One of the greatest allures about the Steel City derby is that the two clubs have been incredibly even in their history. At the time of writing, Sheffield United have won 48 Steel City derbies. Sheffield Wednesday have also won 48 Steel City derbies, with there then being 44 draws. So that should tell you how important Sunday’s fixture really is, it not really determines this season but who has the better record in this match.
The very first game between the two sides took place in 1890 at Olive Grove. It was just a friendly, which seemed fair as United were only one year old at this point, but it would be The Wednesday that claimed the first ever win in this fixture by winning 2-0. Don’t worry United fans, you would get the first ever competitive win. After the first league match between the two ended up in a 1-1 draw, United would claim their first win in this fixture by beating Wednesday 2-1 in 1893. The Wednesday would have to wait until 1896 for their first competitive win over United.
Over the years, the two teams would clash and the record stayed relatively even, though certain patters and streaks did occur. For three decades between the 1930s and 1960s, United dominated at Bramall Lane. During this time was United’s best ever win over Wednesday, a 7-3 success in 1951 which is now ingrained in Blades folklore. The game could have gone very badly for United, they went 1-0 down within 90 seconds, but they soon bounced back to claim a simply stunning victory. The second half performance by the Blades was said to be breathtaking and they eased to the historic win. This was clearly thigh highlight as United failed to lose at home to Wednesday in the league between 1934 and 1965.
Wednesday’s most similar streak comes in the cup and is one that is alive to this day. The last time Wednesday lost to United in a competitive cup, no we are not including the Steel City Challenge Trophy in this, was in 1928. Since then, it’s been draws and wins for the Owls. Of course if I’m going to mention Wednesday and United in the cup, I have to mention the famous FA Cup semi-final in 1993. The match was initially planned to be at Elland Road but the demand was so large they had to swap it with the Arsenal – Tottenham Hotspur match set to take place in Wembley. 75,364 people packed into the twin towers to watch an epic match worthy of the hype. Chris Waddle scored a fantastic free kick which spawned a picture which saws that the fan favourite got rather excited, ahem, about netting at Wembley. United would fight back into this game despite the body blow, aided by a man of the match performance by goalkeeper Alan Kelly, Alan Cork would grab the equaliser. But it would be Wednesday fans celebrating up the M1 as Mark Bright scored a header in extra time to get the winner.
The most famous match though is one that has been turned into songs for both sides, the Boxing Day Massacre. This took place in 1979 and I’m not going to insult your intelligence by saying what day it was on. Unusually for a Steel City derby, it was taking place in the third tier. Apart from the 79/80 season, it would only ever happen again in 11/12. At the time, both teams were fighting for promotion with United just edging ahead at the time. But with 49,000+ fans in Hillsborough for the 11am kick off, they would see the Owls finally get revenge for that humiliating in the 1950s as they waltzed to a 4-0 win.
The most interesting part is that both teams sing about the Boxing Day Massacre to this day. Wednesday fans do it for the obvious reasons, it is their greatest victory over their rivals in their history. For United, they sing about to remind them of why they must play well, to avoid something like that loss ever again. And considering the majority of Steel City derbies since have been incredibly close, the song seems to be working for what it is.
I could talk about the many great Steel City derby matches for days on end as each team has plenty of games to look back on that they can be proud of. Sheffield United claiming a double over Wednesday in the last ever season of the First Division and condemning Wednesday to some of their worst form ever by beating them 3-2 in 2009. Wednesday also recently can look back on fondly on games such as when Marcus Tudgay scored a stunner to get their first Steel City double since 1914 and when Chris O’Grady’s solitary goal completely changed the promotion picture the last time these two sides faced.
And that’s why we should always watch this match. The two sides may always claim to be the best and biggest in Sheffield when it is completely the opposite, they are usually the exact same. Each side will have better periods of course, but for the majority of their history they have been very even which shows in their record when they face each other. Right now, both teams are doing reasonably well and while Wednesday would expect to be up there, for United they are enjoying upsetting the apple cart on their return to the Championship. It is sure to be an exciting match on Sunday and just another addition to the storied history of these two teams.
