“We managed to stop [the rally] being a success at all,” Eamon*, a 28-year-old who speaks to me on condition on anonymity, tells me. “It was important for us because they thought it was going to be this big thing for them. They think that’s their culture, that they’re the football lads and that’s their turf, but it’s bollocks.

“On one hand, you have people supporting [the multiracial] England team and then you’ve got racists walking through town. We thought ‘we can’t be having this’ and I think it made them two-foot tall.”

Almost six months on from that counterdemonstration, Eamon is one of around 200 activists crowded into a hall in north Leeds for an antifascist combat sports day. The event has been organised by a combat school that is just one arm of the city’s growing antifascist network.

Competitors from around the country are invited to step into the ring for in a day of punching, kicking and grappling. And although friendly – with those of all ages, genders and experience invited to take part – it’s clear that different networks from regions around the country are also keen to prove their fighting credentials.

One of the first up to box is 30-year-old Willow* who also speaks anonymously, who despite having only been training for just six months, goes three rounds against another fighter – exchanging a number of blows to the face in the process.

Afterwards she tells me how taking boxing classes prepared her for the far-right demonstrations in the city.