24 September 1966

[Good Pinch Of Snuff]

This is what happened the only other time a Sheffield derby took place on 24th September

http://www.thestar.co.uk/sport/foot...-derby-took-place-on-24th-september-1-8765960

When Sheffield Wednesday and Sheffield United walk onto the pitch at Hillsborough on Sunday it will be exactly 51 years to the day since the clubs shared four goals at the ground. On Saturday September 24 1966 the Owls and Blades went head to head in front of 43,557 fans at Hillsborough in the old Division 1.

Among those in attendance at the derby was World Cup winning England manager Sir Alf Ramsey. Wednesday went into the game as favourites having made a much stronger start to the season than their rivals from across the city. The Owls were 9th in the table having clocked up 13 points from their first eight matches. United on the other hand languished third from bottom of the table with just seven points from their first eight games. Despite going into the match as underdogs the Blades took the lead after just seven minutes when Alan Woodward fired in from an acute angle. And the home fans were silenced just 12 minutes later when Mick Jones doubled United's lead. Five minutes before the break Graham Pugh pulled one back for Wednesday when he got on the end of a John Fantham free kick to divert the ball into the back of the net. The Owls nearly went into half time on level terms but Jim McCalliog was denied by a superb save from Blades' keeper Alan Hodgkinson. But McCalliog wasn't to be denied in the second half. In the 67th minute the midfielder stabbed home from close range to make the score 2-2. And that was the final score in a match Green 'Un reporter Peter Howard described as a 'titanic struggle'. The Blades won the return fixture at Bramall Lane the following February by one goal to nil. United finished the season in 10th place in the league - one place and one point above Wednesday.

 

[BushBlade]

Shouldn't that be 435,570,000?

 

[Keen Blade]

Sadly we can never repeat those days when the grounds had oceans of terracing which could be packed solid such that the fans of both clubs could attend both derbies each season , making a fab atmosphere.

 

[Silent Blade]

From Ronnie Sharpe's book

On the morning of Saturday September 24th 1966, four fifteen-year-old Dronny Blades sneaked into Hopkinson’s smallholding. Their mission, ‘A great egg blag.’ Johnny Hall- the mastermind behind the deadly plot - knew the layout well. He’d worked there doing odd jobs at the weekends and during school holidays.
Scores of chickens roamed free around the sheds and outbuildings, laying eggs in makeshift nests, under bushes and in the corners of broken down huts. The further away from the main house the rottener the eggs were likely to be. After filling a carrier bag each, the lads were on their way to the bus stop to meet up with a couple of hundred or so fellow Blades who were gathering in Pond Street bus station at midday.
Willie Marples, a classmate from school who was on his way to the match clad in his Wednesday gear passed the lads on Dronny bottom. Beetroot let fly a rotten egg which splatted on Willies back. Johnny Hall reckoned an old bloke walking past with his dog, fainted from the stench and the dog dropped dead.
Willie and Beetroot slugged it out, one on one for a few minutes. Beetroot ended the scrap by whipping off his belt and smacking Willie round the lughole with the buckle end. The ill feeling had started already.
Beetroot (so called because the one and only time he ever got told off by a teacher, he went as red as one) was a quiet, studious, intelligent lad who always did well at school. He always had a top pocket full of pens and would lend you one, no bother. Beetie however turned into a very naughty boy- a kind of Mr Hyde type creature whenever he went to a football game.
I once saw him, after a testimonial game against Wednesday at the Lane, drag a Wednesdayite off a bus in Pond Street, beat him half to death with a walking stick then laugh his head off when he’d finished.
I’d left a note out for Mam’s milkman and I’d been in town since eleven o’clock armed with a carton of half a dozen eggs. Loads of Blades arrived, many carrying boxes of eggs.
We set off on the two-mile trek with our banners, flags and eggs, picking up small groups of lads on the way as we walked through town. There wasn’t a policeman in sight.
We showed off our eggs to each other like they were some kind of new invention that nobody had ever seen before. Some with the little lion stamp, some large-uns, some small-uns, some free-range, some jumbo.
“Look at them fuckers for eggs then.”
As we reached the bottom of Penistone Road a mob of Pitsmoor lads carrying a large banner joined us. Any Wednesdayites we saw on route had the odd egg chucked at them.
On reaching the ground about one thirty, we queued outside the Penistone road end (Wednesday’s kop). We paid the one shilling or it might have been two shillings, admission at the boy’s entrance. I emerged at the other side of the turnstiles to see a group of Blades telling the lads that the coppers were at the back of the kop searching everyone for eggs.
I hid my eggs in some bushes and walked past two coppers (yes two) trying to pat down dozens of youth’s as they entered the kop.
“Got any eggs?” The copper asked me, patting my bush jacket; a couple of cartons lay at his feet.
“No.” I answered, “Go on then.”
At least ten lads walked past as he did this. I waited a few minutes, walked back out and collected my eggs. Passing the same copper again I said,
“You’ve searched me once.”
“Yeah go on.” he said. The ground was all but deserted, except for us; we stood at the back of the kop directly behind the goal waiting for the Wednesdayites to arrive. The plan was, at ten minutes to three, with our arms held aloft and to the chant of,
“Sheff United, hallelujah.” the mass throw would take place. By two o’clock, fifty or so Wednesdayites gathered at the front. This proved too tempting for some of the trigger-happy Blades and a few rounds of ammo were fired into them. By two thirty the ground started filling up, more Wednesdayites, more Blades and more eggs entered the stadium.
At ten to three, with forty odd thousand in the ground and the mass of Blades singing and swaying, hundreds of hands were raised into the air and the cry went up,
“Sheff United- hallelujah- hallelujah.”
What a sight to behold, nowhere to run, nowhere to hide, its ‘raining eggs hallelujah.’ A huge roar greeted the teams as they took to the pitch. Raised, blue and white Wednesday banners now had tinges of yellow slime running down them.
“Scrambled eggs, scrambled eggs.” we chanted. Our ammunition now used up, we turned to coins and other missiles. Stones were collected from the banking at the back of the kop and thrown at the Wednesdayites. One of the young Dronny lads (who later went on have a distinguished career in the police force) was removed and thrown out of the ground by his later to be colleagues. The game ended in a 2-2 draw, but the Blades scored what we all thought was a late winning goal, only for it to be disallowed for offside. We left the ground en-masse at the end of the game and marched back down Penistone road towards town, chanting “We were robbed.” but still laughing at any egg stained Wednesday fans we saw.
The following Monday’s edition of the Sheffield Morning Telegraph reported the trouble. It told of the many ejections from the ground, of youths throwing sharpened steel washers and carrying flick-knifes… but no mention of any eggs.

Woody scored the opener (see photo below) so there will be many in the Kop at the time that were splattered with eggs!

The equaliser

 

[ghandi]

This is what happened the only other time a Sheffield derby took place on 24th September

http://www.thestar.co.uk/sport/foot...-derby-took-place-on-24th-september-1-8765960

When Sheffield Wednesday and Sheffield United walk onto the pitch at Hillsborough on Sunday it will be exactly 51 years to the day since the clubs shared four goals at the ground. On Saturday September 24 1966 the Owls and Blades went head to head in front of 43,557 fans at Hillsborough in the old Division 1.

Among those in attendance at the derby was World Cup winning England manager Sir Alf Ramsey. Wednesday went into the game as favourites having made a much stronger start to the season than their rivals from across the city. The Owls were 9th in the table having clocked up 13 points from their first eight matches. United on the other hand languished third from bottom of the table with just seven points from their first eight games. Despite going into the match as underdogs the Blades took the lead after just seven minutes when Alan Woodward fired in from an acute angle. And the home fans were silenced just 12 minutes later when Mick Jones doubled United's lead. Five minutes before the break Graham Pugh pulled one back for Wednesday when he got on the end of a John Fantham free kick to divert the ball into the back of the net. The Owls nearly went into half time on level terms but Jim McCalliog was denied by a superb save from Blades' keeper Alan Hodgkinson. But McCalliog wasn't to be denied in the second half. In the 67th minute the midfielder stabbed home from close range to make the score 2-2. And that was the final score in a match Green 'Un reporter Peter Howard described as a 'titanic struggle'. The Blades won the return fixture at Bramall Lane the following February by one goal to nil. United finished the season in 10th place in the league - one place and one point above Wednesday.

Surely they would have been higher than 9th havinbg only deopped 3 poinbts (2 poinbts for a win in 66)

 

[BushBlade]

Surely they would have been higher than 9th havinbg only deopped 3 poinbts (2 poinbts for a win in 66)

Unless some of the other teams had played more games.

 

[Silent Blade]

Highlights of the match was televised on ITV in the next day. Would have loved to see the footage

 

[Snowman]

Mmmm. Eggs you say?

 

[HighfieldBlade]

Speaking of "24", if you add up the digits of the attendance of that game, 43,557, you get 24. Spooky or what?

 

[Bert]

This is what happened the only other time a Sheffield derby took place on 24th September

http://www.thestar.co.uk/sport/foot...-derby-took-place-on-24th-september-1-8765960

When Sheffield Wednesday and Sheffield United walk onto the pitch at Hillsborough on Sunday it will be exactly 51 years to the day since the clubs shared four goals at the ground. On Saturday September 24 1966 the Owls and Blades went head to head in front of 43,557 fans at Hillsborough in the old Division 1.

Among those in attendance at the derby was World Cup winning England manager Sir Alf Ramsey. Wednesday went into the game as favourites having made a much stronger start to the season than their rivals from across the city. The Owls were 9th in the table having clocked up 13 points from their first eight matches. United on the other hand languished third from bottom of the table with just seven points from their first eight games. Despite going into the match as underdogs the Blades took the lead after just seven minutes when Alan Woodward fired in from an acute angle. And the home fans were silenced just 12 minutes later when Mick Jones doubled United's lead. Five minutes before the break Graham Pugh pulled one back for Wednesday when he got on the end of a John Fantham free kick to divert the ball into the back of the net. The Owls nearly went into half time on level terms but Jim McCalliog was denied by a superb save from Blades' keeper Alan Hodgkinson. But McCalliog wasn't to be denied in the second half. In the 67th minute the midfielder stabbed home from close range to make the score 2-2. And that was the final score in a match Green 'Un reporter Peter Howard described as a 'titanic struggle'. The Blades won the return fixture at Bramall Lane the following February by one goal to nil. United finished the season in 10th place in the league - one place and one point above Wednesday.

Never mind that Alf Ramsey was in the crowd...... so was the young Bert sat on the very back row of the North Stand.
The first time he ever saw United play.

 

[HighfieldBlade]

Highlights of the match was televised on ITV in the next day. Would have loved to see the footage

I've contacted ITV Sports Archive to see if they can find it and make it available.
Fingers crossed.

 

[Silent Blade]

I've contacted ITV Sports Archive to see if they can find it and make it available.
Fingers crossed.

Also Blades v L**ds in Nov 1967 when Woody took over Hodgy's jersey in the 9th minute. He kept a clean sheet while Mick Hill scored the only game of the match

 

[HighfieldBlade]

Also Blades v L**ds in Nov 1967 when Woody took over Hodgy's jersey in the 9th minute. He kept a clean sheet while Mick Hill scored the only game of the match

Do you know the date when that was shown on TV?

 

[Silent Blade]

Do you know the date when that was shown on TV?

Shown on 12th November 1967

 

[GreasyChipBeattie]

Speaking of "24", if you add up the digits of the attendance of that game, 43,557, you get 24. Spooky or what?

Yes that is spooky Highfield.
Goodness, it just happened again! If you add up the letters in that sentance, that's 24 as well. Mmmmm, summat weird going on here.

 

[HighfieldBlade]

Shown on 12th November 1967

I'll contact them about that one, too.

 

[Silent Blade]

I'll contact them about that one, too.

Cheers

 

[JJ Sefton]

I've contacted ITV Sports Archive to see if they can find it and make it available.
Fingers crossed.

Good luck. In my experience they're a right set of tight fisted pricks.

 

[HighfieldBlade]

Good luck. In my experience they're a right set of tight fisted pricks.

You mean they've got the recordings but don't release them? How sad

P.s. I still owe you the video of Blades v manu 1st ever prem game. Send me a message with your email address and I'll send it to you.

 

[JJ Sefton]

You mean they've got the recordings but don't release them? How sad

P.s. I still owe you the video of Blades v manu 1st ever prem game. Send me a message with your email address and I'll send it to you.

Yes. We drew 1-1 with Chelsea in 1966, Woody scored, and ITV have the footage. MobileBlade tried to get it off them when we did the Woodward tribute video, but they wouldn't give it up.

 

[Silent Blade]

Yes. We drew 1-1 with Chelsea in 1966, Woody scored, and ITV have the footage. MobileBlade tried to get it off them when we did the Woodward tribute video, but they wouldn't give it up.

Woody assisted Birchenall's goal

 

[CecColdwell]

When Sheffield Wednesday and Sheffield United walk onto the pitch at Hillsborough on Sunday it will be exactly 51 years to the day since the clubs shared four goals at the ground. On Saturday September 24 1966 the Owls and Blades went head to head in front of 43,557 fans at Hillsborough in the old Division 1.

Dennis Clarebrough,in his book Sheffield United The First 100 Years,records the crowd as 42,730.The return match at the Lane on February 4th is recorded as 43,490.Won by United 1-0 scored by 32 year old Bill Punton.

 

[HighfieldBlade]

Shown on 12th November 1967

ITV Sports Archive replied a couple of days ago and told me they don't have that one.
Still not got a reply on the request for the derby of 24th Sept 1966. I don't hold my hopes high, to be honest.

 

[HighfieldBlade]

Highlights of the match was televised on ITV in the next day. Would have loved to see the footage

ITV Archive finally got back to me on this one. Said that their archives don't go this far back, so they don't have it. Sorry .

 

[Silent Blade]

ITV Archive finally got back to me on this one. Said that their archives don't go this far back, so they don't have it. Sorry .

Do they have any idea who might have the footage?

 

[JohnStreet]

Yes that is spooky Highfield.
Goodness, it just happened again! If you add up the letters in that sentance, that's 24 as well. Mmmmm, summat weird going on here.

And if you add two to four that's six. Half a dozen eggs!

 

[HighfieldBlade]

Do they have any idea who might have the footage?

I've just contacted them again to ask them this question.

 

[HighfieldBlade]

Do they have any idea who might have the footage?

When I asked if they knew who might have it, this is the reply I got:

No I'm afraid not. We did cover it at the time but there is nothing left in our archive from that period. With the expense of stock at the time many things were just reused. Whether that was the case or it has just been lost destroyed over the years I'm not sure. The only footage we still have from that period is international & big cup games, no football league stuff.

Sorry we couldn't have been of more help.

Good luck in your search.

 

[Good Pinch Of Snuff]

 

[Silent Blade]

When I asked if they knew who might have it, this is the reply I got:

Cheers. It is a shame if the footage is destroyed