William Rose looks at Leeds’ sporting culture and why sport is such an important part of our culture in Leeds.
We live in a great city with superb spots to eat and drink, exciting music venues and so much more. We’re also lucky to live in a unique city that’s fueled by its love for sport. In a sporting sense, our passion for sport makes us like no other place in the UK. With sport being played regularly in colleges and student unions, it’s great for students in Leeds.
Despite the rapid fall of Leeds United in the last ten year, a superb example of our passion for sport is the way fans still come in their thousands to support the club home and away. The club have had record breaking away attendances in the lower divisions. When the club do go on a rare run of good form, it’s not unusual to see 30,000 fans at Elland Road. When the team is successful, the city buzzes in excitement as it thrives off the game-day adrenaline.
Another star sporting attraction in Leeds is boxer Josh Warrington. The up and coming featherweight boxer has the potential to be a world champion and sell out Elland Road stadium. Right now, he’s an impressive young prospect who holds the European title. Most young prospects would be expected to sell around 1000 tickets, however the Leeds Warrior sells close to 10,000 as he packs out the First Direct Arena. There hasn’t been a ticket-seller like him in the UK since Ricky Hatton, who famously took about 20,000 Brits over to Las Vegas to watch one of his fights. Warrington’s fight nights are fueled by the incredible atmosphere, the sounds of the Kaiser Chiefs and copious amounts of alcohol so it’s fair to say that the city gets well behind him!
It’s not just boxing or football either, here in Leeds we get behind all sorts of sports. For example, in February of this year, 12,000 people packed out the First Direct Arena to watch the darts, the rugby league side regularly attracts close to 15,000 fans and Headingley Cricket Ground is often sold out for the big matches.
It’s hard to explain why sport is such a big part of our culture here in Leeds but it brings the passionate side out of so many people in the city and it’s just another reason why Leeds is such a brilliant place to live.
So if you’re looking for something to do, get down to the arena for the boxing or the darts, get down to Elland Road for the football or to the stadiums in Headingley for the rugby and the cricket as you experience the sporting culture and start to understand what it’s like to live in Leeds.
