There has been a big club in the city of Leeds since the appropriately named Leeds City was formed in 1904. They were elected to the Football League a year later, whilst the modern-day version of the club can be considered to have started with the arrival of Herbert Chapman in 1912. Seven years later, Leeds City were disbanded from the Football League on a forcible basis, having been accused of making illegal payments to players. So it was that Leeds United were formed, with the club having seen numerous different badges adorn the shirts ever since.
Leeds United’s First Badge
When the club was formed, it copied its predecessor in having the city’s coat of arms as the badge. The coat of arms was a fascinating one, dating back to 1662 and seeing two owls standing on either side of a crest with three stars on it. Within the crest is what appears to be a dead ewe hanging from something. Above the crest is another owl, standing on top of two leaves. The owls on either side of the crest are also standing on something, which is emerging from out of a rose. A yellow circle surrounds the coat of arms, inside of which the colour blue dominates.
On top of the blue background are the words LEEDS UNITED and underneath are the letters A.F.C., with all of the lettering in yellow. There are also two yellow diamonds that separate LEEDS UNITED from A.F.C. Another yellow circle contains the entire thing, which is within a circular badge. Although it was part of the club’s branding from the moment that it formed, it didn’t actually appear on the kit for the first time until 1934. It remained on the club’s kits until 1961, at which point Leeds United swapped from playing in blue and gold to playing in an all-white kit, which has remained the case since.
The Owl
In 1964, the club took on a new badge, having gone without one for the three years prior. The entire attire worn by footballers was changing, seeing the V-neck shirt replaced by a round neck. At the same time, the shorts that players wore were getting shorter, largely to accommodate the more vigorous nature of the play. So it was that a new badge was needed to reflect the new look of the team in general, which was being reborn under the leadership of Don Revie. He had taken over in 1961 and began making changes to the club, which included the move to new kits.
The club’s new badge saw a blue circle going around a blue owl, which itself was set on a perch. What appeared to be beneath the perch was what looked like a tail, even though that doesn’t make a lot of sense for an owl. In spite of the history between Leeds and owls, as seen on the coat of arms of the city, Revie was not a fan of birds. He believed that they were unlucky creatures, therefore demanding that they were removed from the kit altogether. When you consider that Revie is one of the most successful managers in the history of the club, you might say he had the right idea.
LUFC
In 1965, the owl was gone. Instead, the letter L U F C appeared on a vertical style, embroidered in monogram style and put on a diagonal slant. The colour gold returned, although it looks like yellow to the untrained eye. The stylised nature of the lettering felt very ‘70s, so they remained in place until 1973. At that point, things started to go a little bit crazy for Leeds United. The round crest returned, having a blue background, with large yellow letters emblazoned on top. Only, these weren’t normal letters, instead being almost cartoon-like in their nature.
The L was a large bubble version, effectively looking as though it was sitting on the point of the letter. Within the top of it was a similarly cartoon-looking U, with the two letters together forming a circle within a circle. As with the L U F C that had been on the previous badge, the L and U were both yellow/gold in nature. The badge changed slightly in 1976, which was the point at which the background became yellowy and the letters were turned into a darker blue. Although this change was felt to be necessary by the club, the new logo only lasted for a year before it was replaced.
The Return of Words
Having gone through a phase of simply using letters in a stylised manner, 1977 saw the return of words to the badge. The club continued to use a circular design, with a dark blue background and a white circle around the border. There was also another white circle on the inside, which surrounded the bubble-like letters of L and U that had been the club crest for a few years prior. Between the two white circles were the words ‘LEEDS UNITED’ at the top and the letters ‘A.F.C.’ along the bottom, with both the words and the letters appearing in the same white as the border.
That remained the crest for the three years that followed, before a new look was brought in in 1980. Still, the circular design remained the thing that was used by the club, but the blue of the background was made slightly lighter. The external white border was removed, whilst the words ‘LEEDS UNITED’ remained at the top. Along the bottom, the letters ‘A F C’ were there, without the fullstops. It is within the circle that the most interesting thing occurred, given the fact that a blue peacock with a yellow ‘tail’ was put there, complete with blue borders surrounding said tail.
A Move Towards the Modern
In 1984, the club took its first step towards something approaching what we know of the badge in the modern era. For the first time, the white rose of West Yorkshire appeared, sitting inside a blue background and with a lighter blue edging to the rose. In the centre of the rose was a football, comprised of yellow and white hexagons with a black border. Around the football and on top of the West Yorkshire rose were the words ‘LEEDS UNITED’ on the top and the letters ‘A F C’ on the bottom. The letters and words were in a slightly darker blue than was used elsewhere.
That lasted until 1997, when a new look was given to it for a brief period. The design remained mostly the same, but for the fact that the colours changed. The ‘LEEDS UNITED’ and ‘A F C’ were given the same hue as the blue on the background, whilst the black was removed entirely from the football in the middle. The West Yorkshire rose remained in place, albeit with slightly different colouring used on the border. Placed on the kit for the 1997-1998 season, this was to be the final time that a circular design would be used on the Leeds United club badge.
The Introduction of the Shield
A quick look at the modern version of the badge used by Leeds United will help you to understand the kind of shape and design that has been in place on the kit since 1998. For the 1998-1999 campaign, the club brought in a shield-like design, which had a royal blue border with black on the very outer edge. A yellow/gold colour was used in the inside, whilst a space at the top allowed for the continuation of the West Yorkshire rose, complete with the yellow and white football in its centre. Down the middle, in a white stripe, were the letters ‘L U F C’ in a stylised font.
A variation on that theme has remained the Leeds badge ever since. All that has really changed has been the colours used on the badge, with the 1999 kit replacing the almost 3D-like nature of the previous badge with a flat, bright yellow colouring. That version was used for three years; the badge that we know and recognise today was brought in in 2002. It is essentially identical, barring the fact that the colours are different. The yellow is more vibrant, and the blue both borders the shield and is also used for the ‘L U F C’ that runs down the middle.
For the 2012-2013 season, a version of the badge was brought in that used a more fluorescent yellow, whilst the blue was replaced with black. Then a gold version of the badge was brought in for the 2019-2020 season. On one side of the shield was ‘1919’ and ‘2019’ was on the other, whilst a banner along the bottom, also in gold, had ‘100 years’ on it. Above the shield were the words ‘LEEDS UNITED’, with the entire thing in a dark gold colouring. Because that was specifically done to recognise the club’s centenary, it was specifically only used for that one season.