ontd_football | Sheffield Wednesday Football Club 101

brigadiernorth.livejournal.com posting in

Now I know most of these posts have been written about big clubs, but I think my favourite team should have some love :)

BASIC FACTS
Name: Sheffield Wednesday Football Club (SWFC)
The team was originally made up of local butchers who played cricket. They started a football club to keep fit in the off-season and always played on a Wednesday because that was their half day.
Nickname: The Owls
In the 1900s, a player presented the club with an Owl mascot, as the stadium at Hillsborough is adjacent to Owlerton.
Founded: 4th September 1867
Grounds: Hillsborough Stadium in Owlerton, Sheffield
Chairman: Milan Mandaric
Manager: Gary Megson
Current League: League 1
:(

KIT

Since its founding the club has played their home games in blue and white shirts, traditionally in vertical stripes. There have been some variations, however: blue and white hoops, quartered blue and white, and a blue shirt with white sleeves. There is a superstition among many older Wednesday fans that the team tends to have a poor season when they abandon the traditional evenly spaced blue and white stripe designs in favour of some broad stripe or narrow stripe design, but to be honest we never do well anyway :L
At the moment the shirt sponsor is the Sheffield Children's Hospital. A portion of the profit from every shirt sold goes towards the hospital's charitable fund.

STADIUM

After extensions of a railway forced SWFC to leave the Olive Grove ground in 1899, they moved to Hillsborough Stadium. It has 39,812 seats, making it the 12th largest capacity in England. It also features a Spion Kop, and hosted World Cup games in 1966.

SHEFFIELD FLOODS, 2007
Nevermind your Noucamps or your Old Traffords, has your Stadium ever been 6 feet underwater? I don't think so.
I tried to find the picture of a fish washed up onto the Kop but it was hiding. Alas.

HILLSBOROUGH DISASTER
The Hillsborough disaster occurred on 15 April 1989 at an FA Cup semi-final between Liverpool and Nottingham Forest. 96 Liverpool fans were crushed to death after the terraces at the Leppings Lane end of the ground became overcrowded. A memorial to the victims of the disaster stands outside Hillsborough's South Stand, near the main entrance on Parkside Road.
(Even though this happened in Wednesday's stadium, I don't think I should go into detail here. This event belongs to Liverpool and has been covered in their 101 post)

SUPPORTERS
Despite the fact that in recent years Wednesday has been a bit rubbish, fan support is still strong and loyal. When at the 2005 playoff final which saw us promoted to the Championship, 42,000 Wednesdayites travelled to the Millennium Stadium to see it happen. it remains the highest amount to this day.

THE WEDNESDAY BAND
This brass band regularly played at both home and away matches, and was often invited to England matches to participate there. Unfortunately, they were thought to cause disruption and so were banned from Hillsborough. Now however, the current boardroom is in negotiations to invite them back permanently.

RIVALRY
Sheffield United. Boo, hiss. (I won't have their crest in a happy wednesday post) They're the other major club in Sheffield, and are - at the moment - one division higher than us. This should change soon though...I can't say I'm not gloating in advance.
The Blades have a better record overall in Steel City derbies (44 wins to the Owls' 41) but in recent years Wednesday have been more successful. For instance, in the 08/09 season, we beat United in both matches in the season, a feat that hadn't happened for 92 years.

MOST FAMOUS MATCHES - THE BOXING DAY MASSACRE
This was back from when there was an FL Third Division, in Hillsborough on 26th December 1979. Just under 50,000 supporters watched Wednesday win 4-0. We still sing about it every match. Hark now hear, The Wednesday sing, United ran away...and we will sing forever more because of Boxing Day!

THE SEMI FINAL MATCH
This was an FA cup final match that happened on April 3rd, 1993. The FA wanted it to take place at Elland Road, the home of Leeds United, but for once both Sheffield Clubs were in agreement and brought up the fact that none of us like Leeds and this arrangement was not going to happen. Faced with some very annoyed Northerners, the FA moved the tie to Wembley. A crowd of 75,365 supporters made the trip down to London to watch Wednesday beat United 2–1 after extra time. AND I WAS THERE! Well...my Mum was pregnant with me and she was there...

WEDNESDAY AND ME
My Mum is a United fan. My dad is a diehard Wednesdayite. So, technically, I experienced the aforementioned semi-final match as a Blade. (eugh)
I was a United supporter for the first 4 years of my life too. My Mum is scary so my dad daren't convert me until he saw a stellar oppertunity and grabbed it. I was watching a documentary about barn owls and my dad sat next to me and said, "Laura, would you rather support the nasty, sharp blades or the cute, fluffy owls?" MY FUTURE AS A WEDNESDAYITE WAS COMPLETE.
I'm Wednesday 'til I die, i'm Wednesday 'til I die, I know I am I'm sure I am I'm Wednesday 'til I die

Please let me know what you think of this, as well as flagging up any spelling mistakes and suchlike. ONTD-fb is usually dominated by big clubs, and most people hear probably see me express my love for Liverpool most of the time, but my heart will - forever and always - be striped blue and white.

Sources: Wikipedia, SWFC Official Site, My Dad