Leeds has a strong sporting heritage, with the Yorkshire County Cricket Club, Leeds Rhinos (the rugby league team) and Leeds Carnegie (the rugby union team) playing at Headingley Stadium, and Leeds United A.F.C. playing at Elland Road.
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Teams based in Leeds
Football
In the early 20th Century Leeds was known as a rugby town. The first football team to bear the name of the city were called Leeds City. However this team was disqualified from the league for financial breaches. In 1919 Leeds United were formed. Unlike many northern cities such as Manchester and Sheffield, Leeds has just one football league team, being the city with the largest population to have just one team in the top four divisions of English football (the Premier League and the three leagues comprising The Football League). Leeds United will play the 2007-08 season in Football League One, the third level of the English league system; this will be the first time since the club's election to The Football League in 1920 that they have played outside the top two divisions. They were relegated from the second-level Football League Championship as a direct result of a 10-point deduction for going into administration. They had been in The Championship since 2004, when a financial crisis and loss of key players cost them their Premiership status and almost put them out of business. Their greatest successes came under the leadership of manager Don Revie in the late 1960s and 1970s, when they were league champions twice as well as winning the League Cup, F.A Cup and European Fairs Cup. They also won the league title in 1992, when Howard Wilkinson was manager, the teams last major trophy. There is also an affiliated Ladies team Leeds United L.F.C. whose closest chance at silverware was in the 2006 FA Women's Cup, losing to Arsenal L.F.C..
- See also: Farsley Celtic AFC, Leeds City Vixens L.F.C., and Leeds United L.F.C.
Farsley Celtic AFC are a non-league football team from the Farsley district of West Leeds, and play their home games at Throstle Nest. They have recently been promoted to the Conference, meaning that only one league separates them from their more illustrious neighbours Leeds United. Another non-league team in Leeds is Garforth Town, who play in East Leeds. Leeds City Vixens L.F.C. are a womens football team in Leeds. They play in the Northern Combination Women's Football League and last season the finished 2nd in the league. They moved ground from Adel Memorial to The Bracken Edge the same ground as Yorkshire Amateur A.F.C.. Leeds United Ladies Football Club are an English women's football club. They play at The Park, Tadcaster
Rugby league
- See also: Leeds Rhinos, Hunslet Hawks, and Bramley Buffaloes
Founded as Leeds St. Johns in 1895 the club is now known as the Leeds Rhinos have a long history. In recent years the team has comepted in several major finals. Under coach Graham Murray they competed in the first Super League grand final in 1998 but were defeated by Wigan Warriors. A year later Leeds won the Challenge Cup, defeating London Broncos at Wembley in the last final held at Wembley stadium before its re-building. After several years without a trophy the appointment of Tony Smith of coach saw Leeds top the league at the end of the season and went on to be crowned Super League champions on 16 October, 2004 after defeating arch rivals Bradford Bulls 16-8 at Old Trafford. In 2005 the Rhinos reached the final of both the Challenge Cup and the Super League but lost both games to Hull FC and Bradford Bulls respectively. Leeds now hold the 2007 crown after thrashing former champions St Helens 33-6 in the Grand Final. This was Coach Tony Smith's final game before leaving to be G.B coach and this win makes it two grand final trophies in four years. Hunslet Hawks are a rugby league team based in the Hunslet district of South Leeds. They were formed in May 1883 with the merger of two local teams. They were the first club to win All Four Cups, which they did in the 1907-08 season. They currently play in National League Two. Bramley Buffaloes are a rugby league team based in the Bramley district of West Leeds. Bramley were founded in 1879. At the end of the 1999 season Bramley resigned from the Northern Ford Premiership to become a feeder team for Leeds Rhinos, but this never materialised. They were reformed as a supporter-owned club and now play in National League Three. There are numerous BARLA teams based in Leeds.
Rugby union
Leeds Carnegie were founded in 1991 as Leeds RUFC after the merger of Roundhay and Headingley and played their first match on 1 September 1992 against Hull Ionians. In 1998, after the club amalgamated with Leeds Rhinos, it took the name Leeds Tykes. The club won their first ever trophy in 2005 with battling performance to defeat huge favourites Bath in the Powergen Cup final. However the teams fortunes declined and in 2006 they were relegated from the Guinness Premiership. After one season in National Division One they won promotion back to the top flight of rugby union. Shortly after the end of the 2006-07 season, Leeds Metropolitan University bought a 51% stake in the club and renamed it Leeds Carnegie, after the university's sport faculty of Carnegie College.[1]
Cricket
Yorkshire County Cricket Club have played most of their games at Headingley Stadium, Leeds since 1888. Test match cricket has been played there since 1899. As shown in the picture right.
Other
Leeds City AC is amongst the biggest and most successful athletics clubs in the North of England and has had the most successful men's harriers section in the country in the 21st century. Since the turn of the millennium the team has never been out of the top 4 in the National Cross Country Championships, winning in 2003 and 2006. In 2006 the team achieved the 'Grand Slam' of wins - Yorkshire, North of England and English National Champions.
Other Sport in Leeds
Leeds has a wealth of sports facilities including the 40,000 capacity Elland Road football stadium, a host stadium during the 1996 European Football Championship, 22,000 capacity Carnegie Headingley Stadium, world famous for both Cricket and rugby league, Leeds International Pool (50m), South Leeds Stadium used for athletics, bowls, football, rugby league and tennis. Other facilities include the Leeds Wall (climbing), Xscape (real snow indoor ski and snowboard slope with ice climbing wall) and Yeadon Tarn, sailing centre.
Notes and references
- ^ "University buys into Leeds Tykes", BBC, 2007-05-14.
See also
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