As the date on the badge suggests, Sheffield United was formed in 1889. It seems, they were created to fill a space at a sporting venue that had appeared when the footballing arm of the Wednesday Cricket Club moved to their own ground on Olive Grove. The venue, which was owned by the Duke of Norfolk, was situated in the south-western part of town, and was attractive because it was free from smoke, Sheffield being very smoky due to all the steelworks in the town. The ground which was being used for both football and cricket, was situated on Bramall Lane, which itself was named after the Bramhall family, prominent in the manufacture of metal files. Concerned about the drop in revenue after Wednesday cricket club left, and taking into account the success of the 1889 FA Cup Semi-Final between Preston North End and West Bromwich Albion, which had attracted a 22,688 crowd to Bramall Lane, Charles Stokes, a member of the Bramall Lane Ground Committee, realised the potential of Bramall Lane as a permanent site for a football club. A meeting was held and it was decided that Charlie’s idea was indeed a good one, so after an advertising campaign, enough players were found to form a football team, and on September 7th 1889, Sheffield United played their first game.
To distinguish between themselves and Sheffield Wednesday who played in blue and white, United played in red and white but both shared the nickname of “The Blades”, and newspapers would report on “The clash of the Blades” whenever they played each other. Wednesday supporters were adamant that they and they alone had the God-given right to be called the Blades, which is derived from the town’s famous steel-making industry, as they were the older of the two clubs. However, in 1907 a cartoon appeared in a Sheffield newspaper depicting Wednesday as an owl, as they were from the Owlerton area of Sheffield, and United as a blade. From then on the owl was used for Wednesday and United got to keep the name Blades. So owls appear on Wednesday’s club badge and blades on United’s.
United only used a badge for prestigious occasions in the early years, such as the FA Cup Finals of 1925 and 1936. United used the towns official coat of arms then, as did Wednesday in the early days. (PIC 1) These arms were granted on 16th of July 1875. The lion on the crest is from the duke of Norfolk’s coat of arms, lords of the manor of Sheffield. The sheaf of arrows was the main motif in the seals of the Burgery of Sheffield, and the twelve capital Burgesses. A Burgery is an old name for a Borough and the Burgesses its citizens. These would have run the local government before the birth of the Borough of Sheffield. It is believed that the three wheat sheaves on a greenfield, were from the College of Arms, as a version of the name Sheffield, which means an open space by the river Sheaf. The two supporters are Vulcan and Thor, each chosen for their representation of a place whose profits are founded on the working of metal. Vulcan, the smith of the Roman and Greek gods, has his hand rested on a hammer, and Thor, the smith of the Scandinavian gods, stands in front of an anvil and in his hands is a pair of pincers. The motto “DEO ADJUVANTE LABOR PROFICIT” can be translated from Latin as, With God’s Help Our Labour is Successful. This too was also shared with Sheffield Wednesday in their early years.
Later towards the end of the 1950s, they used two crossed blades, with the white Yorkshire rose set in a black shield surrounded by the club’s name and date of formation was used. (PIC 2) The only change to that design is that the shield is now in the roundel. It is in the club’s colours and was established as the club’s official logo in the early 1970s. (PIC 3) One of the earliest replies to my enquiries was this information sent to me from Sheffield United, but no name was attached, so I do not know who to thank, but you know who you are, so cheers. The name Sheffield as I earlier mentioned means, open land by the river Sheaf and is Anglo-Saxon in origin. Shef is a corruption of Sheth, meaning to divide or separate, and the river divides Yorkshire from Derbyshire. Field is from Feld, and means a clearing in the forest or woods. Today Bramall Lane is a 32,702 all-seated stadium, and along with Wednesday, local rivals include Barnsley and Rotherham. For more on “The Blades” hack your way to www.sufc.co.uk
