Why? How? When?

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ShorehamRevolution

ShorehamRevolution

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I could expand on this till kingdom come but as the thread title says......I'm not talking about Brexit or Donald Trump I'm wanting to know why? How? When? And why ?! You became a Blade... expanded posts appreciated.

Personally I could expand rapidly about why I'm a Blade, through mother and father and their/my family too, add to this my first few games were mediocre (got me prepared early) but then I fingerpoint the Blackburn quarter final as a 7/8 year old as a defining moment, the whole atmosphere swallowed me and from then on I've had ups and downs to which I still can't figure out which I've had more of, like I've said I could expand forever but what/why/how/when turned you into being a Blade ?
 





Brought up 5 minutes away from BDTBL.

My Dad's a Wednesday fan (one of them who doesn't go to games and doesn't actually give a shit but followed them when he was younger when they were decent).

I have two uncles that are Blades and are still very much into it.

Ironically my Dad took my to the lane quite often. All my mates were Blades, it was weird to be a Wednesday fan in my area.
 
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1978. My older brother supported Wendy and I went the other way. I was excited by the signing of Alex Sabella and I preferred United's (Admiral) kit at the time which made Wednesday's Bukta kit look old-fashioned. Plus United were in a higher division at the time though that didn't last long.
 
Personally I consider myself a jinx.

I first started following the Blades in the 'Triple Assault' season, as my best mate at school was already indoctrinated and kept going on about United.

I got my first season ticket the season we came down from the Prem - so I've only ever seen us get worse...

And I wonder why I'm a pessimistic twat (my username is ironic) :rolleyes:

Still, better than being an inbred from S6.
 
I was a 5 year old innocent kid and my dad took me to the Lane for the first time v Blackburn. We lost 2-1 and I said "Dad, do we always lose"? He said "no son, but don't expect to be happy very often".

Cheers dad.
 
I was a Blade the second I was born. I've never known anything other than being a Blade. My early life was in Grenoside, full of our Porcine brethren but there were 3 of us in my class who raised the overall IQ. Despite being in the minority, I was never tempted. They were different, strange, even at 5 years old. They just weren't right.

The reason I'm a Blade? Simple. I'm 3rd generation going back to the early 20th century and the dynasty is intact as Little BB is following in his Great Grandfathers, his Grandfathers and his Fathers footsteps. A hefty trail I tell thee.
 
I can't remember it ever being a conscious choice. United form part of my very earliest memories. I naturally preferred red to blue and I liked the Blades crest better than the dumb parrot that the other lot had. I honestly don't believe I could've been anything else, it's just deeply ingrained and difficult to explain.

It's never been conditional on size, status, quality of football or anything else and my interest in football outside of United is casual at best. It's an insular attitude and I make no apology for it.
 
My father became a Unitedite. He wasn't from Sheffield and married into a big, ace Sheffield family (the Haddingtons) who were, and still are, split between Wednesday and United. He went to the match with my venerable uncle Fred when they all lived in the same house in Crookes. As the sixties rolled round, they both took me to the match, standing on the BLLT to the left of the goal every week. I would go down to the railings and watch the match, in my parka. I became separated from them one Saturday and I was passed over the railings to the bobby who held me aloft and my uncle Fred came down to claim me.

From those early days, 1967-68, I became a Blade. Obviously this was sharpened in 1971-72.

pommpey
 
I'm now going to make a confession.

As a kid my favourite team was Liverpool and favourite player Steve Heighway.
I marvelled at the team when they beat Borussia Monchegladbach in the 1977 European cup final.
One uncle took me to Bramall Lane and the other uncle to Hissboro in the mid 70's.
United were getting 25,000 gates and it was a fantastic atmosphere in the Kop.
Wednesday were getting 12,000 gates and as they had no roof on their Kop the atmosphere was totally flat. We were the top dogs in Sheffield, most kids at school supported United with Wednesday were a joke of a club being close to going out of business with their "save our Owls" campaign.

So I supported United but my secret team was Liverpool.

Then in 1978 we drew Liverpool in the League Cup.
I did wonder about which team I'd want to win.
And when the moment of truth came I was 100% a Blade.
Although maybe it helped that Hamson scored and we won 1-0.
Been going to most home matches since the 1978 season.
Went to loads of away matches in the 1980's, done most grounds now so stopped going to away games in the mid 90's.

It's weird how for many years now Liverpool are amongst my most disliked teams. Their fans are still arrogant and have this sense of entitlement as though they should still be winning everything.
 
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Haha great thread. I was talking about this the other day to Australians. I was 8 in 1981 and dad hopped me over the turnstiles for a 3-2 home win to Charlton. I had new dockers on bought that morning from manor top complete with red laces! Supported ever since including a few years as a STH and a proud member of London blades.
 
Great article; so much better than the negative nonsense we've been guilty of writing since fleetwood. For me it was my dad who taught me the true way. He was from York but went to Sheffield university in the sixties and got hooked. In 1975 we moved to North Yorkshire. In 1988 he took me to the lane for the first time; got beat by chesterfield but god it was good! Fast forward to 2017 and I live in London and my three sons are obsessed by united. Forget arsenal, forget spurs they wear their shirts with pride. On the way back from Sheffield on New Year's Eve, West Ham scum were throwing stuff at us on the train home (they were at Leicester) and they just laughed. We are Blades! It's the hope that kills you!
 
Having never lived in Sheffield and as a kid growing up on the East Yorkshire coast, I was surrounded by Leeds fans. I had no side on my doorstep so I took to supporting the best team of the late 70's and very early 80's and that was on the to most of the time.....Liverpool. Even had the Crown Paints Liverpool shirt as my first footie shirt. Though I only got that cos my local sport shop took forever to get a blades shirt in!

I was aware my dad, grandad and uncle were all blades, but they were in the lower divisions and I had never seen them, so I had no affiliation to them. As a football mad boy idolising Keegan, then Dalglish I wanted to play like those amazing players I saw on the tele....Hoddle another.
However....and sadly I have no idea when it was or who it was against, I remember being taken to a night game at the lane with my dad and grandad when I would have been maybe 9 or 10 and I started to "get it"....started to understand what it was all about.
I started to look for their results, I asked to go to more games, and I decided I supported both United and Liverpool. My earliest memories of the blades were Colin Morris and Keith Edwards, and the more games I went to, the more I felt that emotional attachment. Standing on John street with my dad and Grandad....I didn't realise at the time the fondness I would look back at those times now I am 43. I wish I could go back and experience them again, especially as my grandad passed in the summer after Bassett got us up to Division one!

I can't recall the moment I became simply "a blade", but needless to say I don't have any attachment to any side other then United. If I was to guess, I would say it was somewhere around 85 when we went to a couple of matches a season. But I was aware we were going to more games from the moment it was clear Bassett was doing something very special, and from that time on it's been a big part of my life.

My kids have been going since they were very young, both surrounded by Fans of Hull or whoever is winning the league. Both mad Blades, and proud to be another member of the family tradition. It makes me very proud when I think about it.
 
Moved to Sheffield after a lifetime as a Chesterfield fan finished following a fight with a racist on the Kop, the final straw after several previous incidents. I vowed never to set foot in Chesterfield's ground again, not just because of the racist but more so the cowards who sat on their hands and denied they had heard anything even though some of them had been asking the twat in question and his mates to tone down their abuse.

So, here I am, a newcomer to the city with no team to support. Do I want to watch Wednesday? Do I fuck. I have already been to enough games at the Sty and at the Lane over the years and I know which one I like better. Also, Bramall Lane is in the city while Hillsborough is in the back of beyond. I go to a few games at the Lane as a neutral and find myself standing up and cheering when the Blades score, which doesn't happen very often. I meet other people I like in Sheffield and they are all Blades. It's obvious which team in Sheffield belongs to the people. I go to the Cup match against Forest. I get a red and white striped shirt with a number 10 on it. I go the match against Charlton. I'm in love again!

It's a romantic tale with a happy ending. Bollocks to Chesterfield and to the Piggies. I'm a Blade and I'm proud!
 
Deja Vu thread...............is it me or does this same thread start every time we have an extended break from Play, or am I dreaming it!??????
 
My dad was from Keighley and as far as I know never went to a game. However when i was 6/7/8 years old a friends dad took us to the Lane one dark Tuesday night to see UTD Reserves vs Preston North End Reserves. We sat in BL upper tier and walking our into the huge stadium with the floodlights on just blew my young mind. Loved it ever since.
 
My Dad played for the Blades, so I suppose it was my destiny to suffer the pain, anguish and occasional pleasure of becoming a Blade!
Grandad (my Mam's dad) was a Wednesdayite (pre-Pigs!) and took me to both the dump and BDTBL, but The Lane had me hooked from day 1.
Woodward, Currie et al just cemented the love of a Club I have followed, at various levels of commitment, for over 50 years now and I'm still proud to call myself a Blade and be part of 'the family'. :)
 
My dad took me to the Lane very occasionally between 1966 and 1969 but every time after taking me home he would tell my mum that "I wasnt ready as I couldnt concentrate". The first time I was aware who the opponents we were playing were in September 1969 (Norwich and Cardiff) but I still hadnt got around to know the names of our players. In December after being picked up at my dad's works children party my dad tells me that we won 6-0 (it was v Birmingham), I was mightily impressed. The following week I went to my maternal grandmothers in Hartley Brook Road looking forward to picking up the xmas presents from my aunties and uncles (my mum has a sister and 6 brothers). Realising that my mum's brothers were all Wendy fans as that day my dad went off to watch Wendy v Arsenal with some of them. Two weeks later I watched Grandstand properly and learn that we had beaten Everton 2-1. Watched the highlights of the match on YTV in the next day and then I started to get to know our players names (Colin Addison and Alan Hodgkinson were the first two as they were being interviewed by Keith Macklin after the match). My dad sensed that I was starting to be "ready" to go to the Lane regularly as I kept asking him questions about football. Scorcher comic was my first football comic (first issue was January 1970) and I was learning more about football. The home game against Preston was my first match "as a committed Blade"
 
There was never a point in my life when a conscious decision had to be made; previous generations on both my mum's and my dad's side of the family had all been Blades fans going back to my Great Grandad who used to tell us about how he lived in the same street in Darnall as Bill Brelsford who "played for United when they were a tip-top team". I was brought up completely immersed in Sheffield United, and growing up in Norton Lees, literally all of my mates were United fans too. Best days of my life and I'd go back to them in a heartbeat if I could.

SWFC was always some horrible club on the other side of the city that played thug football; had the most fickle fans in the game who only supported them because they had "a World Cup ground" and a gimmicky name; and which was an embarrassment to the city because they had a ground that was too big for their puny gates meaning that even the likes of Wolves, Leicester and Birmingham used to 'take their Kop' in the 70's, let alone the clubs like Man U, Leeds, Derby, Villa and of course, United who used to take it as a matter of routine because the Pigs didn't have the numbers to defend it. What an utterly pathetic club.

My Dad did a grand job...
 
My dad decided that it would be a good idea to take me along to Beautiful Down Town Bramall Lane in 1986 when i was 18 month old. Him, my grand father and my dads brother were Blades from a young age and dad decided i had to suffer the same shit :)

Brought up in area full of pigs with the odd Blade scattered about, it wasn't easy being the only Blade in my school year and only 2 of us in the entire school (comp) but looking back i'd have it no other way, makes us what we are! My lad now go's with me although i waited until he was 3 to drag him along, i've a 1yr old aswell who will be getting the same treatment! All of us on here have had ups and downs over the era's we've watched the red and white wizards but when it's good it's magical, it's why we do it, for that magic. UTFB

P.S Cheers Dad
 



LS16Blade said:
Great Grandad who used to tell us about how he lived in the same street in Darnall as Bill Brelsford who "played for United when they were a tip-top team".QUOTE]
Click to expand...

I read he was a very competitive player especially in derby matches. Became our trainer (and stayed with us until the war) after he retired as a player
 
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