The Steel City Derby (also known as the Sheffield Derby) is a

local derby Local may refer to: Geography and transportation * Local (train), a train serving local traffic demand * Local, Missouri, a community in the United States * Local government, a form of public administration, usually the lowest tier of administrat ...

that takes place between

Sheffield United Sheffield United Football Club is a professional football club in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England, which compete in the . They are nicknamed "the Blades" due to Sheffield's history of cutlery production. The team have played home games at ...

and

Sheffield Wednesday Sheffield Wednesday Football Club is a professional association football club based in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England. The team competes in League One, the third tier of the English football league system. Formed in 1867 as an offshoot ...

, the two professional

football league The English Football League (EFL) is a league of professional association football, football clubs from England and Wales. Founded in 1888 as the Football League, the league is the oldest such competition in Association football around the wor ...

teams based in the city of

Sheffield Sheffield is a city in South Yorkshire, England, whose name derives from the River Sheaf which runs through it. The city serves as the administrative centre of the City of Sheffield. It is historically part of the West Riding of Yorkshire ...

, England. It is widely considered to be one of the biggest

derby Derby ( ) is a city and unitary authority area in Derbyshire, England. It lies on the banks of the River Derwent in the south of Derbyshire, which is in the East Midlands Region. It was traditionally the county town of Derbyshire. Derby g ...

matches in

English football Association football is the most popular sport in England, where the first modern set of rules for the code were established in 1863, which were a major influence on the development of the modern Laws of the Game. With over 40,000 association f ...

. The teams have met a total of 137 times in competitive games, with Wednesday winning 48 games and United winning 46. The most recent Steel City Derby was played at Hillsborough on 4 March 2019, which ended in a goalless draw.

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. 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. 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. Steel City Derby League Performance

Alan Quinn Alan Quinn (born 13 June 1979 in Dublin) is an Irish former professional footballer who played as a midfielder. He is one of nine brothers; both Stephen and Keith were on the books at Alan's former club, Sheffield United while another brother, ...

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.

Games played since 2007

2007–08 Championship

The first of the two league games for the 2007–08 Championship season was at Hillsborough on 19 January 2008 in front of a crowd of 30,486; Wednesday won 2–0 with goals from

Akpo Sodje Idoro Akpoeyere Ujoma "Akpo" Sodje (born 31 January 1980) is an English former professional footballer. A journeyman striker, he is usually an instantly recognisable figure on the pitch due to his original – and most of all colourful – hairs ...

and

Marcus Tudgay Marcus Tudgay (born 3 February 1983) is an English professional footballer who plays as a forward for South Normanton Athletic. He has played in the English Football League for Derby County, Sheffield Wednesday, Nottingham Forest, Barnsley, Ch ...

. The return fixture at Bramall Lane on 8 April 2008 and saw United recover from 2–0 down to draw 2–2 in front of 31,760 fans.

2008–09 Championship

The first meeting of the two matches for the following season, the 2008–09 Championship was held on 19 October 2008, at Hillsborough with a crowd of 30,441. Wednesday won 1–0 with a 35th minute volley from

Steve Watson Steven Craig Watson (born 1 April 1974) is an English football manager and former professional player. He was formerly the manager of club Chester. As a player, he was a right-back or midfielder. He played in the Premier League and Football ...

. This game also had a missed penalty by Deon Burton (saved by

Paddy Kenny Patrick Joseph Kenny (born 17 May 1978) is a former professional footballer who played as a goalkeeper. Born in Halifax, West Yorkshire, Kenny began his career with Bradford Park Avenue before turning professional in the summer of 1998 upon ...

), and two red cards,

Matthew Kilgallon Matthew Shaun Kilgallon (born 8 January 1984) is an English former professional footballer who played as a centre-back. Kilgallon began his career at Leeds United, where he came through the youth set up before becoming a fixture in their first ...

got sent off for United before the goal and Jermaine Johnson got sent off for Wednesday midway through the second half after being substituted. The return game at Bramall Lane was on 7 February 2009, with Wednesday winning 2–1 thanks to goals from

Tommy Spurr Thomas Spurr (born 30 September 1987) is an English former professional footballer who played as a defender for Sheffield Wednesday, Doncaster Rovers, Blackburn Rovers, Preston North End and a loan spell with Fleetwood Town. Career Sheffield W ...

and

. This victory was Wednesday's first at Bramall Lane since 1967 and the first "double" over their city rivals for 95 years.

2009–10 Championship

On 18 September 2009 Sheffield United took a 3–0 lead against Sheffield Wednesday into half time, but two Owls goals in the second half allowed Wednesday back in. But the score finished 3–2 to United and earned

Kevin Blackwell Kevin Patrick Blackwell (born 21 December 1958) is an English former professional football goalkeeper who since retiring as a player has worked as a coach and a manager. He is currently the manager of Thai League 1 club Nakhon Ratchasima. Ear ...

his first win against Sheffield Wednesday since joining the club. The 125th Steel City Derby played on 18 April at Hillsborough was drawn 1–1. Wednesday took the lead late in the first half from a

Darren Potter Darren Michael Potter (born 21 December 1984) is a former professional footballer. A midfielder, he made 502 league and cup appearances in a 16-year career in the Premier League and English Football League. Born in England, he won five caps f ...

volley, United equalized on the hour mark through a

Lee Williamson Lee Trevor Williamson (born 7 June 1982) is a retired professional footballer. Born in Derby he started his career at Mansfield Town before spending time at Northampton Town, Rotherham United, Watford, Preston North End, Sheffield United and ...

shot.

2011–12 League One

On the first derby game of the season on 16 October 2011 United gained a 2–0 lead, but with six minutes remaining, Wednesday came back to draw 2–2 with a goal from

Chris O'Grady Christopher James O'Grady (born 25 January 1986) is an English footballer striker who plays for Grantham Town. O'Grady notably played professionally for Leicester City, Rotherham United, Oldham Athletic, Rochdale, Sheffield Wednesday, Barnsle ...

and an injury time equaliser from strike partner Gary Madine at Bramall Lane. The second game on 26 February 2012, at Hillsborough was important for both teams, since both sides were competing for promotion to the

Championship In sport, a championship is a competition in which the aim is to decide which individual or team is the champion. Championship systems Various forms of competition can be referred to by the term championship. Title match system In this system ...

. Wednesday took the full three points with a 1–0 win after a goal from

. The goal turned out to be crucial, since Wednesday eventually finished second in the table and gained promotion with 93 points, while United finished third with 90 points. United eventually failed to gain promotion after losing the Play-off final at

Wembley Wembley () is a large suburbIn British English, "suburb" often refers to the secondary urban centres of a city. Wembley is not a suburb in the American sense, i.e. a single-family residential area outside of the city itself. in north-west Londo ...

Huddersfield Town Huddersfield Town Association Football Club is a professional football club based in Huddersfield, West Yorkshire, England, which compete in the . The team have played home games at the Kirklees Stadium since moving from Leeds Road in 1994. Th ...

in a penalty shootout. After a six-year exile, United finally achieved promotion to the Championship in May 2017.

2017–18 Championship

The first 2017-18 Steel City Derby was played at Hillsborough on Sunday 24 September 2017 (kicked off at 1:15 pm GMT), which ended in a 4-2 victory for United 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 Leon Marvin Clarke (born 10 February 1985) is an English professional Association football, footballer who plays as a Forward (association football), striker. Clarke began his career with Wolves but then played for eleven different clubs – i ...

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. 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. The return fixture at

Bramall Lane Bramall Lane is a football stadium in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England, which is the home of Sheffield United. The stadium was originally a cricket ground, built on a road named after the Bramall family of file and graver manufacturers. ...

took place on Friday 12 January 2018 and ended in a goalless draw, the first since January 2002.

2018-19 Championship

The first match was hosted by Sheffield United at Bramall Lane on Friday 9 November 2018, kicking off at 7:45 pm after a minutes' silence for

Remembrance Day Remembrance Day (also known as Poppy Day owing to the tradition of wearing a remembrance poppy) is a memorial day observed in Commonwealth member states since the end of the First World War to honour armed forces members who have died in ...

Sky Sports Sky Sports is a group of British subscription sports channels operated by the satellite pay television company Sky Group (a division of Comcast), and is the dominant subscription television sports brand in the United Kingdom and Ireland. It ...

, who televised the match, were later criticised and branded "disrespectful" for playing canned crowd noise over the performance of the Last Post which was observed in silence by the crowd. Just 14 minutes into the game, Sheffield United's Mark Duffy was fouled by Sheffield Wednesday's Morgan Fox and was awarded a penalty, taken by

David McGoldrick David James McGoldrick (born 29 November 1987) is a professional footballer who plays as a striker for club Derby County. He won 14 caps for the Republic of Ireland national team between 2014 and 2020, scoring one international goal. A train ...

and saved by

Cameron Dawson Cameron Miles Dawson (born 7 July 1995) is an English footballer who plays as a goalkeeper for Sheffield Wednesday. Club career Sheffield Wednesday Born in Sheffield, England, Dawson started his football career at Sheffield Wednesday, his boy ...

. The match ended 0–0. The return fixture was played at Hillsborough on 4 March 2019 and also ended 0–0.

Summary of all competitive matches

Eligible competitions –

Football League The English Football League (EFL) is a league of professional association football, football clubs from England and Wales. Founded in 1888 as the Football League, the league is the oldest such competition in Association football around the wor ...

Premier League The Premier League (legal name: The Football Association Premier League Limited) is the highest level of the men's English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Fo ...

FA Cup The Football Association Challenge Cup, more commonly known as the FA Cup, is an annual knockout football competition in men's domestic English football. First played during the 1871–72 season, it is the oldest national football compet ...

Football League Cup The EFL Cup (referred to historically, and colloquially, as the League Cup), currently known as the Carabao Cup for sponsorship reasons, is an annual knockout competition and major trophy in men's domestic football in England. Organised by t ...

Full Members' Cup The Full Members' Cup was an association football cup competition held in English football from 1985 to 1992. It was also known under its sponsored names of the Simod Cup from 1987 to 1989 and the Zenith Data Systems Cup from 1989 to 1992. Th ...

As of 1 February 2018 Statistics obtained fro
soccerbase.com
*except for the

Full Members Cup The Full Members' Cup was an association football cup competition held in English football from 1985 to 1992. It was also known under its sponsored names of the Simod Cup from 1987 to 1989 and the Zenith Data Systems Cup from 1989 to 1992. Th ...

result
This table excludes pre-season games, regional war-time leagues, friendlies and testimonials (see below)

Matches played

Non-competitive matches

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 Derek Marshall Hawksworth (16 July 1927 – 24 March 2021) was a footballer who played in the position of winger for Sheffield United. Football career Hawksworth started his career with Bradford Park Avenue in 1946, before moving to Huddersfi ...

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 A brook is a small river or natural stream of fresh water. It may also refer to: Computing *Brook, a programming language for GPU programming based on C *Brook+, an explicit data-parallel C compiler * BrookGPU, a framework for GPGPU programmin ...

made the score 7–3. The "Boxing Day Massacre" was a match played on 26 December 1979. Sheffield Wednesday won 4–0, with goals from

Ian Mellor Ian Mellor (born 19 February 1950) is an English former professional footballer. He was born in Sale, England. Mellor, a left-winger, began his career with Manchester City. He played as a substitute as City won the 1972 FA Charity Shield. He t ...

Terry Curran Edward Terence (Terry) Curran is an English former professional footballer whose career lasted from 1975 to 1988. Curran was an attacking midfielder, who could also play as a winger, and as an out and out striker. During his 13-year career ...

, 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

semi-finals. The game was scheduled to be played at

Elland Road Elland Road is a football stadium in Beeston, Leeds, West Yorkshire, England, which has been the home of Premier League club Leeds United since the club's formation in 1919. The stadium is the 14th largest football stadium in England. The ...

while the other semi between

Arsenal An arsenal is a place where arms and ammunition are made, maintained and repaired, stored, or issued, in any combination, whether privately or publicly owned. Arsenal and armoury (British English) or armory (American English) are mostl ...

and

Tottenham Hotspur Tottenham Hotspur Football Club, commonly referred to as Tottenham () or Spurs, is a professional association football, football club based in Tottenham, London, England. It competes in the Premier League, the top flight of English footba ...

was to be played at

. However

The Football Association The Football Association (also known as The FA) is the governing body of association football in England and the Crown Dependencies of Jersey, Guernsey and the Isle of Man. Formed in 1863, it is the oldest football association in the world a ...

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 Christopher Roland Waddle (born 14 December 1960) is an English former professional football player and manager. He currently works as a commentator. Nicknamed "Magic Chris", football journalist Luke Ginnell wrote that Waddle was "widely ackn ...

and Mark Bright scoring for Wednesday, and Alan Cork scoring for United. The match was watched by 75,364 spectators.

Resurgence in the Steel City Derby

After Sheffield Wednesday's relegation from the

after the 1999–2000 season both teams frequented the same league for seven of the next ten years. This caused the local rivalry between the two teams to increase and to cause an emergence of crowd trouble in 2003 2008 and 2019 Before the 2000–01 season both teams were only in the same league for six seasons between 1970–71 and 1999–00 (twenty-nine seasons), although this period did see one

semi-final meeting in 1993 and a Zenith Data Cup (

) meeting in 1989.

Off-pitch relationship

Supporters of the two Sheffield clubs have a fierce but healthy relationship. This goes right back to 1889 after

, formed in 1867, had vacated

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

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 Formed in 1919, Westfield Health is a British health and wellbeing company, which provides wellbeing services, mental health support, gym management and health insurance to almost 9,000 corporate clients across the UK and Europe. Westfield H ...

Not for Profit A nonprofit organization (NPO) or non-profit organisation, also known as a non-business entity, not-for-profit organization, or nonprofit institution, is a legal entity organized and operated for a collective, public or social benefit, in co ...

healthcare Health care or healthcare is the improvement of health via the prevention, diagnosis, treatment, amelioration or cure of disease, illness, injury, and other physical and mental impairments in people. Health care is delivered by health pro ...

organisation), who were the home kit sponsor for the Blades and the away kit sponsor for the Owls, and the Gilder Group (a

Volkswagen Volkswagen (),English: , . abbreviated as VW (), is a German Automotive industry, motor vehicle manufacturer headquartered in Wolfsburg, Lower Saxony, Germany. Founded in 1937 by the German Labour Front under the Nazi Party and revived into a ...

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 ''The Telegraph'', ''Daily Telegraph'', ''Sunday Telegraph'' and other variant names are popular names for newspapers. Newspapers with these titles include: Australia * ''The Telegraph'' (Adelaide), a newspaper in Adelaide, South Australia, publ ...

'' likening the deal to

Glasgow Glasgow ( ; sco, Glesca or ; gd, Glaschu ) is the most populous city in Scotland and the fourth-most populous city in the United Kingdom, as well as being the 27th largest city by population in Europe. In 2020, it had an estimated popu ...

rivals A rivalry is the state of two people or groups engaging in a lasting competitive relationship. Rivalry is the "against each other" spirit between two competing sides. The relationship itself may also be called "a rivalry", and each participant ...

and neighbours

Celtic Celtic, Celtics or Keltic may refer to: Language and ethnicity *pertaining to Celts, a collection of Indo-European peoples in Europe and Anatolia **Celts (modern) *Celtic languages **Proto-Celtic language *Celtic music *Celtic nations Sports Foo ...

and Rangers who have frequently shared shirt sponsors in the past.

Played for both

Played for both: * Earl Barrett *

Danny Batth Daniel Tanveer Batth (born 21 September 1990) is an English professional footballer who plays as a defender for Sunderland. Batth began his career with his local side Wolverhampton Wanderers, joining their youth academy as a teenager. In order ...

* Carl Bradshaw *

Leigh Bromby Leigh David Bromby (born 2 June 1980) is an English retired footballer who played as a defender. He is currently employed as the Head of Football Operations at Huddersfield Town. Bromby primarily played for Sheffield Wednesday and Sheffield Un ...

Franz Carr Franz Carr (born 24 September 1966) is an English former professional footballer who played as a winger from 1984 until 2000. He made 131 appearances in seven years with Nottingham Forest, and had shorter spells in the Premier League or Footbal ...

Richard Cresswell Richard Paul Wesley Cresswell (born 20 September 1977) is an English football coach and former professional player who played as a striker. He played in the Premier League and Football League for York City, Mansfield Town, Sheffield Wednesd ...

* David Ford *

Derek Geary Derek Peter Geary (born 19 June 1980 in Dublin, Republic of Ireland) is an Irish retired footballer, who played as a full-back. He is currently the Sheffield United Academy manager. Club career Sheffield Wednesday Derek is one of the few playe ...

* Paul Heald * Ben Heneghan * David Johnson * Marvin Johnson * Caolan Lavery * Gary Madine *

Brian Marwood Brian Marwood (born 5 February 1960) is an English former footballer who made more than 400 appearances in the Football League and was capped once for England. He is City Football Group’s Managing Director of Global Football. Club career H ...

Jon-Paul McGovern Jon-Paul McGovern (born 3 October 1980) is a Scottish former football player and coach. Career Born in Glasgow, McGovern started his football career at Celtic having signed at the age of 16. His time playing in Scotland was sandwiched by a ...

* Tony McMahon * Nathaniel Mendez-Laing * Owen Morrison * Joe Mattock *

* Neil Ramsbottom *

Carl Robinson Carl Robinson (born 13 October 1976) is a retired Welsh international footballer who played as a central midfielder. He is currently the assistant coach for Major League Soccer club D.C. United. Club career Wolverhampton Wanderers Robinson s ...

* Wilf Rostron * Bernard Shaw * Simon Stainrod * Keith Treacy *

Imre Varadi Imre Varadi (born 8 July 1959) is an English former professional footballer, known as a journeyman forward who appeared for 16 different clubs at all levels of professional football in England. Playing career Varadi was born in Paddington, L ...

* Alan Warboys *

Dean Windass Dean Windass (born 1 April 1969) is an English former professional footballer who played as a striker. He played spells at Bradford City and contributed to his hometown team Hull City's promotion to the Premier League in 2008. Windass started ...

Scored in derby for both: *

Managed both teams: * Danny Wilson *

Steve Bruce Stephen Roger Bruce (born 31 December 1960) is an English professional football manager and former player who played as a centre-back. He most recently managed West Bromwich Albion. Born in Corbridge, Northumberland, he was a promising scho ...

Played for one, managed the other: *

Nigel Clough Nigel Howard Clough (born 19 March 1966) is an English professional football manager and former player who is currently the manager of Mansfield Town. Playing predominantly as a forward, but later in his career used as a midfielder, Clough was ...

Teddy Davison John Edward Davison (2 September 1887 – 1 February 1971) was an English footballer and manager who had a long and successful association with the football clubs of Sheffield, playing for Sheffield Wednesday for 18 years and later managing Shef ...

Ian Porterfield John Ian Porterfield (11 February 1946 – 11 September 2007) was a Scottish professional footballer, and an experienced football coach who worked at both club and international level for almost 30 years. At the time of his death, he was the coa ...

* Paul Heckingbottom Played for one, coached the other: * Sam Ellis * Phil Henson * James Beattie * Mike Trusson *

Alan Hodgkinson Alan Hodgkinson MBE (16 August 1936 – 8 December 2015) was an English professional football goalkeeper and goalkeeping coach. Playing career Hodgkinson signed for Sheffield United from Worksop Town on 1 August 1953, and made 675 first-team a ...

Coached both teams: * Frank Barlow *

Danny Bergara Daniel Alberto Bergara de Medina (24 July 1942 – 25 July 2007) was a Uruguayan footballer and manager. Playing career Born in Montevideo, Uruguay, Bergara began his playing career at the age of 16, playing for Racing Club in the Uruguayan F ...

Willie Donachie William Donachie (born 5 October 1951) is a Scottish former professional footballer. Donachie had a long playing career, the majority of which was with Manchester City. He also played for Norwich City, Burnley, Oldham Athletic and Portland Timber ...

* Adam Owen Other connections: * Derek Dooley, played for and managed Wednesday and was then had a variety of roles at United including Commercial Manager, Managing Director, Chairman and Vice President * John Harris, managed United and scouted for Wednesday

Honours

Notes and references

External links

Steel City Derby
FootballDerbies.com
Steel City Derby
BBC South Yorkshire (via Internet Archive) {{DEFAULTSORT:Steel City Derby Sport in Sheffield Sheffield United F.C. Sheffield Wednesday F.C. England football derbies