Leeds have called for their supporters to ‘respect’ the Ramadan pause which players will take when they host Norwich City at Elland Road on Sunday afternoon in the fifth round of the FA Cup.
Supporters in Yorkshire were accused of racism after boos rained down on Manchester City players breaking their fast after the sun went down last week, with the chorus from the stands roundly criticised.
A message alerting the crowd to the reasoning for the stoppage in play in the 13th minute was displayed on screens around the ground, but after the final whistle manager Daniel Farke questioned whether fans had seen the message and were instead booing at a perceived tactical advantage gained by their opponents.
In a statement shared on Friday, Leeds again gave fans the benefit of the doubt over the ‘disappointing and unexpected’ behaviour of their home faithful, outlining four possible explanations as to why some had booed.
Detailing the ‘several mitigating circumstances’ as bullet-points, the statement began with the explanation:
‘This was the first time a game at Elland Road has ever been paused to allow players observing Ramadan to break their fast and in hindsight we should have been more proactive with our communications in advance of the Manchester City fixture to explain to supporters that this was going to happen, there was a clear lack of awareness by some attending the fixture.
‘Whilst we displayed a message on our big screen at Elland Road to explain why the game had been paused, this was not visible for approximately 25% of the stadium, including the South Stand,’ the second bullet-point read.
The third went on: ‘In our preceding fixture with Manchester City at the Etihad Stadium in November 2025 the game was controversially stopped in the second half for a ‘tactical timeout’ during an injury break and with the squads congregating on the touchline supporters may have thought this was happening again (a similar incident to this also happened last Tuesday against Sunderland AFC leading to booing).
‘At the time of the stoppage, given the intensity at the start of the match, a number of players were confused why the game had been paused, which can be seen clearly on broadcast footage and may have also led to confusion for supporters,’ the club’s reasoning concluded.
The club was quick to add: ‘To be clear, Leeds United Football Club explicitly condemn any supporters in the home or away sections who actively boo players observing Ramadan and use the protocol in place to break their fast.’
Confusion over whether Guardiola’s side had sought to gain the upper hand as they had in the reverse fixture was similarly cited by Simon Jordan as he looked to defend fans who may have been wrongly maligned.
‘There’s a conclusion drawn by the usual suspects that this is racism and can only be that,’ he said at the start of the week on talkSPORT. ‘Rather than an intolerance to something, the opposition might be benefiting from rather than the home side.’
‘So that might form part of the motivation. Only in the minds of the Leeds fans that booed do we know the motivation, and all the usual suspects will seek to say, “A-ha, alive and kicking. we’ve got a big problem over here”.
‘And it might be that, and it might be something different.’
Jordan also queried the significance of an immediate pause, instead suggesting that those breaking their fast wait until ‘half-time’.
This was disputed by his co-pundit, Arsenal legend Emmanuel Petit, who queried the length of the break before host Jim White confirmed it was only ‘about 30 seconds’.
The Premier League confirmed this month that Ramadan breaks would be used in matches again this season, as they have since 2021, to allow players to break their fast during the holy month, which runs from February 17 to March 19.
Given sunset in the UK ranges from around 5PM to 6.30PM during this period, the only games that are affected are 5.30pm kick-offs on a Saturday and the 4.30pm kick-off on a Sunday.
The protocol for these breaks sees teams and match officials discuss pre-match whether a pause is required, before they settle on an approximate time when the stoppage will take place.
As per the statement, on Sunday, Leeds striker Joel Piroe, if he is on the pitch at that time, could join Norwich City players in breaking their fast around 5.56pm – approximately the 75th minute of the match.
