SecretLeeds - History, culture and architecture in Leeds

I was looking at some pictures of Leeds from here in South Australia and came upon a football site.. They gave the Nickname of Leeds United as simply "United"... This is not so.. They are '"The Peacocks".. becauseElland Road ground was situated between The Old Peacock pub and The New Peacock Pub.. I have no idea if they are still there but this is an error!I remember getting John Charles autograph in a fish and chip shop opposite the ground.. How things have changed Eh!

I think the nickname now is 'Whites' as the 'Peacocks' seems to have long been out of favour. I'm not sure but I think the New Peacock is no longer there. It was confusing to me that the New Peacock was older than the Old Peacock when I last used to go to Elland Road in the 1980's.

For a big City club like Leeds there nickname isn't really well known. Infact i'm sure a lot of Leeds folk would struggle to get it. It's never been used widely, even amongst the fans chants.It's not noteabale like (Dare i say it) The Red Devils, Toffeemen, The Gunners, Hammers e.t.c.    

Phill_dvsn wrote: The Red Devils, There are many things that annoy me about Man U (the use of the term "United" just to refer to them is one) but this nickname really p!sses me off.The origin of the name Red Devils is from the French name for Salford RLFC, who were the dominant force in English RL in the thirties and played games in France in order to establish the game there. The French called them "Les Diables Rouge" "Red Devils" in other words, Man U nicked their nickname.

Lyndoch wrote: I was looking at some pictures of Leeds from here in South Australia and came upon a football site.. They gave the Nickname of Leeds United as simply "United"... This is not so.. They are '"The Peacocks".. becauseElland Road ground was situated between The Old Peacock pub and The New Peacock Pub.. I have no idea if they are still there but this is an error!I remember getting John Charles autograph in a fish and chip shop opposite the ground.. How things have changed Eh! It was the very superstitious Don Revie that deemed birds unlucky and had the owl badge removed from the playing kit and also the peacocks nickname changed to just United or the whites back in the 70's.Regards.

Hats Off wrote: Lyndoch wrote: I was looking at some pictures of Leeds from here in South Australia and came upon a football site.. They gave the Nickname of Leeds United as simply "United"... This is not so.. They are '"The Peacocks".. becauseElland Road ground was situated between The Old Peacock pub and The New Peacock Pub.. I have no idea if they are still there but this is an error!I remember getting John Charles autograph in a fish and chip shop opposite the ground.. How things have changed Eh! It was the very superstitious Don Revie that deemed birds unlucky and had the owl badge removed from the playing kit and also the peacocks nickname changed to just United or the whites back in the 70's.Regards. I wondered if the nickname was from the pubs, or from the original "blue and old gold" shirts they used to wear.

Trojan wrote: I wondered if the nickname was from the pubs, or from the original "blue and old gold" shirts they used to wear. They are the traditional Leeds sporting colours - I understand that there is still a rugby team that wears them Regarding the nickname, I've been a supporter of Leeds United for more years than I care to remember and whilst I'm aware of the nickname, I can't recall ever hearing it used by another fan.From Wiki: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leeds_United_A.F.C.The club's most common nicknames are "The Whites" and "The Peacocks". The latter stems from the former name of the Elland Road, The Old Peacock Ground, which was in turn named after The Old Peacock pub opposite Elland Road's South Stand and The New Peacock pub which stood behind the North stand (where the M621 now runs)

raveydavey wrote: Trojan wrote: I wondered if the nickname was from the pubs, or from the original "blue and old gold" shirts they used to wear. They are the traditional Leeds sporting colours - I understand that there is still a rugby team that wears them Regarding the nickname, I've been a supporter of Leeds United for more years than I care to remember and whilst I'm aware of the nickname, I can't recall ever hearing it used by another fan.From Wiki: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leeds_United_A.F.C.The club's most common nicknames are "The Whites" and "The Peacocks". The latter stems from the former name of the Elland Road, The Old Peacock Ground, which was in turn named after The Old Peacock pub opposite Elland Road's South Stand and The New Peacock pub which stood behind the North stand (where the M621 now runs) Ah. Yes I remember the New Peacock. And the cricket field that stood next to it. As for the colours, as I say they were offically blue and old gold, as for the rugby team - they are blue and amber - although I'm not sure what the difference is.The South Leeds Rugby team was of course Hunslet - White, Myrtle and Flame.    

Trojan wrote: raveydavey wrote: Trojan wrote: I wondered if the nickname was from the pubs, or from the original "blue and old gold" shirts they used to wear. They are the traditional Leeds sporting colours - I understand that there is still a rugby team that wears them Regarding the nickname, I've been a supporter of Leeds United for more years than I care to remember and whilst I'm aware of the nickname, I can't recall ever hearing it used by another fan.From Wiki: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leeds_United_A.F.C.The club's most common nicknames are "The Whites" and "The Peacocks". The latter stems from the former name of the Elland Road, The Old Peacock Ground, which was in turn named after The Old Peacock pub opposite Elland Road's South Stand and The New Peacock pub which stood behind the North stand (where the M621 now runs) Ah. Yes I remember the New Peacock. And the cricket field that stood next to it. As for the colours, as I say they were offically blue and old gold, as for the rugby team - they are blue and amber - although I'm not sure what the difference is.The South Leeds Rugby team was of course Hunslet - White, Myrtle and Flame.     Leeds RL, aka Leeds Hippos have a long and illustrious history of copying Leeds United and then denying it - just note the rampant singing of Marching On Together that they've started in recent years...

raveydavey wrote: Leeds RL, aka Leeds Hippos have a long and illustrious history... ...yes much longer than that of Leeds Utd. Leeds RLFC 1870, Leeds Utd 1919.