On 4 September 1867, the Wednesday Cricket Club decided to add football as a way to keep their players fit during the winter. The new sport's popularity grew quickly, however, and soon became the dominant activity of the club, now known as Sheffield Wednesday FC. The club, which took its name from the fact that it played its matches on Wednesdays, met at Sheffield's Adelphi Hotel on 4 September (itself a Wednesday, of course) and "decided to form a football club in connection with the above influential cricket club, with the object of keeping together during the winter season the members of this cricket club." They played their first football match the following month and eventually joined the Football League in 1892.
They enjoyed a lot of early success, winning the FA Cup in 1896 then back-to-back league titles in 1903 and 1904. After a second FA Cup in 1907, they went into a brief decline, dropping down to Division 2 in 1920, but regained their winning ways in 1926 with a return to the top flight followed by two more league titles (1929, 1930) and another FA Cup (1935).
They have spent the majority of their existence in the top flight, and were founding members of the Premier League in 1992. But they have won only one major trophy--the 1991 League Cup--since World War II and are currently playing in the Championship, the second tier of the English football pyramid.
I'm trying to think of another football team with a day of the week in their name, and can't - are Sheffield Wednesday the only one?
ReplyDeleteThe only other one of which I'm aware would be Abergavenny Thursdays FC from Wales. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abergavenny_Thursdays_F.C.
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