History of Sheffield Wednesday

Sheffield Wednesday F.C. is a football club from Sheffield, England. Established in 1867, the club would see early regional success followed by a rocky transition to professionalism. Although it has spent the majority of its Football League years in the top flight its position within the league has varied from the very top to almost slipping to the fourth tier.

The club was initially a cricket team named The Wednesday Cricket Club after the day of the week on which they played their matches. The footballing side of the club was established to keep the team together and fit during the winter months. SWFC was born on the evening of Wednesday 4 September 1867 at a meeting at the Adelphi Hotel in Sheffield. The formation was announced two days later with the following statement in the Sheffield Independent newspaper:

Even at this first meeting it became apparent that football would soon come to eclipse the cricketing side of the club. The formation of the football club came within a decade of the first football club in the world, Sheffield F.C., being formed. Hallam F.C. was set up shortly afterwards and by 1867 Association football was becoming very popular. The Wednesday played their first football match in October 1867 against the Mechanics Club at Norfolk Park, a game which they won by three goals and four rouges to nil.

By 1 February 1868 Wednesday were playing their first competitive football match as they entered the Cromwell Cup, a four-team competition for newly formed clubs sponsored by Oliver Cromwell, the manager of the local Theatre Royal. They went on to win the cup, beating Cromwell's own team, The Garrick Club 1–0 after extra time in the final at Bramall Lane. The match has its own place in history with Wednesday being the scorers in the first recorded instance of a "golden goal" although the term was not used at the time.

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