History
The teams first met on 15 December 1890 at Wednesday's Olive Grove ground, with The Wednesday playing a friendly match against the newly formed Sheffield United that the home team won 2–1. [4]
The first competitive Steel City Derby fixture took place on 16 October 1893 during the 1893–94 English First Division season (following United's promotion to the First Division the previous season), it ended 1–1. [5]
Most Steel City derbies have taken place in the top two tiers of English football, with only two seasons (1979–80 and 2011–12) featuring both teams in the third tier.
Alan Quinn became the first player to score a goal for both clubs in a Steel City derby match. He scored for Sheffield Wednesday in their 3-1 defeat to United at Bramall Lane in February 2003. He signed to United from Wednesday in 2004 and scored the winning goal for Sheffield United in a 1-0 win over Sheffield Wednesday at Bramall Lane on 4 December 2005.
Famous matches
The most famous match at Bramall Lane was on 8 September 1951, an encounter United won 7–3 in front of a crowd of 51,075. Wednesday scored after just ninety seconds through Thomas, but goals from Derek Hawksworth and Harold Brook gave United a 2–1 interval lead which would have been greater if McIntosh in the Wednesday goal had not saved a Fred Furniss penalty. Dennis Woodhead equalised for Wednesday after sixty minutes, but in rapid succession, Alf Ringstead, Hawksworth and Ringstead again, and Fred Smith scored for United, Woodhead pulled one back for Wednesday before Brook made the score 7–3.
In February 1967, broadcasting history was made when the derby at Bramall Lane was shown live on Pay-TV. United’s Bill Punton scored the only goal in the first pay-per-view League game on British television, and only the second to be televised live. [6] The coverage was available to around 700 subscribers in the Sheffield area, who had to pay ten shillings (50p) for the privilege of watching.
The "Boxing Day Massacre" was a match played on 26 December 1979. Sheffield Wednesday won 4–0, with goals from Ian Mellor, Terry Curran, Mark Smith and Jeff King. The United side at the time were top of the league, while Wednesday were 4th in the table. Sheffield Wednesday were promoted at the end of the season.
On 3 April 1993, the two teams met in the FA Cup semi-finals. The game was scheduled to be played at Elland Road while the other semi between Arsenal and Tottenham Hotspur was to be played at Wembley. However The Football Association was forced to move the fixture to Wembley due to extreme pressure from the fans of both teams. The match itself proved to be a classic, with Wednesday winning 2–1 after extra-time. Chris Waddle and Mark Bright scoring for Wednesday, and Alan Cork scoring for United. The match was watched by 75,364 spectators.
The 2017-18 Steel City Derby at Hillsborough on Sunday 24 September 2017, saw United claim their biggest win at Hillsborough with their 4-2 victory in front of a crowd of 32,839. Goals for United came from John Fleck in the 3rd minute, Mark Duffy in the 67th minute, and two (in the 15th and 77th minute respectively) from Leon Clarke against his former side, with Gary Hooper in the 47th minute (scored in the first half as two minutes were added on) and Lucas Joao (65') scoring for Wednesday. [8] This game was nicknamed the 'Bouncing Day Massacre' by the United fans, due to a chant by the Wednesday fans following Joao's goal that ended abruptly as a result of Mark Duffy's goal shortly afterwards. [9]
Off-pitch relationship
Supporters of the two Sheffield clubs have a fierce but healthy relationship. This goes right back to 1889 after Sheffield Wednesday, formed in 1867, had vacated Bramall Lane due to a dispute over rent. To compensate for the loss in revenue, the Cricket committee took the decision to form another football club, thus Sheffield United were established and Bramall Lane subsequently became their home.
The Clubs themselves do appear to have an amicable relationship, and on 15 July 2011 both Sheffield United and Sheffield Wednesday held a joint conference called "Supporting Sheffield" in which they announced a joint shirt sponsorship deal with two local Sheffield based companies for the 2011-12 League One season. The two local sponsors were Westfield Health (a Not for Profit healthcare organisation), who were the home kit sponsor for the Blades and the away kit sponsor for the Owls, and the Gilder Group (a Volkswagen car dealer), who were the away kit sponsor for the Blades and the home kit sponsor for the Owls. United and Wednesday both made a six figure sum from the sponsorship deal. The deal was the first of its kind in English football with The Telegraph likening the deal to Glasgow rivals and neighbours Celtic and Rangers who have frequently shared shirt sponsors in the past.
Sheffield Wednesday Football Club is a professional association football club based in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England. They compete in the EFL Championship, the second level of the English football league system.
Sheffield United Football Club is a professional football club in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England, that competes in the Premier League, following their promotion from the 2022–23 EFL Championship. They are nicknamed "the Blades" due to Sheffield's history of cutlery production. The team have played home games at Bramall Lane since their formation. For most of the club's history, United have played in red and white striped shirts with black shorts. Their main rivals are Sheffield Wednesday, with whom they contest the Steel City derby.
Bramall Lane is a football stadium in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England, which is the home of Sheffield United.
Derek Dooley MBE was an English football player, manager and chairman. He lived in Sheffield for the majority of his life, taking roles at both Sheffield Wednesday and Sheffield United.
Sheffield has a long history of involvement in sport. Although cricket was the first organised sport, it has gradually been supplanted by football. Both the main two local football teams grew out of cricket teams. Sheffield can claim many firsts in football the most famous one being Sheffield F.C. being the world's first and oldest football club. Today it has a club in every major team sport in England. Sheffield became the first UK National City of Sport in 1995 and is now home to the English Institute of Sport (EIS).
James Hagan was an English football player and manager. He played between 1938 and 1958 for Sheffield United and once for England. As manager he had his greatest successes with S.L. Benfica in the early 1970s.
Alan Quinn is an Irish former professional footballer who played as a midfielder.
Leigh David Bromby is an English retired footballer who played as a defender.
Derek Marshall Hawksworth was a footballer who played in the position of winger for Sheffield United.
Alfred Ringstead was a professional footballer who played in the position of outside right for Sheffield United between 1950 and 1959.
The history of Sheffield United Football Club, an English football club based in Sheffield, dates back to the club's formation in 1889.
The 1902 FA Cup final was an association football match between Sheffield United and Southampton on Saturday, 19 April 1902 at the Crystal Palace stadium in south London. It was the final match of the 1901–02 FA Cup, the 31st edition of the world's oldest football knockout competition, and England's primary cup competition, the Football Association Challenge Cup, better known as the FA Cup.
The 1903 FA Cup final was an association football match between Bury and Derby County on Saturday, 18 April 1903 at the Crystal Palace stadium in south London. It was the final match of the 1902–03 FA Cup, the 32nd edition of the world's oldest football knockout competition, and England's primary cup competition, the Football Association Challenge Cup, better known as the FA Cup.
Thomas Henry Crawshaw was a professional footballer who played almost his entire League career with Sheffield Wednesday. Crawshaw was a centre-half whose career lasted from 1894 to 1909 during which time he played a total of 492 games in all competitions, scoring 27 goals. Crawshaw has gone down in the annals of Sheffield Wednesday as one of the key figures in the early history of the club. In the late 19th and early 20th centuries he appeared in The Wednesday side which lifted the FA Cup on two occasions and won the Football League First Division title twice. He is the only Sheffield Wednesday player to win two FA Cup winners medals with the club. He appeared for the England national football team on ten occasions.
The 1897–98 FA Cup was the 27th season of the world's oldest association football competition, the Football Association Challenge Cup. The cup was won by Nottingham Forest, who defeated Derby County 3–1 in the final of the competition, played at Crystal Palace in London.
The 2009–10 season will be Sheffield Wednesday's fifth consecutive season in the Football League Championship and 108th season in The Football League since being elected to the Football League First Division in 1892.
Sheffield United Football Club participated in League One, the third level of English football for the first time in 23 years having been relegated from the Championship at the end of the previous season. It was also their first appearance in both the Football League Trophy and the first round proper of the FA Cup for a similar length of time, as well as being the first season under new manager Danny Wilson. United began the season well, recording consistently sound results in Football League One and nearing the position required for an immediate return to the Championship. By the turn of the year, the squad was well positioned for promotion.
During the 2011–12 season, Sheffield Wednesday F.C. competed in League One, the FA Cup, the League Cup, and the Football League Trophy. It was their second consecutive season in the third tier of English football, and their 110th season in the Football League. At the end of the season they completed their aim of automatic promotion to the Football League Championship, after a remarkable season with many twists and turns.
The 1891–92 season was the third in existence for Sheffield United. This was their first season playing in the recently formed Northern League as the club sought to establish itself as a major footballing force. The Blades had a reasonably successful season, finishing third in the league, and registering some comprehensive victories along the way. They improved on the previous season by reaching the second round proper of the FA Cup and were victorious in the local cup competitions, winning both the Sheffield Challenge Cup and the Wharncliffe Charity Cup for the first time.
The 2013–14 Football League Championship was the tenth season of the Football League Championship under its current title, the twenty-first season under its current league division format and marked the 125th anniversary of the Football League's inaugural season. The season started on 3 August 2013 and finished on 3 May 2014, with all matches on the final day kicking off simultaneously.
