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Not from Sheffield - but the reason why I support Wednesday


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I have not one connection to do with Sheffield, Yorkshire or to be fair anywhere up north. Infact I am a Londoner born & bred.

BUT...

When I was about 6 or 7, I never used to like football, infact I hated it so much, I used to make my dad switch over to some cartoons whenever he had the footy on. That really annoyed him as you could imagine, but with a little help from my mum, in the end, as I so often do, I got my own way. Kids eh?

Anyway, whenever the news channel was on, and they would go to the sport and announce all the football scores, for some reason I would sit there in silence listening to the guy reading out all the results.

At that time Wednesday were in the Premiership. Whenever the man read out the name SHEFFIELD WEDNESDAY, I would sit there with a little grin on my face, as it sounded funny, you have to remember I was only what 6 or 7 at the time???

Each week, I used to always look out for that name, Sheffield Wednesday. Every week, the guy would say Arsenal 3-0 Sheffield Wednesday, Sheffield Wednesday 1-4, Newcastle 2-0 Sheffield Wednesday, and so on, although thats probably at bit OTT as we werent that bad back then, but the name SW really made me chuckle.

I got more and more into it, it came to a point where I would watch the whole news every week, just to make sure I wouldnt miss the results.

One day, I then decided to make my mum buy me the Merlin Premiership sticker album, so I could learn all the Wednesday squad. I remember Andy Booths name sticking out the most, and I remember being chuffed to bits when I got his picture sticker.

I carried on looking out for their results, and kept on collecting the stickers, and I started to get more into it, that when I was about 10, I made my dad take me to my first Owls game, a visit to sunny Upton Park, to see us beat them 2-1??? I think, cant remember exactly, but I think that was the score. It was such a special occasion for me, had never been to a football match prior to that.

From then onwards, I started to get even more into supporting the Owls and more into it and even more into it, until my parents brought me my first Wednesday shirt from Christmas that year, born and bred in London you could imagine all the abuse I got from Spurs, West Ham, Chelsea, Arsenal fans etc.........

I wasnt to be detered though, and kept on wearing my blue and white owls kit every thursday for football training. I'm one of those type of people, that doesnt care what others think, which is good to a certain extent.

As time moved on, Wednesday became a massive part of my life, and although I annoyed my parents, by asking to go to this game and that game, I knew it wasnt possible, as London to Sheffield is around 200 miles away, and with my dad supporting Chelsea, he was never going to be willing to take me to that many games, although he did his best, and took me to maybe 8 or 9 a season, all the london away games and a few home encounters too, which I thank him for, because how many fathers would do that for their son, when they dont really like football themselves? You have to take in the cost too, petrol money, staying over money, match tickets, food, drink, match programme etc.......... so it wasnt easy!

However that has all changed this year, I was urged to join 'The London Owls' who go to every game, and although I cant make everyone due to college commitments and money, I do my best and have already made 7 games this season with the LO and my 8th one is coming up next week against Hull. I am mad on Wednesday now, its a disease but a good one, If I had it my own way, id attend every game, but it isnt possible at the moment.

The London Owls are absolutly brilliant, not only is it a way of going to see my beloved Owls, but I have made some Wednesday mates out of it, who go regular, so its pretty good to be honest. Best decision I ever made!!

Anyway just to finish off, the play-off final last season, has got to be my best Wednesday moment, 41,000 Owls all singing "Who needs Mourinho?-weve got Paul Sturrocko"! just made the hairs on my back stand up, and again, I have my dad to thank for taking me, as at that time, I was unaware of the London Owls.

It was bloody amazing :bigemo_harabe_net-139:

So there you have it - the story on how I became an Owl.

Lets hope for a nice win at the lane tomorrow, and maybe, just maybe we can shut those pigs up once and for all

Sam

Welcome to the family.

Just a bloke, who used up all his luck in one go when he met his wife.

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Guest steve1480

Hello Everyone, Im a yank, and I found the owls through another member of the message board of my local side. He is an Owls supporter from nottinghamshire. And since Sheffield and Pittsburgh are sister cities, I thought it made it an even better match.

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a/s/l xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Me? Supported Wednesday since my early 20's.. Was a student in London at the time.. Always stay with an allegience once it is formed...

Did spend some time working in Sheffield, and was staying in a b&b right next to Hillsborough when I was there... just loved it and never changed.

Lived down South ever since, but my 5 year old son also a staunch OWL, and hopefully he always will be.

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Guest nunowl6

Mum and dad from Sheffield, had me in Swindon, now live in Leicester. All family are Owls.

What part of Leicester if your near Nuneaton you are welcome to join us for a drink some time as we meet every friday to talk wednesday Nuneaton owls living the dream
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Guest wincowl

I see this thread has been on for a while but i thought i would add my reasons for supporting Wednesday even though i was born in Exeter.

My Mum was born in Sheffield and i used to have conversations with my Grandad about football and he would talk about Wednesday, at that time Liverpool and Forest were the fashionable teams to support and no kid in Exeter supported Exeter City it was one of those 2, i liked to be different and on the basis Mum was from Sheffield and my talks with Grandad i became a Wednesdayite.

I left school at 16 and went straight into the Army and one of the first people i met was a Wednesdayite and we have been good mates ever since.

I have travelled from Germany for the weekend to watch a Nil Nil draw at Southampton and travelled to most London Grounds whatever Division we have been in!!!

I make a point of getting to at least 2 home games a year i now live in Winchester, i have even tried to get a posting to Catterick so that i can become a season ticket holder it might happen in 18 months.

My most memorable game would have to be the Play off Final in Cardiff the day was fecking brilliant, i stayed with my mate in Donny and we got up early to catch a coach from Sheffield, the day showed me what potential SWFC has, of course i remember the Premiership days and the 93 finals but 41.000 fans for a Division 3 play off final says it all. The atmosphere was electric even though the coach trip back to Sheffield was a disaster somewhere in the Welsh countryside the coach pulled over and announced he was having a heart attack, an ambulance was called and the crew discovered he was suffering with heartburn but it was too late he was not going anywhere and a replacement Driver had to be sent from Rotherham even with all this going on everyone was still ecstatic and the party continued on the side of that Welsh country lane.

Like anything in life supporting Wednesday has it downsides but there is something special about it and with all the bad times there will be good times look at Cardiff and the 5 years we had prior to that. I am certain that the good times will return and i am also certain that there will be some miserable times, this is Wednesday and why i am a Wednesdayite.

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Guest gozhawk

Born and bred in Doncaster 1965. My first love was rugby union and I supported Wales as a young boy ( !!??) My hero was Gareth Edwards. Went to grammar school where it was rugby only, this was my choice. But, made new mates at school who were Wednesdayites........eventually ( 1980 ) I had to go to a game to see what all the fuss was about.....Blackpool at home, we won 4-1 , was on the Lepps, it changed my life. Now I live in a town where the local team is above us in the league.....good luck I say, but I will ALWAYS be Wednesday, and am proud to say.....so will my kids!

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Born and bred in Exeter, supported Liverpool as a kid because everyone at school did. Looking back though I was never a real football fan and lost interest completely when I was about 12.

Paid no further attention to footy until I went to college with these two guys who were mad on it, one was a Liverpool fan and the other a Man Utd fan. They got me to start watching it again. It was the 1992-1993 season and I dunno why I clicked onto Wednesday, maybe it was just that they were on tv quite a bit, but I liked watching them straight away. I remember being amazed by Chris Waddle, who is still my favourite ever player.

So I've been an Owl ever since - through all the ups and the many, many downs.

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Guest Foldsey

Been a Wednesday supporter since I was 2, however up until I was 14 I lived in Luton. When I was 2 my family met another family from Sheffield on holiday on the Isle of Wight, became really good friends. They brought me my first ever Wednesday kit for Christmas a few years after as a joke to wind up my family of Luton supporters, but it stuck with me. Ended up sharing our holidays with them ever since and I have followed in their footsteps and became an Owl. Was hard to try and get to games from Luton, and I have now found it even harder as I now live on the Isle of Wight, but I will support them through thick and thin! Wednesday til I die!

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Dad took me to bramall lane in the late sixties to watch utd v's Millers, I witnessed bunch of moronic wee wee throwing inbreds watching two teams playing hoofball and kicking chunks out each other, I've been a Wednesday fan ever since :mellow:

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Guest gerald90

I suffered the dad-brother convincing to become a wednesdayite!

My dad is from rotherham, but had always been, from a young age a die hard liverpool fan, season ticket holder, went to every european cup final etc, even took my mum ( a rovrum fan) with him when they were 'courting'. Anyway, when my older brother was getting into football, around 91 - 93 time, wednesday were massive, finishing top 4 every year, cup finals etc and most of his friends were wednesday fans, being that we lived in thorpe hesley. So my dad took him to a few games, and he was hooked, eventually becoming a season ticket holder along with my dad. My dad still played both sides, being a liverpool fan and a wednesday fan. When i started taking up football, i stuck with my dad, supporting liverpool at around age 5, shirts etc followed, and it was regular for about 3 years, that the game we ALWAYS used to go to was wednesday v liverpool home and away, me in liverpool colours, oliver in blue and white.

Anyway, around 97 or 98, i started going to wednesday matches more often with dad and brother as it was increasingly difficult for my gran to look after me, and alas i eventually got hooked. All 3 of us have been season ticket holders every year since, (me starting with a half season ticket for crimbo 99) and i love going to the match,it gives you an undescribable buzz, an excitement. Now im at uni in sheffield its even better, im much closer, and my dad and brother both make the 100mile round trip from sflaphorpe every home game + picking me up on the way. My dad is hooked, hes even more passionate than us 2 sometimes, and it just shows what an influence football can have on a family life. Ill always be a wednesday fan, as will my brother and dad (even getting mum in on the act), and with pride ill bring my future kids up as wednesday fans, united is a swear word in our house, usually refered to as 'pigs or oinkers'

UTO

Wednesday till i die

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My dad's side come from Sheffield and we are all Owls. My Mum's side come from Nottingham and support Forest, but both moved down South around North Hampshire. The first footie shirt I got was an away Forest top (yellow shirt, it was awful haha) from my uncle who was trying to convert me to Forest. The first footie match I went to when I was about 7 was to see my local side Basingstoke Town in the FA Cup 1st round against Bournemouth (who my dad's best mate supports, his idea to take me to the game n all) The first professional game I went to was with my best mate and his dad to see Wimbledon against Crystal Palace (I got given a Wimbledon shirt that day, like the Forest one it was an away shirt, red it was). So at first I was torn between supporting Basingstoke Town (then of the Ryman League), AFC Bournemouth (then Division 2), Nottingham Forest (Division 1) and AFC Wimbledon (Premiership).

On my 8th birthday I got a Sheffield Wednesday home shirt with my name and number 10 printed on the back. That was the moment I became a Wednesdayite, and Andy Booth instantly became a hero of mine. The season after I went to loads of games around the London region mainly and Southampton away. First Wednesday game I saw was against Crystal Palace. We lost. Second game was Wimbledon. We lost (when Kinnear had a heart attack). Third game was against Southampton. We lost. It took me 19 games (and 2 relegations) to see us win. But that didn't deter me. My dad planned our holiday in such a way that on the journey up to wherever we were going, I can't remember where it was now, we could see us play Peterborough. Kuqi got the winner in an otherwise dire game. First trip to Hillsborough was to see us get beaten 1-0 by Bournemouth. Only seen us at Hillsborough five times. Only win out of that was 2005 Play Off Semi. Good Ol' JP.

Best times for me as a Wednesday fan:

+ Bouncing about for what seemed like ages after Heckingbottom scored a 90th minute equaliser v Bournemouth. Was stood next to the ginger fella from Coronation Street at the time. Kenwyne Jones played for us that game. Legend.

+ Play Offs 2005. Went to each game. Every day of it was top.

+ Getting my first shirt.

I would say beating the Piggies but I can't. Geography has prevented me from seeing a derby game yet. My only regret in life is that I'm down South here and only get to see a handful a games a year. More so this year as one of the games I went to was that 6-0 drubbing by Reading.

To make up for not being able to see Wednesday week in week out, and thanks to an immense game on Football Manager 2007, where I took them from Conference South to League One (signing Lee Grant, Richie Humphreys, Akpo Sodje on frees) leading to the FA offering me the England job *smug* I have recently started following Basingstoke Town again which is a laugh.

UTO

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Guest EddieValentine

Hi everyone, first post on the site :)

I've been born and raised in South-West London, in a family that hates football (?)

I remember in 93, I was just getting into the game and with no family members to coerce me into supporting team, it boiled down to a single choice between two.

FA Cup Final. Who do I want to win? A team with A*rse in their name, or the other team with the nice kit?

Easy choice really :) Although its been downhill ever since! haha.

My first kit was the '96 one with the uneven stripes. I remember that season well as I went on holiday at the start of the season and came back to us being top of the table!

Strangely (Cardiff aside) ythis is as positive I've felt about the future since Ritchie Humphreys was scoringn goal of the month contenders in those first few games.

Nice to meet everyone!

UTO

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Guest NorthStandJon

Born in Scarborough but I am now living in Manchester. Never lived in Sheffield either. The reason why I follow the Wednesday is for the simple fact that it was the first football match i ever went to. Owls 1 - 3 Liverpool. I specifically remember being sat in the kop with Robbie Fowler celebrating in front of me the dirty rat eater! So here I am now 16 years later, through the good and bad, still trying to come up with ways to pay for my season ticket year after year. COME ON YOU BLUE AND WHITE WIZARDS!!!

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im not from sheffield neither are any of my family! my mum is man ure fan as is my younger older brother. my dad was a scummy leeds fans then there was me! supported man ure til about 5 when i was given a candy liverpool shirt! this lasted until i was 7 when i started supporting wednesday and have done ever since! first game i remember seeing was losing 2-0 to newcastle when hislop and asprilla made their debuts! first wednesday game i went too was on my 12th birthday against charlton. we won 3-0! went against liverpool when we beat then 1-0 scored in last minute. my next game was against notts county back in 2005 when i started driving lessons. i used to drive to sheffield and pay for me and me mum to get in just so i could go! continued to go to the odd game. in may 2005 met my girlfriend who has been a fellow wednesdayite all he life along with her family! for her birthday i took he to play-off final for our 1st game! first game at hillsborough we had a meal to mark it against hull! i got my 1st (half) season ticket that season and been a season ticket ever since! we try and go to every home and away game we can trying to do the 92 grounds! there is just something so special about being a wednesday fan and it hurts if i miss a game! i even discharged myself from hospital to go to the home derby this season! wednesday til i die! :rolleyes:

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Born and bred in Doncaster.

Supported them since I was about two because I had a very close relationship with my cousin, who supported them, and at that age i tried to follow everything he did and my team has stuck ever since.

But sadly when Wednesday got relegated from the premiership he started following Newcastle but now it's Donny.

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