Watchers/Supporters of both Sheffield teams

[FlamingLip]

Only example close to me is my blade uncle with (now grown up) twins where one was owl. He'd go both grounds and include all big occasions. I know he's still more Blade but he doesn't mind the pork. His wife is life long pork too.

 

[Tray]

I think it’s ludicrous to “support” both. Although after a pretty shit break up, my mate took me to Hillsborough to “cheer me up”. It didn’t work, they won.

I know a lad from school that does both Leeds and Blades Away days...saw him in the home end at Elland Road goading us lot in the Blades end. Yet he went to Villa away with the Blades. He never was quite right that lad.

 

[sitwell]

When I was about 10 my mates brother played for Wendy ,so I went to a few matches with him ,hated every minute but so did he ,he was a Stoke fan ,and when he got transferred to Southport I went to a few of theirs.

 

[tomtheblade]

Whilst I don't hate wednesdayites as much as some Blades do (just the regular amount of hatred for me), I don't understand why anyone would support both. You're giving up a genuine rivalry, one of the best things about being a football fan in Sheffield.

I was born and grew up in S6 (I hasten to add not hillsborough mind) so most kids at school were pigs. Only me and a couple of other kids were Blades, but my dads side of the family were Blades so here I am.

The funny thing is, by all reasonable logic it shouldn't be the case that choice of football team dictates any sort of massive difference in personality. If we're all from Sheffield with a similar upbringing then it stands to reason that we'd pretty much be similar types of people.

However this is completely contradicted by my experience growing up, in that 99% of the wednesdayites were cunts, and whenever I made new friends I would inevitably discover they were Unitedites, so there you go..

 

[Isaw Joeshaw]

In the late 1940's I used to spend most Saturday's with my grandparents and, quite often, my granddad would take me with him to watch Wednesday.

I was sworn to absolute secrecy about this because he knew that, if my dad had found out, he would gladly have strangled him.

Fortunately, before then my Dad had taken me to watch the Blades and there was only ever one team in it for me.

 

[metalblade]

I think it is a case of no one likes wendyites we just have to tolerate them, always found the pigs to be loud mouthed bores. Don't matter where you go on holiday home or abroad walk into a boozer and if a pig is in you can spot them straight away, there is just something about them don't know if it is the fake loud laughter if there is a group of them or if it is them telling anyone who will listen how massive they are. You can definitely spot the grubby cunts a mile off maybe it is the faded blue tracksuits they wear from the 1980's or their ugly fat wives.

 

[Isaw Joeshaw]

I think it is a case of no one likes wendyites we just have to tolerate them, always found the pigs to be loud mouthed bores. Don't matter where you go on holiday home or abroad walk into a boozer and if a pig is in you can spot them straight away, there is just something about them don't know if it is the fake loud laughter if there is a group of them or if it is them telling anyone who will listen how massive they are. You can definitely spot the grubby cunts a mile off maybe it is the faded blue tracksuits they wear from the 1980's or their ugly fat wives.

A very good analysis of the average Grunter, but you omitted to mention that most of them are mouth breathers which I have never found to be an endearing trait.

 

[PeakyBlader]

Historically it was quite a common thing for fans to cross the divide and watch the other team whilst their own team played away. I always remember my granddad telling me how his dad took him to watch the Blades one week, but then the following week he would go with his uncles to watch Wednesday. He was always dead adamant that he never felt the same for Wednesday but never the less enjoyed watching the football as a nipper.

I think the remarkable thing that should be taken note of is that people were no better off back then than we are now, in fact they were probably worse off, yet it was still affordable for families to go to 4 games a month!

 

[Alfreton14Blade]

I wasn't a "natural" United supporter, in that I wasn't born in the city & wasn't born into supporting United. And when I was younger I did go and watch both teams play just because I loved football and wanted to watch as much of it as possible.

The difference was that my mates at school were Blades so when I went with them, & we went often, it was on the kop. And, despite being a loner-type, the brotherhood/solidarity/sheer fun of it just seeped into me & took hold of me more & more.

Whereas, if I went to watch the other lot I tended to go on my own & it wasn't really an enjoyable experience, especially as they were really shit at the time & there was no compensation of getting involved in the "culture" of it to compensate. I felt nothing for them, & felt a genuine neutral there until a dislike of them started to grow.

One early experience of Swillsborough I do remember fairly vividly (unusually, because I have a terrible memory) is going on the Leppings Lane to watch them play Blackburn and seeing a kid (a Blackburn supporter) getting battered at close hand (literally being kicked in the head, repeatedly). It put me off violence for life (however close I've been to it at many times since, & however much I can understand getting dragged into it) - it was sickening. Christ knows if the kid wasn't brain damaged for life.

 

[pommpey]

Supporting both teams? Fucking ridiculous.

There's two things which disappoint me when I bump into someone from Sheffield.

1. "Oh, Sheffield? Blade or Owl?"

"Owl."

This makes me instantly switch the fuck off. They might as well me Man U or Leeds fans. From this moment on, unless I have to speak to them, I don't.

2. "Oh, Sheffield? Blade or Owl?"

"Oh ... football? Well, I don't really follow either. Both I suppose. Or neither. I don't mind. Wednesday are the ones who play in red, aren't they?"

You're from the sixth biggest conurbation in the UK with two blisteringly-set-against-each-other football teams and you 'don't follow football'. Really? You usually find after some questioning that they are first or second generation South Yorks migrants, forced to move to Sheffield for some or other reason from a region of risible footballing poverty, like Cornwall or Cumbria or Birmingham.

Sorry, but if you spent your formative years in a region aligned to one team, it is that team you stick with. Top end of Gleadless Valley (Hemsworth) was predominantly United back in my years, smattered with odd bits of pollutant here and there. When those fuckers were in the top flight and picked up silverware, I hated them more. There is no way I would ever be pleased at their success.

pommpey

 

[grafikhaus]

It's simply not possible to 'support' both. 'Follow' maybe but not support - part of supporting a club is hating your nearest rivals as any success for them reflects on us. I still encounter the occasional (older) fan who spouts crap like 'I like to see both teams do well.' What is consistent is a) they're liars b) they never attend matches (usually Wednesdayites). It's their version of appearing even-handed and fair but, scratch the surface and they're utterly evil bastards who want everything their own way. I believe nowadays it's called 'virtue signalling'.

 

[JohnDenver]

Totally agree with this. Always want us to beat them and to do better than them but at the end of the day both teams represent the city and i dont mind them doing alright.

I find it a bit daft that fans talk about the others as though they're sub human scum. It's a game and they're ultimately no different from us.

Agree with that except I don’t want to see them do alright. It directly costs my team if they do.

 

[Blade_In_Sydney]

Perhaps worth a separate thread but what about people who switched from one to the other ... my late cousin Patrick, who took me to my very first game at the Lane in 1966, and was a Unitedite, switched to Wednesday a couple of years later in protest, he said, at the sale of Jones and Birchenall. We are a mixed family (some Blades, some Wednesday) but none of us really trusted him after that. Anyone else experienced owt like this?

Back in the early to mid 1960s I was a fanatical United supporter. Had a scrap book with everything about the Blades. Got TC's autograph when he first arrived. When the ground was three sided, for time wasting a United player would kick the ball towards the cricket pavilion and the ball boy would take an age to retrieve it. My brother, some three years older, supported Wednesday. Anyway, whether it was because the football was better or I was having more fun he, slowly but surely, became a Blade. It seems strange now, he has no time for that other team in Sheffield and has brought up his three daughters to be Blades and is now taking his grandchildren to BDTBL.

Went to that other ground once - probably in the 60s. It did nothing for me. Never went again. Never wanted to.

Good luck Friday everyone (the game is live Saturday morning here). Once a Blade ...........

 

[Piffle and Tosh]

i support 2 teams
1 Sheffield United
2 Any team that is playing Wednesday

 

[Tunstall Fred]

My grandfather, who died in 1962, had a season ticket at the Lane and at Hillsborough, in the summer he played cricket, golf, bowls, and anything else that occurred to him - his greatest love was fishing, he taught me to fish.

He followed Yorkshire around the county, watched Millhouses on a Sunday, shutting his bakery early if Yorkshire were at the Lane, dragging me with him whenever and wherever he could. My old man had no interest in football, so the old boy made sure that my sporting education was completed watching United - he never took me to Hillsborough, making sure I was brought up right.

I’ve got several photos of him fishing, and I suppose these showed him at his happiest, but I wish there was some way to tell him that he has a brick in the Lane wall, he’d be well chuffed, to use one of his favourite sayings.

That's a lovely post,and as regards his brick,he will know and be proud of his Grandson who made it possible

 

[Piffle and Tosh]

In the late 80's I worked with a guy who was a Blade. His sister married Paul Thomson who was the Swine reporter on the Star.

Next thing Bob suddenly has a Blue and White scarf and Wednesday till he dies. Only person I have ever met who has swapped sides.

Not and never was a true Blade or football fan. It's in yer blood. If I ever stopped supporting the Blades I would stop watching football.

I know of a couple who have done this ,my solution to this is never to talk football to them as they obviously know nothing about it .

 

[Isar]

As a youngster I did go to Hillsborough a few times, but always found the atmosphere at the Lane far more exciting. If I am honest the atmosphere and the whole match day experience kept me going back, the football was secondary.

 

[BladeInIreland]

Can any of the older blades pin point when the rivalry turned nasty?
Was there a particular event?
To transition from 'were all Sheffield sent we? ' to what we have today is some transformation.

 

[Tunstall Fred]

Can any of the older blades pin point when the rivalry turned nasty?
Was there a particular event?
To transition from 'were all Sheffield sent we? ' to what we have today is some transformation.

I'm guessing here,but perhaps the acid throwing incident,late 60s?

 

[blade too long]

like a lot my age we in the sixties used to go with mates to both grounds , schools got free tickets to games and we made the most of it , there was no segregation or hate in those days .I was from a wholly blades family so could only ever have one love. But away travel was still not prevelant so being football mad you go and watch wednesdays opposition, saw them beat man utd 5-4 and burnley 7-0 but had no effect on me Still looked forward to watching mick jones and alan birchenall ,

Think the hate started as Wednesday fans got more and more arrogant during the thug years and started with their self inflating egos , Their quick demise in the early 70s made them nasty
Theyve always been instegators of hate , as the latest Evie saga shows

 

[ekke287]

I used to work with a lad who went to both games. No allegiance to either he just liked watching both.

Personally, I've never been to S6 (to watch the Blades). It's on my to-do list. I was going to go in September but the ticket prices put me off, having little money and all.

 

[pommpey]

If I am watching Soccer Satdi, I watch for:

1. SUFC, obv
2. SWFC, to see if they have FIUA
3. Pompey, to see if they are any nearer to getting promoted. Usually not, so I can commiserate sarcastically with Pompey fans on the Monday morning.

After their results, the telly gets switched over.

pommpey

 

[Doddyontheball]

I remember going to a Derby game At Hillsborough and standing on their kop with both sets of fans. My cousins and uncle being of the blue and white persuasion stood with us. There was always banter and rivalry but in the 60’s with more money and cheap travel there was an upsurge of hooliganism and fans were segregated. Now we have a situation controlled by the police and Sky television when the match is viewed from a point of national security. 500 police drafted in, away supporters denied and alcohol and worse from my point of view supporters being urged to get there nearly two hours earlier. IMHO Sky has ruined our beautiful game.

 

[Tunstall Fred]

I remember going to a Derby game At Hillsborough and standing on their kop with both sets of fans. My cousins and uncle being of the blue and white persuasion stood with us. There was always banter and rivalry but in the 60’s with more money and cheap travel there was an upsurge of hooliganism and fans were segregated. Now we have a situation controlled by the police and Sky television when the match is viewed from a point of national security. 500 police drafted in, away supporters denied and alcohol and worse from my point of view supporters being urged to get there nearly two hours earlier. IMHO Sky has ruined our beautiful game.

Totally agree re Sky

 

[GreasyChipBeattie]

For me, the bottom line is that as supporters we ARE collectively all the same.
We have aggressive/immature/unreasonable/hateful thug supporters and so do Wednesday.
We have placid/mature/sensible/accepting/ gentle supporters and so do Wednesday.
Our supporters sing vile songs designed to cause offence and so do theirs.
Our fans stick stickers defacing other people's property and so do theirs.
Our fans trash other team's grounds and attack other team's supporters and so do theirs.
The problem isn't with them. It's not with us. It's with the fact that the human race, to one extent or another, has an inherent desire to be greedy, selfish, mistrusting and hedonistic.
Good parenting can affect that to a degree, but none of us are very far away from defaulting to the 'well if you're going to be like that to me, I'm going to do it back to you' approach.
Think how quickly most people's 'hatred' of the opposition melts with a kind word or two from them.
I always try not to return hate with hate. I'm not always successful at doing it, but strangely, when I am, I feel the benefit.
Hate is a destructive emotion and the world would be a much better place if the human race could show a bit more humility and acceptance.
Before I'm accused of being a pacifist, I have no problem with justified aggression or war, but I think it's far too easy to make a sweeping statement that simply isn't true.
Each to their own I guess.

 

[Bayingblade]

Supporting both teams? Fucking ridiculous.

There's two things which disappoint me when I bump into someone from Sheffield.

1. "Oh, Sheffield? Blade or Owl?"

pommpey

Sorry Pommps, you've got that wrong. The question is always "Blade or pig?"

 

[snootyfenooty]

I remember going to a Derby game At Hillsborough and standing on their kop with both sets of fans. My cousins and uncle being of the blue and white persuasion stood with us. There was always banter and rivalry but in the 60’s with more money and cheap travel there was an upsurge of hooliganism and fans were segregated. Now we have a situation controlled by the police and Sky television when the match is viewed from a point of national security. 500 police drafted in, away supporters denied and alcohol and worse from my point of view supporters being urged to get there nearly two hours earlier. IMHO Sky has ruined our beautiful game.

I think you've summarised it nicely there. The special measures, segregation and over the top policing make the away fans a target, they stick out like a sore thumb. It's as if the police are inviting a reaction by creating a war zone atmosphere around grounds, even for nondescript matches. I think the police need to step back a bit and should try and create an atmosphere of calm, not hostility.

 

[Tyler Durden]

People are just inherently one or the other.

I've mentioned on here before that my Dads first match was at Hillsboro courtesy of his Pig uncle.
He always said that it never "felt right" being there. Had no affinity with them whatsoever.
Later, when he did go to the Lane we immediately became his team and that was that.
It was always like that to a degree, even in his day it was a binary choice for many. It's just more so now. And quite rightly.

 

[Finn Keane o' Balmaqueen]

My grandfather, who died in 1962, had a season ticket at the Lane and at Hillsborough, in the summer he played cricket, golf, bowls, and anything else that occurred to him - his greatest love was fishing, he taught me to fish.

He followed Yorkshire around the county, watched Millhouses on a Sunday, shutting his bakery early if Yorkshire were at the Lane, dragging me with him whenever and wherever he could. My old man had no interest in football, so the old boy made sure that my sporting education was completed watching United - he never took me to Hillsborough, making sure I was brought up right.

I’ve got several photos of him fishing, and I suppose these showed him at his happiest, but I wish there was some way to tell him that he has a brick in the Lane wall, he’d be well chuffed, to use one of his favourite sayings.

POST OF THE DAY...
Have a 1000+ in the 'Like Bank'
x

 

[HodgysBrokenThumb]

For me, the bottom line is that as supporters we ARE collectively all the same.
We have aggressive/immature/unreasonable/hateful thug supporters and so do Wednesday.
We have placid/mature/sensible/accepting/ gentle supporters and so do Wednesday.
Our supporters sing vile songs designed to cause offence and so do theirs.
Our fans stick stickers defacing other people's property and so do theirs.
Our fans trash other team's grounds and attack other team's supporters and so do theirs.
The problem isn't with them. It's not with us. It's with the fact that the human race, to one extent or another, has an inherent desire to be greedy, selfish, mistrusting and hedonistic.
Good parenting can affect that to a degree, but none of us are very far away from defaulting to the 'well if you're going to be like that to me, I'm going to do it back to you' approach.
Think how quickly most people's 'hatred' of the opposition melts with a kind word or two from them.
I always try not to return hate with hate. I'm not always successful at doing it, but strangely, when I am, I feel the benefit.
Hate is a destructive emotion and the world would be a much better place if the human race could show a bit more humility and acceptance.
Before I'm accused of being a pacifist, I have no problem with justified aggression or war, but I think it's far too easy to make a sweeping statement that simply isn't true.
Each to their own I guess.

A very good post, most of which I agree with; just a couple of things I see differently. When you say 'our fans', I think you mean 'a few/some', and in the current climate, that is worth repeating ad nauseam, even if it makes posts longer and risks boredom. And I have a more positive view of human nature - we are also social, co-operative, and capable of unselfish behaviour when the chips are down. When there is a moving story in S2 or S6, most people switch instinctively into 'life is more important than football' mode. I prefer Wednesdayites to Sheffielders who opt to support ManU or Chelsea. They are our rivals, but they are OUR rivals, if you see what I mean. And I still hope we thrash them on Friday.