September 4 - Beware the Owls! | On This Football Day

HERE in Britain, we really are a different breed to the Americans. They give their sports teams intimidating names like The Giants, The Broncos, and The Bulls, designed to portray an image of overwhelming strength and power. Here in England, we give our football teams nice cuddly nicknames like the Canaries, the Lilywhites, and the Owls, all of which sound about as intimidating as as baby bunny.

Unlike the Americans however, there is usually a weight of history behind these names, as in the case of today’s subjects, Sheffield Wednesday. The club was formed on this day in 1867, and as was common, it was born from cricking origins. In the earlier part of the century, local craftsmen only worked a half day on a Wednesday and so the Wednesday Cricket Club was born in 1820.

Keen to keep the cricketers fit during the winter, the club began playing football which quickly overtook the cricket team in popularity. Indeed, the Wednesday Cricket Club was subsequently disbanded in September 1924, but the Club was simply known as “Wednesday” or “The Wednesday” until in June 1929 our name was officially changed to Sheffield Wednesday.

The club turned professional in 1887, making it one of the oldest professional clubs in England. It was also in 1887 that the club built their first stadium, the Olive Grove, having previously played at other grounds in the city including Sheaf House and even, whisper it, Bramall Lane.

Expansion to nearby railway tracks meant The Wednesday could not extent their lease at the Olive Grove, and after ten years in residence they had to find a new home. An area to the north west of the city named Owlerton was where they build the new ground, hence the nickname, the Owls.

The ground also called Owlerton Stadium until 1914 when it was renamed Hillsborough to coincide with improvements to site.

Despite their current situation near the lower end of England’s second tier, Wednesday are still considered one of the biggest clubs in the country and can point to four League titles, three FA Cups and one League Cup as proof.

More from us tomorrow, but also on this day, Phil Babb was having a right old ‘mare.