Search

06 Sept 2025

Ending ‘tragedy chanting’ a Premier League priority after Elland Road incidents

Ending ‘tragedy chanting’ a Premier League priority after Elland Road incidents

The Premier League said it is treating the issue of “tragedy chanting” as “a matter of urgency” after joining Leeds and Manchester United in condemning the sick chants heard during Sunday’s match at Elland Road.

Erik ten Hag’s men ran out 2-0 victors in West Yorkshire as the old rivals went toe-to-toe for the second time in five days, having drawn 2-2 at Old Trafford on Wednesday night.

Elland Road was a cauldron of noise and the usual hostilities stepped over the mark shortly before the interval when small groups of rival fans traded grim chants.

There were songs about the 1958 Munich air disaster from a section of the home end along with some plane gestures and some of the away support chanted about the death of two Leeds fans in Istanbul in 2000.

Shortly after full-time the clubs released a joint statement reading: “Both clubs strongly condemn chanting from both sets of fans regarding historic tragedies at today’s game.

“Such behaviour is completely unacceptable and we will continue to work together with our respective fan groups and the Premier League and other authorities on eradicating it from football.”

The Premier League has a working group on the issue of tragedy chanting, working alongside clubs, the Football Association, English Football League and Football Supporters’ Association to tackle the issue.

The PA news agency understands Manchester United are represented on the panel and are pushing for more to be done and have worked with other clubs, in particular Liverpool, to deliver campaigns to educate supporters.

The Premier League said in a statement: “The Premier League condemns the chanting heard during today’s match between Leeds United and Manchester United.

“The League is treating the issue of tragedy chanting as a priority and as a matter of urgency.”

Last Monday marked the 65th anniversary of the Munich air disaster, when 23 people – including eight players and three members of staff – died travelling back from a European Cup tie against Red Star Belgrade.

Violence on the eve of Leeds’ UEFA Cup semi-final first leg against Galatasaray led to the death of Leeds fans Christopher Loftus and Kevin Speight in Istanbul on April 5, 2000.

To continue reading this article,
please subscribe and support local journalism!


Subscribing will allow you access to all of our premium content and archived articles.

Subscribe

To continue reading this article for FREE,
please kindly register and/or log in.


Registration is absolutely 100% FREE and will help us personalise your experience on our sites. You can also sign up to our carefully curated newsletter(s) to keep up to date with your latest local news!

Register / Login

Buy the e-paper of the Donegal Democrat, Donegal People's Press, Donegal Post and Inish Times here for instant access to Donegal's premier news titles.

Keep up with the latest news from Donegal with our daily newsletter featuring the most important stories of the day delivered to your inbox every evening at 5pm.