THE MAG / THE WHY
Why Sheffield?
ANSWERED BY OLIVER BOOTH
Both myself and Scott grew up on the streets of Sheffield. My childhood days were spent around Frecheville and Gleadless. I lived on a culdesac, which in the 90’s with the lack of cars was a kids dream. Our goal was a jennel connecting the roads, and if a selfish neighbour wanted to park their car on our pitch, we’d play on the garages behind Frecheville Pond, until someone came to shout as us for breaking their garage door, then we’d give it 5 minutes and go again.
Sheffield & football just go together. We’ve got the oldest club, the oldest ground, and 2 huge football teams with amazing support, just no trophies. Man United might have won the treble, but we saw Vinnie Jones get the award of the fastest ever booking playing for United, and Di Canio blow his top and his Wednesday career against Arsenal. Proper football moments!
And as well as the football, there’s the cultural Sheffield icons of venues like The Leadmill and Republic (with the coolest postcode in the world for a club), where I spent most of my teenage years (and beyond), and the majority of my student loan.
There are plenty of cities with more glamour, glory and success on the field but without Sheffield, there’s no football. That’s why Sheffield.