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For football supporters of a certain age, FA Cup matches between Leeds United and Chelsea probably aged them prematurely. Certainly, they have left an imprint on football history that still goes way beyond West Yorkshire and West London. The narrative at this year’s League (Carabao) Cup final between Chelsea and Liverpool was very much one of Liverpool’s inexperienced youngsters wanting it far more than the expensively assembled mercenaries from the capital. Much of the public at large might have wanted to believe this but the average age of Chelsea’s side on the day was not so dissimilar and, although they did seem to run out of energy relatively early for a professionally coached squad, there was no doubt at all about how much they and manager Mauricio Pochettino had wanted to win the trophy. Nearly sixty years ago, a different but similarly stilted story was forming on the black and white presses of UK newspapers: the flamboyant, entertaining playboys of Chelsea against the uncompromising gamesmanship of a hard Leeds team. In fact, Chelsea could mix it with the best of them and, for Leeds, they could either play superb, passing football or fight those who preferred to fight. Elected to the Football League at the same meeting in 1905 as the original, professional association football club in Leeds – Leeds City – Chelsea had lost four FA Cup semi-finals and one final – the ‘Khaki Cup Final’ of 1915 – by the time they faced Leeds in a titanic series of matches in the fifth round in 1952. Teenage striker Bobby Smith, who had signed for Chelsea two years earlier, scored in a 1.1. draw at Elland Road before the teams again drew 1.1 in the replay four days later. The second replay at Villa Park on 3 March 1952 was more straightforward for Chelsea as they ran out 5.1 winners with James Smith - a Yorkshireman from Sheffield - scoring a hat-trick to finally put an end to the Cup run by the men from West Yorkshire. The tie attracted huge crowds with the three match attendances totalling more than 140,000. The games were also noted for tough, even brutal tackling which would be a hallmark for encounters between the two sides in the following decade. After another bruising encounter in the fourth round in 1966 when Bobby Tambling scored for Chelsea in the only goal of the tie at Stamford Bridge, the sides met again the following year, this time in the semi-final (Chelsea’s third in a row) at Villa Park on 29 April 1967. If the previous Cup matches between the two sides had been hard and uncompromising, this one was full of bone-crunching tackles, fouls and retaliation. In the words of author Rick Glanvill: "to be caught in possession was like standing in the path of a stampede." Striker Tony Hateley - who had joined Chelsea for £100,000 (their first six-figure signing) after Peter Osgood had broken his leg - scored Chelsea’s goal in a 1.0 victory in front of 62,000 fans. Chelsea had reached their second Cup Final, 52 years after their first, which they would also lose. Tottenham Hotspur won the first final between two London clubs, 2.1. Leeds were infuriated by two controversial refereeing decisions that they angrily disputed as costing them the match. Terry Cooper’s second-half goal was ruled out for offside before, in the final minute of the match, Leeds were awarded a free kick, just outside the penalty area. Johnny Giles tapped the ball sideways to Peter Lorimer who crashed the ball into the net. However, the referee Ken Burns ruled the goal out as Chelsea’s players had not retreated the regulation 10 yards and he hadn’t blown his whistle for the free kick to be taken. If the Chelsea-Leeds United rivalry had grown and grown through this series of FA Cup matches, it would simmer until Leeds’s grievances and sense of injustice exploded three years later. After beating Second Division Watford 5.1 in the semi-final on 14 March 1970, Dave Sexton’s Chelsea made it to their third FA Cup final. Leeds – chasing a triple of League, FA Cup and European Cup – were beset by fixture congestion, being forced to play nine matches in 18 days. So much for the complaints of Klopp and Guardiola! They had just lost the first leg of their European Cup tie to Celtic and had taken three matches to get past Manchester United in their own FA Cup semi-final. The FA had also agreed that the Cup Final should be played about a month earlier than usual, adding to clubs’ fixture congestion, to give the England National Team their best chance of defending their World Cup trophy in the varied climate of Mexico that summer. If both sets of players were weary after an exhausting season, they weren’t helped by the state of the Wembley Stadium pitch on 11 April 1970. The ‘Horse of the Year’ Show had taken place there just a week earlier and the muddy surface, covered with sand, would churn up almost as soon as play began. In the event, the final did turn out to be one of the most exciting in recent football history and Leeds’ manager Don Revie would remark afterwards: "Just think what sort of a game it would have been on a pitch!" Leeds defender Jack Charlton, scored with a header before goalkeeper Gary Sprake fumbled a Peter Houseman shot just before half-time to give Chelsea an equaliser. Mick Jones put Leeds ahead again just six minutes from time, but Chelsea equalised once more - this time through Ian Hutchinson heading in a cross from John Hollins. Extra time was played but the teams could not be separated as the match finished 2.2. It was the first FA Cup Final draw since 1912 and the first at Wembley. After much criticism of the Wembley pitch, the FA did agree to switch the replay to Old Trafford in Manchester and so, on 29 April 1970, Chelsea returned to the scene of their first FA Cup defeat, 55 years earlier. Over 62,000 fans attended the match which also attracted a television audience of 28.49 million. This figure is second only for a sporting event in the UK to the 32.3 million who had watched England win the World Cup, just over four years earlier, as the nation anticipated another north-south epic clash. It turned out to be one of the most violent matches ever to be played in Britain. In 1997 referee David Elleray reviewed the match and concluded that if it had been played in the 'Modern Era' the sides would have received six red cards and twenty yellow cards. In the words of The Times: "There were moments when the football was as raw as uncooked meat. There was some vicious tackling. Boadicea might have been on parade with the knives on her chariot wheels.” All of Leeds’s frustrations boiled over with fights taking place all over the pitch. Leeds’s Mick Jones scored after 35 minutes only for Peter Osgood to score another late equaliser for Chelsea, just 12 minutes from the end, with a diving header from a Charlie Cooke cross. He thus became the twelfth and last person to score in every round of the FA Cup. As extra time beckoned once more, Leeds had a strong appeal for a penalty turned down. Eddie McCreadie appeared to have poleaxed their captain Billie Bremner in the penalty area, but their collective protests were waved away to add to their ongoing sense of injustice. John Dempsey admitted afterwards: "Maybe we were lucky not to give away a penalty. It wasn't even a normal tackle, it was a chest-high lunge which almost cut Bremner in half." One minute before half-time in extra time Ian Hutchinson launched a long throw into the Leeds penalty area, confusing their tiring defenders and allowing David Webb to head home and secure a 2.1 win for Chelsea – the first FA Cup win in their 65-year history. They had used just 13 players in this, their most successful Cup run. The following day The Times concluded that the match had been: "A cauldron simmering just below the surface...This was no match for weaklings. Here was a match of gleaming steel… which was used with impunity by both sides and allowed to be used by a referee who would have a short life in Latin America." It is unlikely that the fifth-round tie to be played on 28 February 2024 will be allowed to turn into such carnage. Passionate it is bound to be – this is Leeds v Chelsea in the FA Cup after all – but Leeds United’s focus this season is very much on promotion from the Championship. For Chelsea, just displaying passion in front of their home fans will probably provide the value for money they’ve been searching for. Much of the research for this article was used in our book Football Timelines: Chelsea FC: Key events in the club’s history. The next football timeline in the series will feature Leeds United and will be published at the end of the season.
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