• 2 days ago
We're back with another episode of All Wednesday, and in the build-up to the upcoming Steel City derby we spoke to Steve Tongue, the author of Yorkshire Turf Wars, to see how the rivalry between Sheffield Wednesday and Sheffield United has developed over the years.
Transcript
00:00The 93 Cup semi-final, I was lucky enough to be at because I was working for BBC Radio who were, as usual, doing the commentary.
00:08What people may not remember is that the game was originally scheduled to be at Elland Road
00:13because this was long before the days when every FA Cup semi-final was played at Wembley.
00:20The reason was that Arsenal had been drawn against Tottenham in the other semi-final
00:26and the FA decided that there was no other London ground that was suitable.
00:30Stamford Bridge wasn't big enough.
00:32It seemed silly for Arsenal and Tottenham both to go all the way to Villa Park, which would have been the obvious one.
00:38So, they decided that it should be played at Wembley.
00:41My impression was that United and Wednesday were both pretty keen that they should do the same
00:48rather than going to Elland Road.
00:51So, although there was a tremendous exodus, which can always cause transport problems and so on,
00:58like when the Manchester clubs come down or whatever, it went ahead.
01:02As you say, it turned into a great day for Wednesday with Mark Bright.
01:09The report in The Sun, which I quoted in the book, says the sadness was that one team had to lose.
01:15That was The Sun's chief sports writer, though I don't suppose many of your viewers will be sad at all
01:20that one team had to lose on that particular day.

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