Wortley Wembley: Leeds’ inner-city pitch saved by Bielsa and viewed as Elland Road’s little sister

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On the wall of a pet shop in a quiet corner of Leeds, there is something of a shrine dedicated to Leeds United. There are framed photographs of Liam Cooper, Luke Ayling, Pablo Hernandez and Gary Speed celebrating with David Batty after clinching 1992’s First Division title.

If you get close enough, you will also see a framed letter from the club’s lauded one-time head coach Marcelo Bielsa. It was sent to Arron Lambert, the shop’s owner, in January 2022, a month before the Argentinian was sacked.

“I am very grateful you have sent me your letter with the beautiful photos of that space you and all the people value so much,” Bielsa wrote. “There is nothing I can do better than tell you the club is supporting this cause and that of all those who are interested in it.

“I hope the united efforts of the people who spend their time and play sports there, added to the efforts of an institution as important as Leeds United, achieve the objective you seek.”

The space in question is TV Harrison Sports Ground in Oldfield Lane, Wortley, an inner-city area of Leeds. Bielsa was responding to a letter from Lambert that documented their community group’s ongoing fight to save the illustrious football pitch from a housing development.

More than three years later, that backing from the club, as mentioned by Bielsa, has borne fruit. After a six-year battle, TV Harrison Sports Ground Association (THSGA) and its supporters are confident the pitch has been saved for centuries to come.

A game being played on the pitch (TV Harrison Sports Ground Association)

On the exterior wall of Wortley’s Pet Lodge Superstore, there is another, more iconic, reference to Bielsa. Of the dozens of United murals around the city, few are more recognisable than the blue, white and yellow interpretation of Bielsa as Christ the Redeemer.

Painted across the triangular roof above Bielsa’s head, it says TV Harrison Sports Ground 1931. That’s the significance of this patch of grass that the city calls ‘Wortley Wembley’.

For most of the 20th century, the sports ground was a hotbed for the city’s finest young footballers. Youth cup finals were staged there, and Leeds City Boys, a representative team of the city’s best young footballers, played their matches there.

Named after Tom Vernon Harrison, a local headteacher who led a fundraising drive to save the pitch from development in 1928, the plot was entrusted to the school sports charity, which became Leeds Schools Sports Association (LSSA), with covenants in its deeds to protect its use for sport.

However, in the early 2000s, the ground was allowed to deteriorate and ceased to be used. Neglected and overgrown, it was targeted for housing by Leeds City Council after talks with LSSA.

This threat mobilised THSGA in 2019. This band of community volunteers restored the pitch for public use and won multiple court cases in its fight for the ground’s future. Crucially, in March 2022, they secured TV Harrison as an asset of community value.

This status gives the community a chance to bid for or buy the ground if it is ever put up for sale. In March, it came to light Leeds United, backed by the community, had agreed a £50,000 ($67,000) deal, in principle, to secure Wortley Wembley’s future on a lease lasting centuries.

But why is this ground so significant to the people of Wortley and beyond? It’s the history. Paul Reaney (749 Leeds appearances), Paul Madeley (726), David Harvey (447), Batty (373), Alan Smith (228), Brian Deane (201) and Noel Whelan (58) all played at TV Harrison as youngsters.

Whelan, who has pitched in with the manual labour at the ground over the years, described it to The Athletic as the little sister to Elland Road’s big brother in the Leeds United family. It was where he and so many other Leeds youths were scouted to play for United.

“It was like the Wembley for grassroots football and for Leeds City Boys,” the 50-year-old said. “Even when we went into the changing room, there were pictures of David Batty, Brian Deane, all the players who were recognised to come through that system were on the walls.

“That was an inspiration to us. It felt special, like you were involved in something big. Even at a younger age, you knew how important it was to represent your city.

“That was the home of football. If you played there, you’d obviously done something right.”

Lambert and so many other members of THSGA have fought this battle because of what the field means to them as proud Leeds natives.

“It’s not as Leeds United as Elland Road, but if you had to pick a second spot, this is it. This is the feeding ground, there’s a direct link to playing for Leeds from representing your city on there.

Whelan working on the pitch (TV Harrison Sports Ground Association)

“Between two world wars, people threw their money into it, to protect it in the first place and then gift it to the kids of Leeds. There’s no way they could ever get rid of it. You’ve got to look after your heritage. I’m so proud to be from Leeds. If that had ever got built on, it would have been sacrilege.”

Deane, six years older than Whelan, holds TV Harrison in equally high regard. “That was a real hub of the community, that was a really iconic place for the city of Leeds and somewhere to be proud of,” he told The Athletic. “We’re getting lost in all of the big, flashy things nowadays, but that was where characters were born with a real sense of achievement.

“It was the elite of the elite. Things have changed. People have different priorities, but we can’t just keep dismissing everything that has gone before us and throw it away.

“It should be used as a place to inspire the youngsters of today. It’s important to have a place to say, ‘That’s where David Batty and Noel Whelan started playing football’.”

This positive conclusion on the horizon has not come easily. It has taken years of fighting by this band of local people, a key politician and, latterly, Leeds United.

Michael Meadowcroft, chair of THSGA, sets out five key moments in the success of this campaign. The first was the restoration of the pitch in 2019, which demonstrated again how it could be used by the community and enabled organisations, including Sport England and Football Foundation, to get behind the association’s cause.

There were four High Court battles with the council around various facets of this campaign. THSGA won all four, further cementing its members’ belief they were in the right to keep pushing as they did. The asset of community value status in 2022 was also highlighted by Meadowcroft as a watershed moment.

Beyond the protection that status afforded TV Harrison, the formal change in council policy, which saw its application for planning permission on the land withdrawn, officially removed the threat. Mark Sewards, MP for Leeds South West and Morley, was central to this.

Sewards was a city councillor when he got involved in 2022. He tells The Athletic it took several years of careful negotiation with the various parties involved, but he led the change on council policy and convinced LSSA that leasing the land was the best outcome for the organisation.

Sewards acknowledged the importance of new council housing, but agreed with THSGA that this particular land was wholly inappropriate for such a development. As for LSSA, he advised that the expensive legal battle with the tireless THGSA would only continue and parting with TV Harrison was its best option.

“Leeds City Council are very keen to get this done,” said Sewards. “They’re as keen as I am now to get this done. I don’t see any problems with that.”

Meadowcroft’s fifth, and final, key moment was the arrival on the scene of United’s chief executive, Angus Kinnear.

If it wasn’t already clear, the aforementioned letter to Bielsa from Lambert was the lighting of the blue touchpaper on United’s involvement. You can add Bielsa’s part in the saviour of a priceless and historic parcel of Leeds United land to his list of achievements in West Yorkshire.

Kinnear was aware of a dispute at TV Harrison, but it was not until Bielsa called him, having read Lambert’s letter, and asked about it that the wheels began turning. Bielsa was, understandably, not an expert in local government wranglings, but Kinnear left him in no doubt what part this pitch had played in the club’s history.

It was late 2021 when Meadowcroft, Lambert and the association first met Kinnear at Elland Road. United’s commitment to this project has consistently impressed THSGA. While it may have taken longer than anyone wanted, there is confidence on all sides that the deal will be done.

Smith (middle) and Batty (right) both played on the pitch in their youth (Jamie McDonald/Getty Images)

United will not legally own the ground, but their £50,000 fee will secure it in a lease lasting centuries. That security as custodian can allow the club to be ambitious in its visions for the land.

Once the deal is concluded, United will initially upgrade the pitch, build new fencing, clear the site of debris and raise the overall standard. However, there is the hope for grander plans in the pipeline.

Kinnear has departed Elland Road, but since Leeds began accelerating their interest in the site, he took Jed York, United co-owner and San Francisco 49ers chief executive, there for a visit. York saw the potential, and 49ers Enterprises is committed to following through on bigger plans for youth football on the land, which is only a 25-minute walk from Elland Road.

There were meetings between the club and community figures at TV Harrison as recently as last week.

Leeds United and LSSA declined to comment on the ongoing talks until they were finalised, but a Leeds City Council spokesperson said: “The TV Harrison site has a complicated history and was previously considered for housing.

“However, the council acknowledged the views of the local community and made the site an asset of community value, recognising the history of playing football on the site and the community’s aspirations for it to remain a site for playing pitch use.

“As part of this work, we have been in dialogue with the LSSA and LUFC to find a solution for the site’s long-term future, and these discussions are ongoing.”

(Top photos: Getty Images and TV Harrison Sports Ground Association)

This news was originally published on this post .

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