern scored early .... Leeds had 2 obvious penalty appeals wrongly turned down in the first half. Then after 67 minutes, Peter Lorimer's (Leeds all-time record goalscorer) thunderbolt hit the back of the Bayern net. The linesman ran back to the halfway line thinking it was a valid goal, but the French referee believed Billy Bremner (Leeds' greatest captain) - who was running back from an offside position had interfered with play. Quite how he was interfering with a 70mph shot is unclear. Bayern scored a 2nd goal to kill off the match. A large section of the Leeds fans in the ground were less than impressed, and proceeded to dismantle the Parc des Princes. Following UEFA investigations, the French referee was subsequently banned for life. Truly, if fair play had been observed, Leeds would have been champions of Europe in 1975!
So, on to the present, Leeds United (together with Man Utd, Liverpool, Arsenal and Chelsea make up the big 5) faced off against Norwich City yesterday at Elland Road (To Ell And Back!), watched by a crowd of 22,000 plus. The Straits Times can't be bothered to cover the game, but not to worry, there's always a section devoted to Leeds right here (Updated Leeds scores can always be found on the right side of this page). Leeds won 1-0, with David Healy converting a 41st minute penalty, after Eirik Bakke was fouled in the penalty area. Cool and confident, that's Leeds United! So, watch the goal below.
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