It's A Cup Final Knockout 1973
British Domestic Series

Presenters:
Stuart Hall
Eddie Waring

Referee:
Arthur Ellis

Scoregirls:
Pauline Cooper
Patricia Duncan
Beverley Dunn
Glynne Geldart

Production Credits:

Production Team: Geoff Wilson, Alan Wright; Engineering Manager: Geoff Lomas; Sound: John Drake; Designer and Games Deviser: Stuart Furber; Producer: Barney Colehan; Director: Bill Taylor

A BBC Manchester Production

Key: Domestic Special ● = Winner of Special   ▲ = Promoted to Position / ▼ = Demoted to Position

GB

It's A Cup Final Knockout 1973

FA Cup Final Special

Event Staged: Sunday 29th April 1973 at 5.00pm
Venue: Leeds Greyhound Stadium, Beeston, Leeds, West Riding of Yorkshire

Transmission:
BBC1 (GB): Saturday 5th May 1973, 12.25-1.15pm (as part of Cup Final Grandstand)

Celebrity Supporters (non-participating):
Past and present players and celebrity supporters of both teams.

Teams: Leeds United F.C. v. Sunderland F.C.

Game Results and Standings

Result

 Team

Points

1st
2nd

 L • Leeds United F.C. ●
 S • Sunderland F.C.

10
7

The Host Town

Leeds, West Riding of Yorkshire

Leeds is a city with a population of around 550,000 inhabitants in the county of West Yorkshire. It is located on the River Aire, 24 miles (38km) south of Ripon, 47 miles (76km) east of Preston, 50 miles (80km) east of Kingston-upon-Hull and 61 miles (98km) north of Derby.

The Borough of Leeds was created in 1207 when the owner of the manor, Maurice Paynel (c. 1184-1230, sometimes described as Maurice de Gant) found himself in debt. With the manor already mortgaged, he needed to increase his income. A way of doing this was to establish Leeds as a borough where some of the inhabitants would be freed from their obligations to work in the fields, and left to follow a craft or trade. In return they would pay a high rent to the Lord of the Manor. Paynel hoped that this would attract skilled craftsmen from elsewhere to settle in his borough.

A new town was established, along a broad street stretching from the edge of the open fields in the north down to the crossing point on the River Aire. On either side of the street there were 30 building plots (burgage plots) where craftsmen could live and pursue their trade. The owners of the plots of land were called burgesses, and they were also given a half acre plot of land at Burmantofts (burgage mens’ tofts). Their income came from a craft or trade, not from agriculture, and they paid a rent of 16d (1s 4d) a year to Maurice Paynel.

In 1612, King James I (1566-1625) granted the borough to his wife, Anne of Denmark (1574-1619). The inhabitants petitioned Charles I (1600-1649) for a charter of incorporation, which was granted in 1626. The new charter incorporated the entire parish, including all eleven townships, as the Borough of Leeds and withdrew the earlier charter. Improvement commissioners were set up in 1755 for paving, lighting, and cleansing of the main streets, including Briggate and further powers were added in 1790 to improve the water supply.

Before the Industrial Revolution (1760-1840), it became a co-ordination centre for the manufacture of woollen cloth, and white broadcloth was traded at its White Cloth Hall. Leeds handled one sixth of England's export trade in 1770 and growth, initially in textiles, was accelerated by the creation of the Aire and Calder Navigation in 1699 and the Leeds and Liverpool Canal in 1816.

In the late Georgian era, William Lupton (1777-1828) was one of a number of central Leeds landowners, some of whom, like him, were also textile manufacturers. At the time of his death, Lupton occupied the enclosed fields of the manor of Leeds, his estate including a mill, reservoir, substantial house and outbuildings. Marshall's Mill was one of the first of many factories constructed in Leeds from around 1790 when the most significant were woollen finishing and flax mills.

The railway network constructed around Leeds, starting with the Leeds and Selby Railway in 1834, provided improved communications with national markets and, significantly for its development, an east-west connection with Manchester and the ports of Liverpool and Kingston-upon-Hull giving improved access to international markets. Alongside technological advances and industrial expansion, Leeds retained an interest in trading in agricultural commodities, with the Corn Exchange opening in 1864.

The borough corporation was reformed under the provisions of Municipal Corporations Act 1835. The borough became a county borough in 1889, giving it independence from the newly formed West Riding County Council and it gained city status in 1893.

Manufacturing diversified by 1914 to printing, engineering, chemicals and clothing manufacture. Decline in manufacturing during the 1930s was temporarily reversed by a switch to producing military uniforms and munitions during the Second World War (1939-1945). However, by the 1970s, the clothing industry was in irreversible decline, facing cheap foreign competition.

Today, the economy of Leeds is considered the most diverse economy of all the United Kingdom's main employment centres and one which has seen the fastest rate of private-sector jobs growth of any UK city. Leeds is the largest legal and financial centre in England outside of London, and third largest in the UK after Edinburgh. In 2011, its financial and insurance services industry was worth £2.1 billion, with more than 30 national and international banks located in the city. It is also the UK's third largest manufacturing centre with around 1,800 firms and 39,000 employees, Leeds manufacturing firms account for 8.8% of total employment in the city. The largest sub-sectors are engineering, printing and publishing, food and drink, chemicals and medical technology.

At the time of transmission, the city of Leeds was located in the county known as the West Riding of Yorkshire. However, following the complete redistribution of county boundaries under the Local Government Act 1972, it became part of the newly-formed county of West Yorkshire on 1st April 1974.

The Visiting Clubs

Leeds United Football Club was founded in 1919 and plays its home matches at Elland Road which is located in the Beeston area of the city.

Sunderland Associated Football Club was founded in 1879 and plays its home matches at the Stadium of Light which is located in the Monkwearmouth area of the town.

The Venue

Leeds Greyhound Stadium

The games were played at the Greyhound Racing Stadium located on the southern side of Elland Road.

In 1927, 30 years after the construction of Elland Road football stadium, home to Leeds United F.C., two stadia were built on its western flank. The first, Fullerton Park, was built directly next door to the football stadium on the northern side of Elland Road and the second, Elland Road Greyhound Stadium, was constructed opposite Fullerton Park on the southern side.

The Elland Road Greyhound Stadium opened on Saturday 16th July 1927 and featured racing every Monday, Wednesday and Saturday evening with an additional Saturday meeting at 3.00pm. Races took place over 300, 500 and 750 yards (274.3m, 457.2m and 685.8m respectively) on a circuit with a tight 400 yard (365.8m) circumference. Resident kennels within the stadium grounds numbered 120 and exercise grounds were situated adjacent to the stadium.

The second stadium, the Fullerton Park Stadium, originally known as 'The Kennels' was constructed by the Greyhound Racing Association (GRA) and opened just three months after Elland Road Greyhound Stadium. Its opening night was on Tuesday 4th October 1927 with a first race time of 7.30pm. To rival its opposite number, racing was planned for Tuesday, Friday and Saturday nights. The public were able to reserve boxes in the grandstand to view the racing, an incentive used in an attempt to rival the Elland Road Greyhound Stadium which was run by the Leeds Greyhound Association Ltd. (LGA). The popular rings were able to accommodate 30,000 spectators. Four licensed trainers took up residence looking after 100 greyhounds in the resident kennels on site made up from runners sent from other GRA tracks at Edinburgh, Manchester, Liverpool, White City and Harringay.

A bitter battle took place during the latter part of 1927 between the Leeds Greyhound Association Ltd. and the Greyhound Racing Association. The LGA took the GRA to court for false advertising following the public claim by the GRA that they had sole rights of greyhounds chasing electric hares. This claim upset other companies because it implied that they were the only company permitted to race greyhounds.

The GRA quickly realised that their greyhound stadium, being so close to Elland Road stadium, would not be able to monopolise trade in the city. This resulted in them closing Fullerton Park to greyhound racing and buying a stake in the LGA, with the last meeting being staged on 30th April 1928. Following demolition of the stadium, the site lay empty. Today it is used as a car park for Leeds United Football Club supporters.

The early 1930s brought about government legislation issues with the totalisator (a device showing the number and amount of bets staked on a race). This resulted in the stadium having to be closed down on more than one occasion following questions over the legality of using the system. Despite the issues, the track maintained a very healthy business and even introduced professional baseball before the start of the Second World War (1939-1945).

Following the conflict, business boomed in 1946 with the tote turnover being £1,167,103 (comparative value in 2024: £34,174,500). The profits enabled the company to upgrade the facilities and two competitions were inaugurated - the Ebor Stakes, introduced in 1951, followed by the Yorkshire Two-Year Old Produce in 1958.

During the early 1960s, Totalisators and Greyhound Holdings (TGH) purchased the track with racing being staged on Monday and Saturday evenings only. Amenities included five buffet bars, five licensed bars and a restaurant. During the 1970s, Ladbrokes acquired the TGH group which included the tracks at Brough Park, Crayford, Bexleyheath, Gosfort, Willenhall and Monmore.

Tim Hale and Derek Bowman replaced the then Racing Manager Harry Bridger on 1st January 1981, but would only oversee the action for one year after which Ladbrokes closed the track. The last meeting was held on 15th March 1982 with the last winner being Mike Supreme. The track and grandstand were demolished in 1983 and the site lay empty for over 25 years until 2014, when the new Leeds District Police HQ opened on the site of the stadium.

Returning Teams and Competitors

Leeds United F.C. had previously participated in the It's A Cup Final Knockout programme of 1972.

Additional Information

Leeds United F.C.'s win in It's A Cup Final Knockout was not repeated in the 1973 F.A. Cup Final at Wembley Stadium. The match, which kicked off at 3.00pm on Saturday 5th May, was won 1-0 by Sunderland, with Ian Porterfield (1946-2007) scoring the winner in the 32nd minute.

Made in Colour • This programme does not exist in the BBC Archives

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