In this weeks Teenage Kicks In our young writer Darragh Mullen combines poetry, football and Irish history to make a point.
It’s funny how poetry can last the test of time. Those of you familiar with the great Irish poet W.B Yeats will also be familiar with his poem September 1913 where he greatly criticises Irishmen for their lack of passion in campaign for change. Many people years before had given their lives in an attempt to gain a Free Republic but at the time he was left with people content with what they had even though ultimately it was not what everybody wanted. I can’t help drawing comparisons though with such a symbolic poem and Leeds United today! This year we found out that we actually don’t know who owns our club and we were reminded what we already knew that our Glorified Funds Manager was not trustworthy. The worst part about it is that nobody seems to care all too much or at least nothing is being done away from the keyboard.
I don’t think I need to say anything on how bad Bates is or how important it is for us to know who our owners are because to be honest, I am sick myself of reading articles on it. The bone that I have to pick is the absolute lack of action taken by people in and around the Elland Road area. Like last week, I will reiterate the Green and Gold campaign and the Scouser’s billboards because they are two clear cut examples of fans acting out against their chairmen. To date there has been no public protests from Leeds fans in an attempt to find information about anything really. Websites have been created, newspapers have been banned an many an Internet blog has given its valid opinion but nobody seems willing to grab this by the balls ls and pull everybody along with them. We have no leader willing to tackle this in person. We are supposedly the best fans in the world and our support of a team in league 1 in such high attendances is meant to be a credit to us all. We read about Gary the superfan who has only missed one game in however many years but apparently when it comes to owning the club its none of our business and theres no point in trying to find out. Also when it comes to a snake running our club it doesn’t really matter as long as nothing terrible happens. It doesn’t matter if we don’t own our stadium and we have missed the first deadline to buy back our training ground but as long as Bates has “stabilised” the club its ok. Let’s not cause a fuss!
Putting it bluntly, action taken on the Internet is not action taken at all. As one individual writing one blog I do not make a difference in the scheme of things Leeds United and I have to accept that as a part of life. I only get to Elland Road on average once a season anyway so its fair to say that my input into the club is far less than the majority of fans, especially those who are there week in week out. I would like to think that personally if I did live across the other side of the Irish Sea that I would get there more often but then again who is to say really. When it comes down to it there are many more Leeds fans out there who are far more influential than me. My point is that its these people who need to do something even if its through the Square Ball or LLHB. I have no idea the names of the people who organised the Green and Gold campaign but as much as some of you may hate to admit it, it is damn well impressive. It is a simple idea that is growing by the day as more and more people do something so simple yet so symbolic and when a player who is loved as much as Beckham puts on a green and gold scarf (be it on purpose or without realising it) it makes the front page of every sports page in the country and many more worldwide. What Leeds lack is a good campaign and an original idea and its going to need someone or some people to step up to the challenge and grab it by the scruff of the neck. You can’t leave it to The Guardian and David Conn, who is not even a Leeds fan, to try and lead a campaign against Bates. LLHB or somebody needs to stop talking about doing something and actually do something. We cannot just sit back and leave it to Bates to hope things turn out right because if we do then I guarantee that there will not be a happy ending in store. Yeats finishes with “Romantic Ireland is dead and gone, it’s with O Leary in the grave.” Our passion seems to have died with Ridsdale and as of yet I see no evidence of it returning.
