The teams have met 132 times in competitive games, with United winning 47 and Wednesday 42.
Following Sheffield United's relegation from the Premier League in the 2023–24 season[4] and Sheffield Wednesday successfully avoiding relegation to League One, the Steel City derby returned in the 2024–25 Championship season.
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.[5]
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.[6]
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.
Alan Quinn 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.
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 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 made the score 7–3.
In February 1967, broadcasting history was made when the derby at Bramall Lane was shown live on Pay-TV. United’s Bill Punton scored the only goal in the first pay-per-view League game on British television, and only the second to be televised live.[7] The coverage was available to around 700 subscribers in the Sheffield area, who had to pay ten shillings (50p) for the privilege of watching.
The "Boxing Day Massacre" was a match played on 26 December 1979. Sheffield Wednesday won 4–0, with goals from Ian Mellor, Terry Curran, 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 FA Cup semi-finals. The game was scheduled to be played at Elland Road while the other semi between Arsenal and Tottenham Hotspur was to be played at Wembley. However The Football Association 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 and Mark Bright scoring for Wednesday, and Alan Cork scoring for United. The match was watched by 75,364 spectators.[8]
The 2017-18 Steel City Derby at Hillsborough on Sunday 24 September 2017, saw United claim their biggest win at Hillsborough with their 4-2 victory 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 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.[9] 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.[10]
Resurgence in the Steel City Derby
After Sheffield Wednesday's relegation from the Premier League 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[11] 2008[12][13] and 2019[14]
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 FA Cup semi-final meeting in 1993 and a Zenith Data Cup (Full Members 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 Sheffield Wednesday, formed in 1867, had vacated Bramall Lane 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 Sheffield United were established and Bramall Lane subsequently became their home.[citation needed]
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 (a Not for Profithealthcare organisation), who were the home kit sponsor for the Blades and the away kit sponsor for the Owls, and the Gilder Group (a Volkswagen 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.[15] The deal was the first of its kind in English football with The Telegraph likening the deal to Glasgowrivals and neighbours Celtic and Rangers who have frequently shared shirt sponsors in the past.[16]
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
