Sheffield Wednesday

Wednesday was formed in 1867 as the football section of the Wednesday Cricket Club. Based in Sheffield, the team mainly played friendlies. However, they did win the Sheffield Challenge Cup on six occasions.

In 1881 Wednesday entered the FA Cup competition. They reached the 5th round where they were beaten 5-1 by Blackburn Rovers.

The Sheffield club joined the Football Alliance League. Every year they entered the FA Cup. In the 1889-90 season, Wednesday beat the Swifts (6-1), Accrington (2-1), Notts County (2-1) and Bolton Wanderers (2-1) to reach the final for the first time.

The final was played at the Kennington Oval. Wednesday's opponents were Blackburn Rovers, who had finished 3rd that year in the First Division of the Football League, that year, and were odds-on favourites to win the cup.

Blackburn took the lead in the 6th minute when a shot from Billy Townley was deflected past the Wednesday goalkeeper. Harry Campbell hit the post before Nathan Walton converted a pass from Townley. Blackburn scored a third before half-time when Jack Southworth scored from another of Townley's dangerous crosses from the wing. Townley scored his second, and Blackburn's fourth goal in the 50th minute. Bennett got one back for the Sheffield side when he headed past the advancing Horne. Townley completed his hat-trick when he converted a pass from Joseph Lofthouse. Ten minutes before the end of the game, Lofthouse completed the scoring and Blackburn had won the cup 6-1.

As Philip Gibbons pointed out in his book Association Football in Victorian England: "The Blackburn side had given one of the finest exhibitions of attacking football in an FA Cup Final, with England internationals, Walton, Townley, Lofthouse and John Southworth at the peak of their form."

Games involving two teams from the same town or city often resulted in violent play. In the 1899-1900 season, Wednesday played Sheffield United in the second-round of the FA Cup. The first match had to be abandoned owing to a snow storm. The second game resulted in a 1-1 draw at Bramwell Lane. The game had been spoilt by a series of illegal tackles so according to the journalist, James Catton, the referee, John Lewis, "... visited the dressing-room of each set of players, and told them they must observe the laws and spirit of sport. He intimated that if any player committed an offence he would send him off the field."

This warning did not have the desired effect and the replay was one of the roughest in history. James Catton later reported: "In spite of this the tie had not been long in progress when a Wednesday man was sent to the dressing-room for jumping on to an opponent. Soon after that The Wednesday's centre-forward had his leg broken, but that was quite an accident. No blame attached to anyone. Another Wednesday player was ordered out of the arena for kicking an opponent... With two men in the pavilion reflecting on the folly of behaving brutally, and another with a broken leg, it is no wonder that The Wednesday lost the tie. Mr. Lewis always said that this was one of the two most difficult matches he ever had to referee. Memories of this kind abide. His task was formidable, and his duty far from enviable. The sequel was the suspension of two Wednesday players."

In 1891 Wednesday signed Fred Spiksley from Gainsborough Trinity. The following year the club was elected to the First Division of the Football League. In the 1892-93 season the club finished in 12th place and Spiksley was top scorer with 18 goals in 31 games.

On 13th March, 1893, Fred Spiksley won his first international cap playing for England against Wales. Also in the team that day was Billy Bassett, Charlie Perry, Bob Holmes, and John Goodall. Spiksley scored two goals in England's 6-0 victory. The following month he played in the match against Scotland. England won the game 5-2 and once again Spiksley got two of the goals.

In 1895 Sheffield Wednesday was involved in a dramatic incident with local rivals Sheffield United. The Wednesday centre-forward, Laurie Bell clashed with William Foulke. The giant goalkeeper later recalled: "It was really all an accident. Just as I was reaching for a high ball Bell came at me, and the result of the collision was that we both tumbled down, but it was his bad luck to be underneath, and I could not prevent myself from falling with both knees in his back. When I saw his face I got about the worst shock I ever have had on the football field. He looked as if he was dead." As Foulke weighed twenty stone it was a nasty accident but Bell recovered to continue his football career.

Sheffield Wednesday had moderate success in the Football League: 1893-94 (12th), 1894-95 (8th) and 1895-96 (7th). After beating Sunderland (2-1), Everton (4-0) and Bolton Wanderers (3-1) the club reached the 1896 FA Cup Final. Fred Spiksley scored both goals in Wednesday's 2-1 victory over Wolverhampton Wanderers.

Sheffield Wednesday finished bottom of the First Division of the Football League in the 1898-99 season. Spiksley scored ten goals in the 1899-1900 and helped his club win the Second Division championship.

Primary Sources

(1) Philip Gibbons, Association Football in Victorian England (2001)

Wednesday were at full strength for the final, while Tennant replaced the injured William Rose in the Wolves' goal, for whom Richard Baugh and Harry Wood were making their third FA Cup Final appearance.

Wednesday dominated the early stages of the final, which resulted in the opening goal when Fred Spiksley slotted an Archie Brash throw-in past Tennant in the Wanderers' goal. The Wolverhampton side were soon on level terms, though, when David Black intercepted a Tom Crawshaw clearance to place the ball wide of goalkeeper Jimmy Massey.

The Sheffield side eventually regained the lead when Harry Davis set up a goal-scoring opportunity for Fred Spiksley, who sent a tremendous shot into the Wanderers' net for his second goal of the game, while Tom Crawshaw saw a shot hit a post as Wednesday continued to dominate the proceedings. Wanderers came more into the game during the latter stages of the final as they sought an equalising goal. However, the Yorkshire side held on to a 2-1 victory as team captain Jack Earp proudly received the new FA Cup from Lord Kinnaird.

(2) Ernest Needham, Association Football (1901)

Spiksley, of Sheffield Wednesday... delights to dribble the ball into the corner and then centre across, and it is seldom he fails to place the ball in the goal mouth for his fellow forwards to put through. He is about ten stone, but what he lacks in weight he makes up in speed. He can play the combination game to perfection, and I can state this at first hand, as I have often had the pleasure of playing with him. When he finds himself in difficulties he will try to give the ball to someone better placed - a form of unselfishness which a good many well-known players might copy. Instead of this, many men would rather lose the ball by trying to beat one or two opponents, than give it to a partner; not so Spiksley. I have heard a great deal of criticism levelled at him because he waits for the ball to be put to him; but when you have a player of the style of Spiksley this method pays. When he does get the ball he is fresher and faster than if he had been working hard to fetch it - most likely from close by his own goal.

(3) In an interview in the London Evening News in 1913, William Foulke described an incident with Larry Bell of Sheffield Wednesday in a game that took place in the 1897-98 season.

It was really all an accident. Just as I was reaching for a high ball Bell came at me, and the result of the collision was that we both tumbled down, but it was his bad luck to be underneath, and I could not prevent myself from falling with both knees in his back. When I saw his face I got about the worst shock I ever have had on the football field. He looked as if he was dead."

(4) J. A. H. Catton, The Story of Association Football (1926)

It has been my lot, and often my fortune, to watch exciting but fine ties between Everton and Liverpool, Sunderland and Newcastle United (one of these was the cleanest, cleverest, and most sporting match anyone could wish for), Notts County and Nottingham Forest, and West Bromwich Albion and Aston Villa, all neighbours' battles, but this particular match between The Wednesday and United of Sheffield was a bit of old Donnybrook.

Unless I am mistaken the match necessitated three attempts before a settlement. The first match had to be abandoned owing to a snowstorm, the second a week later produced a tie at Bramall Lane (1-1), and the third at Owlerton, two days later (February 19, 1900), resulted in the victory of the United by 2-0. Possibly there was never a more onerous task for a referee. Fortunately the controlling official was the late John Lewis of Blackburn. This tie must linger in memory as a very unpleasant affair.

The first game was typical of Cup-tie football, there being many stoppages for small offences. The replay was on the Monday. Before the game Mr. Lewis visited the dressing-room of each set of players, and told them they must observe the laws and the spirit of sport. He intimated that if any player committed an offence he would send him off the field.

In spite of this the tie had not been long in progress when a Wednesday man was sent to the dressing-room for jumping on to an opponent.

Soon after that The Wednesday's centre-forward had his leg broken, but that was quite an accident. No blame attached to anyone. Another Wednesday player was ordered out of the arena for kicking an opponent.

Mr. Lewis has told me that he did not see this offence, and that his line of sight was obstructed, but he acted, as he had the right to do, on the information of the neutral linesman, Mr. Grant, of Liverpool.

With two men in the pavilion reflecting on the folly of behaving brutally, and another with a broken leg, it is no wonder that The Wednesday lost the tie.

Mr. Lewis always said that this was one of the two most difficult matches he ever had to referee. Memories of this kind abide. His task was formidable, and his duty far from enviable. The sequel was the suspension of two Wednesday players.

For years afterwards it seemed as if ill-feeling between these clubs had died completely out until one day there was a sudden flare-up and a round of fisticuffs between Glennon, of The Wednesday, and W.H. Brelsford, of United. Mr. Clegg was sitting near me and he immediately said: "I thought all this animosity was a thing of the past." Still there was the manifestation-quick and vivid as lightning.