We say goodbye to our dear friend Eric Ware on Wednesday 17th March 2021.
At 74 years of age, Eric was the longest standing season ticket holder in our branch. He would have been 75 in May and we are told had had his season ticket for 40 years. He had been a Leeds United supporter for over 62 years. Eric started watching Leeds in 1950s and he was one of the few who had the privilege of watching the great John Charles play. Eric was in the crowd of 57,892 people at Elland Road, the biggest attendance at our beloved ground, in 1967 in the cup game against Sunderland.
Eric has been a member of the LUSC all this time. He was one of the original Harrogate Whites who travelled on the old Pynes buses, back in the day. He travelled home and away all over the country and saw us play in Paris, Salonika and made both Fairs Cup Finals in Hungary and Italy, against Ferencvaros and Juventus.
In the days before music and merriment on the bus, Eric was the bus bingo caller. He was famous for his cheerful turns of phrase, commonly raising the excitement of the prize by saying “Are you sweating at the back yet?” He was also famous for his rendition of The Scaffold’s song 2 Days Monday. A song that he continued to sing on the way to and from ER with Lesley Hope, Jane Taylor and Steve Mawtus in the car.
Here are some of the reflections of Eric’s travelling history:
Dave Rowson recollects:
My favourite Eric memory was a night match at Everton on Pynes coaches. 13 of us on it I think as towards end of the Adamson Out era. Pretty sure Andy Logan and Charley Megginson will have been on. We were struggling to find the ground, scousers had nicked their own floodlights and only had them on stand roof. We ended up wrong side of ground. Bus driver stopped to ask a police inspector who was stood on his own. He said you go park up, get them off I will walk them round to away end. One copper he did have his big stick thing. Everton was a little bit rough back then. By time we got about a street we had all mingled into the Everton fans on pavements so we didn’t stand out except Eric who was walking behind the copper down middle of road in his own personal police escort. If only we had cameras back then
Andy Logan has added:
I remember it well after the game they opened the gates to let us out we weren’t going nowhere without a police escort so they gave us a couple of plod Everton were jumping on and off the buses trying to slash you luckily I was wearing a donkey jacket lol
Geoff Howarth writes:
I first remember Eric from the very early days late 60s mainly on away days..before the pub stops.only on motorway services..use to speak with him quiet abit b4 his retirement…as he kept the towns streets clean….always talked about the last game n the next one. He went on all the buses that went from town n Murgys where we had all the windows put through at forest..n not enough to fill a bus so went on a mini bus to palace with 15 on it..
Karen Webb (Abbott) writes :
This might be a little too long a tale to tell. Paris May 1975. Early morning
My brothers Gordon, Stephen and myself and a couple of others who I can’t remember got off the bus at the Place de la Concorde and set off walking the long walk up the Champs Elysee to the Arc de Triomphe. Along the way meeting other Leeds fans, one of which was Eric. Eric and my eldest brother had been going on Pynes to watch Leeds a lot longer than myself so knew each other well. Eric went into his usual mode of remember this game, remember that to my brother. By the time we reached the Arc Eric had regaled to us every game in the run up to the Final !! We then decided to go to the Eiffel Tower. It was across the river. We found a bridge to cross and set off across it. I looked back across the bridge to see Eric placing one foot on the Bridge and then jumping back off. I asked him what was wrong. The bridge was a wooden bridge where you could see the river below through the slats and Eric wouldn’t cross it as he said it wasn’t safe when you could see the river so he went off to find a more sturdier bridge. Meanwhile we carried on to the Tower. Once there it was packed and we had joined in with other fans and were quite a group. It must have been about 2 hours since we crossed the bridge and we were getting concerned because we hadn’t seen Eric. I then went to take a group photo under the tower. Everyone was all together posing for the photo when over my brothers shoulder a head popped up as I snapped the picture. Eric had found us. From there we all wandered aimlessly round Paris. We got to the ground and Eric wasn’t sat with us so off he went. After the game we all trundled back to the bus, thoroughly fed up and set off for home. We had to go to Zeebrugee to get the ferry as the French at Calais had decided to go on strike. No one was saying much, apart from Eric, who was sat next to me telling me how we were robbed and detailing the game to me as if I hadn’t been there!!! I think he was the only person on that Coach ride to the ferry who spoke. He had fantastic recall of every game. He was Leeds through and through and will be sorely missed.
Dave Poole recollects:
Eric was happy to talk to anyone and everyone, and often a five minute chat at a chance meeting in the street would end up a half an hour conversation.
Eric was proud to be a member of the Harrogate & District LUSC and often he and Joan were the first ones to return their renewal forms, always with a stamped addressed envelope. He always attended the monthly branch meetings on the first Sunday of the month and enjoyed chatting with Mally and Dave Jewitt before The Chairman, Charley would knock on the table to officially start the meeting. He once won the LUSC Sponsor’s trip to Thorp Arch and had a fantastic time at the training session, showing the players how to play proper football. At the following branch meeting, he told everyone how pleased he was that he got to see them train.
Eric will be sadly missed by Joan, who he has spent many many happy years with since they met whilst working at the old Robert Hurst factory. We shared a joke only a few years ago that it was about time he made Joan an honest woman, and then Lesley, Jane and Lai could go out and buy a hat. He was so looking forward to seeing us play in the Premier League, at least he saw us on the up, with Mr Bielsa at the helm, and although he didn’t see the final result against Southampton, at least he saw Patrick Bamford score to put us 1 -0 up.
The link for Eric’s service is www.obitus.com . Username : vigi8031 Password : 788799
A whole year of no football! Not really an anniversary that you want to celebrate. Here’s the March 2021 update. Sorry, there wasn’t a February update, we’ve been a bit busy.
Monthly Branch Meeting
We are continuing to hold the branch meetings by zoom unfortunately, but hopefully we will get a face to face one soon. Nothing much is going on at present because we can’t go to games but we are still keeping in regular touch with as many branch members as physically possible. The LUSC are also in the same predicament with being forced to hold meetings by zoom as well. We remain Always Leeds, Always Loyal, but as for getting people to games, that’s something we can only wish for. As usual, all branch members who are on the email list, should be receiving the minutes from the LUSC execs and any comments or matters arising from the minutes should be received by The Secretary to take to the next exec meeting by Weds 6pm of that week.
Player Of The Month
Thanks to everyone for regularly feeding back for the monthly Player of The Month either via facebook or email. Hopefully we will be able to see our LUSC Player of The Year being awarded his trophy by the end of the season in person.
Eric Ware RIP
As most of you are aware, it’s Eric’s funeral on Weds 17th March, this is the link:
www. obitus.com viewing time 12.56 – 1.45pm
username: vigi8031 password 788799
There will be a branch presence from The Secretary, the MPO and The Chairman, and former Secretary Dave Rowson as well as some very dear friends. If anyone wishes to share any stories for me to add on the tribute page, please get in touch as soon as. Thanks for the information so far. Eric was a lovely man. Our thoughts and prayers are with Joan. Once again, thanks go to Lesley Hope and Jane Taylor for all their help.
Raffle
Raffle tickets are still available from either Andy Yates or The Secretary. We will be looking to do the draw at the earliest opportunity, permitted by the lockdown rules.
“We’re not Leeds, we ARE Leeds”
Dave Rowson’s first book will be available very soon. It was officially announced in the programme for the Chelsea game. As soon as it is available, we will liaise with Dave to see how we can support it.
Branch Sponsorship of Ryan Edmondson
We have had no further information from the sponsorship department regarding our sponsorship of Ryan. As far as we are concerned he is still out on loan and doing rather well at Northampton Town. Hopefully he will bag a few more goals and keep them up this season and come back and fight for his place in the first team at the end of the season. The MPO has asked Angus Kinnear if they will consider rolling over the costs of sponsorship to next season as a gesture of good will given the unprecedented times we have dealt with in the last 12 months.
A.O.B
The MPO has also asked the Club if they will consider allowing the transfer of season tickets to family members of those who we have sadly lost during the pandemic. As soon as there is more information on this, I will let people know. I think it would be a very kind gesture on the Club’s part if they did allow these long standing seats to be transferred over to relatives as a lasting memory and acknowledgement of their long and dedicated loyal support.