Daft things Blades do - No 2 the best bit about supporting the Blades is...

[BladeFisher]

After the quirky rituals post I thought it would be useful to find out why you support us rather than them or anyone else for that matter.

For me it is because the club are from the city of Sheffield (not a suburb though true Wednesday did move), we're not arrogant, we're not one of the big clubs (Man U etc), we're passionate and we care. And we don't play in blue and white!

 

[Darren]

After the quirky rituals post I thought it would be useful to find out why you support us rather than them or anyone else for that matter.

For me it is because the club are from the city of Sheffield (not a suburb though true Wednesday did move), we're not arrogant, we're not one of the big clubs (Man U etc), we're passionate and we care. And we don't play in blue and white!

Purely and simply because my dad did. Most people don't choose their clubs, it is imposed upon them!

 

[Kenilworth]

My father passed the bug to me and I did the same to Kenilworth Jnr
My Grandad was blue but his brothers red (never sure how that transpired) and while he was away in the forces his brothers had already taken his three sons to the Lane.

 

[stannyblade]

Purely and simply because my dad did. Most people don't choose their clubs, it is imposed upon them!

Mines the reverse Its because my dad was a pig fan

 

[Darren]

Mines the reverse Its because my dad was a pig fan

To qoute that psychiatrist in the Fawlty Towers episode "there's enough neurosis there for a whole convention"

 

[super_pig]

when i was about four i had to go to the dentist so my mum had to get me a bribe.. i wanted a football badge from suggs.. a man utd one (bear with me on this), basically because they were the only team i'd ever heard of.. when i went to get it, the bloke in suggs says 'what do you want that for.. you should support a sheffield team'. so i asked him who was available.. 'sheffield united or sheffield wednesday'.. in a split second i decided that supporting a team called 'wednesday' was so dumb that was a non starter, so i got a united badge
when i got home i showed it to all of the family to which the reply was 'bloody good job an'all' as it turned out everyone in the family apart from one cousin supported united.. so dodged a bullet there.. actually no.. my grandfather later told me if i'd have bought the wrong one i'd have been forced to take it back and exchange it!!

 

[Selly]

My father passed the bug to me and I did the same to Kenilworth Jnr
My Grandad was blue but his brothers red (never sure how that transpired) and while he was away in the forces his brothers had already taken his three sons to the Lane.

Whilst clearly the correct end result was arrived at, this was extremely c**tish behaiviour from your Great Uncles...but funny as it workd in SUFC's favour...

 

[BusheyBlade]

Grew up in blissful peace not being interested in football until I was 9 when I was bitten by the bug during Italia '90. My mum is a Blades fan, Dad has very little interest in football so I started supporting United. It was tough being at school in North West London where everyone supported Spurs, Arsenal, Man United or Liverpool but I think I made my mark as everyone from school remembers me as the crazy Sheffield United fan! For one day in primary school when I was 10 I was so fed up of supporting a team people teased me for so I supported Liverpool for all of 2 hours after which I realised that changing football teams was worse than changing religion. I soon switched back.

Favourite day at school has to be the morning after we beat Spurs 6-0 in 1993. Glorious!

 

[Selly]

Grew up in blissful peace not being interested in football until I was 9 when I was bitten by the bug during Italia '90. My mum is a Blades fan, Dad has very little interest in football so I started supporting United. It was tough being at school in North West London where everyone supported Spurs, Arsenal, Man United or Liverpool but I think I made my mark as everyone from school remembers me as the crazy Sheffield United fan! For one day in primary school when I was 10 I was so fed up of supporting a team people teased me for so I supported Liverpool for all of 2 hours after which I realised that changing football teams was worse than changing religion. I soon switched back.

Favourite day at school has to be the morning after we beat Spurs 6-0 in 1993. Glorious!

I was at school from 1981 to 1995. Pretty bleak days considering what our porcine neighbours were up to. I can only think of 3 days in the entirety of my school life that were memorable from an SUFC v SWFC perspective.

1. May 7th 1990
2. Nov 25th 1991
3. Mar 11th 1992

 

[JJ Sefton]

Grew up in blissful peace not being interested in football until I was 9 when I was bitten by the bug during Italia '90. My mum is a Blades fan, Dad has very little interest in football so I started supporting United. It was tough being at school in North West London where everyone supported Spurs, Arsenal, Man United or Liverpool but I think I made my mark as everyone from school remembers me as the crazy Sheffield United fan! For one day in primary school when I was 10 I was so fed up of supporting a team people teased me for so I supported Liverpool for all of 2 hours after which I realised that changing football teams was worse than changing religion. I soon switched back.

Favourite day at school has to be the morning after we beat Spurs 6-0 in 1993. Glorious!

Thats almost exactly the same as my story. My dad was very lapsed and tried to get me into rugby but I got interested in football and started following Spurs as they were the nearest team (and quite good). I begged my dad to take me to White Hart Lane and he said "If youre watching anyone youre watching Sheffield United" So, yeah, thanks dad.

 

[Darren]

I was at school from 1981 to 1995. Pretty bleak days considering what our porcine neighbours were up to. I can only think of 3 days in the entirety of my school life that were memorable from an SUFC v SWFC perspective.

1. May 7th 1990
2. Nov 25th 1991
3. Mar 11th 1992

You must have gone to a bad school if it took them 8 days to realise United had beaten Wednesday on 17th November 1991.

 

[travellingblade]

Mines the reverse Its because my dad was a pig fan

Mine's pretty similar. My uncle (whom we lived with) and my little sister supported the "unclean", so I supported the Blades.

Then on my first day at school, way back around 1955, everybody else in the class were crying, missing their mums, except me and another lad, so I went over to him and said "I support the Blades, who do you support?". His reply "The Blades, naturally!". We were great friends after that, but lost touch after we went to different senior schools & universities. Shame.

 

[cahill]

I passed the old 11+ which meant I had to go to school in Sheffield, (nearest Catholic Grammar school) in 1965. Half of the class were Blades and half Pig fans. I just picked United, it never ever entered into my head to do otherwise, it just seemed the only correct thing to do. I can't claim any familial or geographical reasons for doing so. I think I was just "chosen" to be a Blade. It's genuinely had a profound impact on my life, ie. friends made, money spent, relationships formed, all the emotion involved. About 3 years ago I sat in the Arnold Laver stand at a Reading game and looked at the Shoreham and could visualise the old kop, terraces, myself as a young kid and all the memories of times passed, Currie, Woodward etc and I got quite emotional, choked. Funny thing football

 

[alcoblade]

Grandad, dad, me, my two lads. There's s theme forming....

When we were totally shit in the 80's, the contrast in our supporters (United we generally trendy lads, Wendy generally stiffs and families) convinced most of my non Blade supportig mates to become Blades. The rest were Blades because of their Dad's. Nobody I know supports a team becuase of success - but then again if they did then I woudn't know them.

UTB

 

[judge]

Believe it or not I was originally a Liverpool fan until my dad found out and started taking me to bdtbl
Never looked back

 

[alcoblade]

Believe it or not I was originally a Liverpool fan until my dad found out and started taking me to bdtbl

Never looked back

The 1978 league cup match managed to bring a few foolish childhood Liverpool fans back onto the right patch. Now that was a fun day at school...


Imagine how much they'd have missed out on if they'd spent the last 3 decades supporting them instead of The Blades....

UTB

 

[Silent Blade]

I think my dad was the first in his family to show interest in football. His uncle was a very keen horse racing fan and often asked my dad to put in the bets as a "runner" for him in the 1930s and 1940s (in fact on the morning of his uncle's death at Walton Hospital in Chesterfield he asked my dad to put a bet on a horse for him but he died without realising that his horse had won!). My dad became a Blade because he was in the same class at Dronfield school as the son of Fred Jessop (who plated for us in the late 1930s) and in his later years he took his youngest brother (author of Sharpe as a Blade) to matches (yes, to both grounds) in the late 1950s and his youngest brother (my dad had another brother who had no interest in football) then decided to be a Blade.

My mum's dad was a Blade and took his eldest son to matches at both BDTBL and the sty in the 1930s but my uncle had decided to make Wendy "his team" after the FA Cup match against Man City in 1934 (attendance was 72K) and my grandad (died two years before I was born) sort of "followed him".

I started showing some interest in football in the 2nd half of 1969 but wasnt really into finding out the names of footballers but I was well aware that my dad and my uncle Ronnie were Blades but my mum's 5 brothers were all Wendy. I remember attending the home games against Norwich and Cardiff in Sept 1969 also remember being picked up by my dad at his works children Xmas party and him telling me that the blades beat Birmingham 6-0. I decided that I wanted Scalextric set for my Xmas present but a week later I turned my attention back into football and watched YTV highlights of the Blades beating Everton in the FA Cup 3rd round match. I was impressed with the 2-1 win so I decided to become a committed Blade. I had lost interest in American Adventure comics so i got more interested in Scorcher comics. Colin Addison (scorer of the winner against Everton) was my first favourite Blade and George Best was another hero of mine when he scored 6 goals at Northampton.

 

[WorkingtonBlade]

Thats almost exactly the same as my story. My dad was very lapsed and tried to get me into rugby but I got interested in football and started following Spurs as they were the nearest team (and quite good). I begged my dad to take me to White Hart Lane and he said "If youre watching anyone youre watching Sheffield United" So, yeah, thanks dad.

My situation was similar, but my Dad took a different decision. He was a Bolton Wanderers fan since boyhood (Bolton being the town in which he grew up). I started to get interested in football but, his job involving working Saturday mornings, he knew that if he got me following Bolton we'd never be able to go. I'd be an armchair fan and, in his view, would never really get what it was all about. With United or Wednesday to choose from, he opted for United, as he considered them "the city club".

I still keep an eye out for Bolton's score, although they've become a dull and soulless club in my opinion.

 

[Selly]

You must have gone to a bad school if it took them 8 days to realise United had beaten Wednesday on 17th November 1991.

Ah bollocks...this is why I should stick to google-ing things rather than doing them from memory.

It was High Storrs though, so being in the posher end of town we were probably all busy out fox-hunting for the week...

 

[metalblade]

I can't say any of my grandfathers were Blades as they came from Walsall/West Bromwich on my dads side and Castleford on my mothers side moving to Sheffield in the 1900's looking for work. Dads lot were all Blades as were mom's family except one uncle who had piggy leanings. My first memories of football was sitting in Wincobank playground watching the steam trains taking the football specials to L**ds for a semi final replay against Leicester hoping to see my Dad on one of them, that would have been 1960 I think, It was a few years before I was considered old enough to go to a match maybe 62 or 63 a 1-0 win over Leicester Billy Hodgson scoring at the lane end being my first real memory of a game, and yes dad were right I was too small to see much until I was allowed to stand on the old white wall where they had Army, Navy and RAF posters.

 

[cahill]

I never tire of reading these stories, repeated as they are time after time. SilentBlade, you're Ronnie Sharpe's nephew I take it ? Not pc to say so but those books were a cut above the usual hooligan bullshit. Blades v Leicester semi was just before my time but I remember the final that season, the great Lilly Whites of Spurs

 

[Darren]

I can't say any of my grandfathers were Blades as they came from Walsall/West Bromwich on my dads side and Castleford on my mothers side moving to Sheffield in the 1900's looking for work. Dads lot were all Blades as were mom's family except one uncle who had piggy leanings. My first memories of football was sitting in Wincobank playground watching the steam trains taking the football specials to L**ds for a semi final replay against Leicester hoping to see my Dad on one of them, that would have been 1960 I think, It was a few years before I was considered old enough to go to a match maybe 62 or 63 a 1-0 win over Leicester Billy Hodgson scoring at the lane end being my first real memory of a game, and yes dad were right I was too small to see much until I was allowed to stand on the old white wall where they had Army, Navy and RAF posters.

We didn't beat Leicester 1-0 in either 62 or 63. We beat them 3-1 on 24/2/62 and drew 0-0 with them on 23/3/63.

You might be thinking of the 1-0 win over Burnley on 2/3/63 which we did indeed win 1-0 with a goal from Hodgson.

 

[Darren]

The 1978 league cup match managed to bring a few foolish childhood Liverpool fans back onto the right patch. Now that was a fun day at school...


Imagine how much they'd have missed out on if they'd spent the last 3 decades supporting them instead of The Blades....

UTB

And I bet they were glad at the end of that season when Liverpool won the league with a record points total and we were relegated to the 3rd Division for the first time :-(

 

[metalblade]

We didn't beat Leicester 1-0 in either 62 or 63. We beat them 3-1 on 24/2/62 and drew 0-0 with them on 23/3/63.

You might be thinking of the 1-0 win over Burnley on 2/3/63 which we did indeed win 1-0 with a goal from Hodgson.

You could well be right pal LOL, of course the semi played at Elland road in 60-61 was the 1st meeting ending 0-0 as did the replay at the City ground Nottingham, we went on to lose the 2nd replay 0-2 at St Andrews, nothing changes eh ?

 

[Hodgyman]

My story is similar that I became a Unitedite through the influence of my dad, his two brothers and their father before them. My difference is that my dad took me to "the dark side" first as guests of an uncle (by marriage) as he had spare season tickets for that day. I was obviously impressed as I didn't darken their threshold until some years later to cheer on United. My biggest recollection of the first game at Hillsborough though was my dad and uncle taking me to Ted Burgin's (for the younger ones he was the goaly before Hodgy)shop for a Green Un after tea at my Uncles.

I have inflicted the same allegiences upon my Son and grandson for good measure.

 

[Silent Blade]

I never tire of reading these stories, repeated as they are time after time. SilentBlade, you're Ronnie Sharpe's nephew I take it ? Not pc to say so but those books were a cut above the usual hooligan bullshit.

Yes, I am his nephew. You may remember Ronnie talking about Uncle Chris (died Sept 1970) in his books. I would go to his house (he lived with Ronnie and my grandmother) at least twice a week until he died. I would "borrow" Ronnie's Charles Buchan football magazines but didnt give them back to him!

 

[Balham]

I've said this elsewhere but...

Mum and Dad met at Uni (well, the Poly) having come from Middlesbrough and Portsmouth. Dad's not interested in football in the slightest, Mum not much more and my Grandads were too far away to have any influence (being Boro and Pompey fans).

I grew up in Fulwood so school was split around 70/30 in favour of Wednesday. Mum asked me when I was 5 if I wanted a football shirt and I said I'd like a Wednesday one - as my schoolmates were mainly Owls. When my little brother - he's 18 months younger than me and isn't little any more - piped up that he wanted one too I quickly changed my mind and got a Blades shirt. The rest is history.

Incidentally, Our Kid has been rescued from the dark side and is now a Blade. We don't get to games very often but if we're ever both in Sheffield you'll find us both moaning about the lack of leg room somewhere in the Lane - it's not built for people our size!

 

[Highbury_Blade]

1st ever game was Everton 4 - Sheffield Weednesday 0 in 1987. I hadn't shown much interest in football until that point, and my stepdad was trying to get me to be an Everton fan. Went to a couple of games (Including Fa Cup 3rd round, 3rd replay(remember them?) at Hillsborough where the pigs got smashed 5-0 due to a first half Graeme sharp hat trick), and i had an everton kit, but my heart wasn't in it and decided to support a Sheffield club instead.

Obviously the fact that i'd seen Sheffield Wednesday mullered a couple of times preyed on my mind, but it's more to do with the fact that my Dad is a Owl, and he's an absolute twat. Pretty easy decision in the end.

 

[2ndtenorblade]

My Granddad took my Dad to Wembley in 1936 when Dad was 19, Dad once told me he cried that day. Mum's Dad used to have a season ticket for both teams and went alternate weeks, he always said he was neutral but I think he favoured pigs more. Mums brother and my dad sat together at BDTBL for years, my brother is a blade, I never ever thought of being anything other than a blade. My wife (bless her) had no choice in the matter and was a committed blade my two kids are blades too.

 

[Sirius]

Purely and simply because my dad did. Most people don't choose their clubs, it is imposed upon them!

There is an enthusiastic senior member of "Wednesdayite," whose father . an avid Blade failed in his duty to influence the girl. He left her football education to his father in law who converted her to the dark side, as he had once tried to convert me some years before. My father had warned him before going off to war what would happen should he find me anything other than a Blade on his return. I do recall being taken to Owlerton by my uncle , he said that he had kept his promise to my father and that he had only taken me there to see the Blades. Now I do realise that the Lane was bombed but, could my uncle be telling the truth about the Blades ground sharing for a time? If so those games would be my first to see tha lads.