Charges brought after ‘appalling’ city brawl between rival football fans

About 40 Leeds United and Tottenham Hotspur supporters were involved in what is thought to have been an organised brawl outside Yates’s, in Boar Lane, Leeds, on January 27.

Bottles were hurled at police as they tried to break up the incident, which followed United’s 2-1 victory over Spurs in the FA Cup fourth round.

Twelve men, aged 17 to 53, were arrested in a series of co-ordinated swoops in Leeds, Bradford and South and North Yorkshire on Monday night. Seven suspects – five from Leeds, one from Sheffield and one from Harrogate – had been charged with affray last night. The other five remained in custody.

Chief Superintendent Paul Money, commander for West Yorkshire Police’s City and Holbeck division, said: “This was an appalling explosion of violence in the heart of the city centre at tea-time on a Sunday and is obviously not something that we can ever tolerate.

“The CCTV that has been gathered shows some elements from Leeds and Tottenham taking part in what we suspect may have been a pre-arranged fight.”