both clubs’ non-hooligan fans (some of the shirters) will forget their usual peaceful demeanour and fight for their clubs’ pride. The games themselves are not enjoyable occasions for either side’s fans, as the fear and apprehension of losing make the games tense and fraught affairs. The workplace on Monday morning after a derby is always dreaded by the losing side as awaiting them are smug grins and smart comments, ingredients that make the actual game itself less than enjoyable. The depth of this feeling carries through to the players and staff of the teams. They know just how much winning or losing this fixture means to their supporters.
Both sets of fans refer to each other as ‘pigs’, a derogatory term which originated in the late 70s. Both sides can explain their reasoning for this: Wednesday say they call us pigs because United’s red and white shirts actually remind them of streaky bacon, while United fans argue that Hillsborough (Swillsborough) was actually built on a piggery, a fact backed up by local history books.
Local history society books which can be viewed at Sheffield Central Library state:
The Wednesday football club first played its games at the Olive Grove sports ground in Heeley before moving to a new stadium in the Owlerton district of Sheffield. The first ordnance survey maps mark the nearest building to the stadium as Swine Cottage. They also show another farm on Penistone Road, just south of where the north stand is situated which is thought to have been a large piggery [still is!]. Pork farming is thought to have been practised in the area since the early 1800s and did not cease until around 1900 when the city’s rapid expansion put an end to pork farming in the area. At its height the Owlerton piggery, as it was known, provided work for more then 50 employees. Initial discussions about a new nickname soon began after Wednesday’s arrival at Owlerton. In reference to their new home most of the clubs officials were in favour of ‘the Owls’, taken from Owlerton stadium. However, another suggestion was also very popular. In view of the area’s strong tradition of pork farming, a popular grass roots alternative was ‘the Pigs’. Although the name Owls prevailed, many working-class supporters continued to refer to their team as the Pigs. A popular song of the time went, ‘They may be Owls to some, but they’ll always be Pigs to me’. This song was performed in music halls across South Yorkshire. As late as the 1920s and 30s, fans used to welcome their team on to the field with characteristic grunting sounds [they still do that!]. This peculiarity was once referred to by BBC commentator Edward Milburn, who famously described Hillsborough as a sea of grunts, moments after the Wednesday won the First Division title in 1932.
These facts show why and who the pigs are in Sheffield but, of course, Wednesday fans will never let the facts get in the way of their piss-poor argument about the colours of our shirts.
Sheffield itself has areas where each club has strongholds, some of which are actually on each other’s doorsteps and invasions into hostile territory have often ended in conflict. Be it a one-on-one fight outside a local pub, a 10-on-10 youth brawl on the back streets of town or hundreds of hooligans seeking conflict on derby day, the rivalry will often manifest into violence. One thing’s for sure, after 40 years of trouble between the two sides, the city is as divided as ever when it comes to football.
| Total arrests since 2000 | Arrests for racist chanting | Arrests for offensive weapon | Alcohol- related arrests | |
| UNITED | 584 | 3 | 2 | 133 |
| WEDNESDAY | 544 | 12 | 10 | 178 |
So, what can be taken from these Home Office figures and what picture do they paint? United have had 40 more arrests at their matches than Wednesday but Wednesday have had 45 more alcohol-related arrests. Does this mean that Wednesday fans drink more or can’t handle what they are drinking? The latter I think.
Also Wednesday have had ten arrests compared with United’s two for carrying offensive weapons. Does this mean that Wednesday need to fight with weapons more than United? Finally, Wednesday have had 12 arrests for racist chanting. Does this mean Wednesday fans are more racist than Blades supporters? Through experience, I think that Wednesday are definitely the more racist group, certainly amongst the hooligan element anyhow. United’s firm has been pretty much multicultural since I first put on a pair of Diadora Borg Elites in 1981.
Wednesday had quite a few blacks with their firm in the 80s but, by the mid-90s, they were almost totally a white firm. Quite a few people have tried to tie a few Wednesday lads’ link with the far right as the main reason why Wednesday seem quite a racist firm in this day and age. I don’t really subscribe to that general consensus of opinion. Wednesday’s link with Chelsea and the far right is indeed evident but I know the lads who are linked and they had black mates within their firm during the 80s.
Likewise, during the early 80s, United had a group numbering around 10 lads who would be seen at National Front marches and they played a big part in an attack on an IRA rally that marched through the streets of Sheffield. Yet these same people would sit and drink with black lads within our firm and fight side by side with them if need be. The reason that I think that Wednesday have been tarred with having a racist element within the firm is it’s easier to be racist when you don’t have a black or Asian geezer within your group or as a friend and this is exactly why the race issue has emerged within their mob.
Going back to the statistics, when the Home Office released significant funds for an intelligence-led unit designed to use new legislation with a view to obtain banning orders through the use of civil courts, South Yorkshire Police decided that the breaking up of the BBC was priority number one. The intelligence-led funds led to lads being banned in big numbers with most of the main faces copping three-year bans, even though some of the evidence against them was poor to say the least. The police knew that, to challenge these orders, any charged lad would have to cough up four to five grand. They wanted to rip the heart out of the BBC and, to a certain extent, they succeeded.
South Yorkshire Police Chief Inspector Eddison told newspapers that the BBC had gained notoriety in the 80s and 90s and were widely regarded as one of the leading football firms in the country at that time. He added that, because the BBC’s hardcore had grown up with each other, the police had found it hard to infiltrate the gang and that the top 12 members of the BBC had been eliminated from match-day activities. Eddison told how the police had gained the most banning orders in the country and that they are recognised nationally as a role model of good practice, cough! By the middle of 2006, United had received 63 banning orders by way of conviction and 22 by way of complaint through the civil courts. Wednesday, in the meantime, were left to their own devices for a time, as the OB concentrated on their main cause for concern, the BBC.
After the banning of 85 United lads, the police then turned their attention to Wednesday’s firm the OCS. They also copped a load of bans, one major result the police had was when around 50 Wednesday were caught on CCTV in Doncaster attacking a pub which contained around 10 Doncaster lads. This led to just under 20 lads being banned through video evidence. In total, United have had 242 banning orders and Wednesday 158. New funding has been ploughed into football banning orders again this season (2009-10), an outrageous use of public money by the police. United have had another 26 lads served with these bans since January 2010.
THE STEEL CITY – ‘IF YOU KNOW YOUR HISTORY’
As most people are aware, Sheffield boasts the oldest football club in the world in Sheffield FC and the second oldest in Hallam FC. Founded in 1857, Sheffield FC became the flag bearer of football clubs and, by 1862, 15 more clubs had been formed. The Football Association was founded in 1863, and the London-based association adopted Sheffield FC’s rules and regulations. By 1867, Sheffield FC added the corner kick to its rules and also introduced a fixed crossbar rather than just a line of tape which had been used previously. Wednesday and United actually started