{"id":117596,"date":"2026-03-02T22:51:00","date_gmt":"2026-03-02T22:51:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/?p=117596"},"modified":"2026-03-02T22:51:00","modified_gmt":"2026-03-02T22:51:00","slug":"leeds-say-boos-during-ramadan-pause-disappointing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/?p=117596","title":{"rendered":"Leeds say boos during Ramadan pause \u2018disappointing\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Leeds United\u00a0have said loud boos during a brief pause in play to allow players observing Ramadan to break their fast in Saturday\u2019s match at Elland Road were \u201cdisappointing\u201d.<\/p>\n

In the 13th minute of the 17:30 GMT kick-off in the Premier League, players from\u00a0Leeds\u00a0and visitors\u00a0Manchester City\u00a0came to the side of the pitch\u00a0to take on fluids and energy supplements.<\/p>\n

But there was a cacophony of jeers and whistles throughout the break, which lasted about a minute.<\/p>\n

Leeds\u00a0did not comment on the matter when contacted by BBC Sport on Saturday.<\/p>\n

Comments under\u00a0Leeds\u2018 Instagram posts from the weekend have been inundated with messages about Ramadan and the reaction of supporters to the break.<\/p>\n

It is understood that a number of fans have emailed the club expressing their anger at the lack of public response, with one saying they were \u201cdeeply disturbed\u201d and \u201cembarrassed\u201d by what took place.<\/p>\n

In a generic email reply sent by\u00a0Leeds\u2018 supporter liaison officer, seen by BBC Sport, it said: \u201cThe club is aware of the incident, and it was disappointing that some supporters chose to boo during the pause in play to allow players observing Ramadan to break their fast.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe club is currently looking into why this happened and what can be done moving forward to prevent incidents of a similar nature happening again in the future.\u201d<\/p>\n

Leeds\u00a0manager Daniel Farke was asked about the matter in his pre-match news conference before Tuesday\u2019s Premier League game against\u00a0Sunderland\u00a0at Elland Road (19:30).<\/p>\n

\u201cTo be honest, if it was really disrespectful in these terms because of the break, then you have to say we all have to learn out of this,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cDuring the game, it was not my feeling because it was a surprise for everyone that there was this little break.\u201d<\/p>\n

Leeds\u00a0lost the reverse fixture at Etihad Stadium in November and\u00a0Farke accused\u00a0City goalkeeper Gianluigi Donnarumma of feigning injury to \u201cbend the rules\u201d, which allowed boss Pep Guardiola to call his players to the touchline and issue fresh instructions in the two minutes play was stopped for.<\/p>\n

Farke said: \u201cI am not sure everyone was aware when the sun went down and we had the first game against\u00a0Manchester City\u00a0and we had the stoppage when Pep [Guardiola] got all the players together and spoke to them.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe had a such a good start to this game, we were battling them and all over them in the first 10 minutes and our supporters had the feeling they are doing the same as the first game and because of this they were booing.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t think it has anything to do with the break for Ramadan \u2013 I don\u2019t think anyone was really aware. Someone told me it was on the screen but I am not sure at this moment everyone watches the screen.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf it was from some people\u2019s point of view, being disrespectful, then it is not acceptable, and we have to learn out of it. In general, football and we as a dressing room, there is no better place for living together with different passports, different religions than the football club and our group.<\/p>\n

\u201cI know there is a big solidarity and everyone supports the same group. My gut feeling is supporters did not even know what was happening.\u201d<\/p>\n

It is understood the club have privately acknowledged their communication to supporters before the City game was inadequate.<\/p>\n

A similar pause might take place during the second half of Sunday\u2019s FA Cup tie against Norwich City at Elland Road (16:30), and\u00a0Leeds\u00a0are aiming to provide information on it beforehand.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

Referee Peter Bankes blew his whistle during the first half, and there was initial confusion from supporters as to why there was a stoppage, with booing taking place.<\/p>\n

A message was displayed on the big screen inside the stadium stating: \u201cAs tonight\u2019s match takes place inside the holy month of Ramadan, play has been paused briefly to allow players to break their fast.\u201d<\/p>\n

However, the screen is not visible to all supporters and the jeers grew louder.<\/p>\n

City had three Muslim players \u2013 Rayan Cherki, Rayan Ait-Nouri and Omar Marmoush \u2013 in their starting line-up, with Abdukodir Khusanov on the bench.<\/p>\n

Manager Guardiola condemned the actions of supporters, saying: \u201cWe took on a little bit of vitamins because [Rayan] Cherki, [Rayan] Ait-Nouri did not eat today.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is a modern world, right? [You see] what is happening in the world today. Respect religion, diversity, that is the point.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Premier League says you can have one or two minutes, you can have for the [fasting] players to do it [break their fast]. It is what it is, unfortunately.\u201d<\/p>\n

Anti-discrimination group Kick It Out said the booing was \u201cmassively disappointing\u201d, while\u00a0Leeds\u00a0assistant Eddie Riemer added in the post-match media conference \u201cwe try to learn out of it\u201d and \u201cneed to do better next time\u201d.<\/p>\n

Leeds\u00a0were\u00a0beaten 1-0 by City\u00a0following Antoine Semenyo\u2019s first-half goal.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Leeds United have said loud boos during a brief pause in play to allow players observing Ramadan to break their fast in Saturday’s match at Elland Road were “disappointing”.<\/div>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"rop_custom_images_group":[],"rop_custom_messages_group":[],"rop_publish_now":"initial","rop_publish_now_accounts":{"facebook_2277560469115098_106292521332774":"","twitter_aToxNzczMzI3Njk4OTg4ODUxMjAxOw==_1773327698988851200":""},"rop_publish_now_history":[],"rop_publish_now_status":"pending","_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[137,13348,10,9,4501,17780],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-117596","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-football","category-leeds-united","category-politics","category-popular","category-premier-league","category-ramadan-pause"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/117596","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=117596"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/117596\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=117596"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=117596"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=117596"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}