SWFIUA explained

I grew up in Sheffield in the UK. There are two football teams in Sheffield: Sheffield United and Sheffield United reserves. They play in red and white stripes and are known as the Mighty Blades.

There is also another team that goes by the name of Sheffield Wednesday, also known as The Owls, or ironically as The Massive, the owls or the Pigs. Curiously, the followers of The Massive also refer to followers of the Blades as Pigs.

If you grow up in Sheffield you end up following one of the sides. My parents grew up within walking distance to Bramall Lane. They were both Blades, as were my grand-parents.

Most families have members in the other camp, so for instance my sister married an Owl.

I now live in Bermuda and here the closest thing to the Blades/Owls rivalry is the Somerset v St George Cup Match rivalry. Most Bermudians don't get to choose who they follow: it is pretty much decided at birth. There should probably be a box to tick on Bermudian birth certificates to specify which side you are going to follow.

Both these rivalries are intense. There is always lots of banter and when the two teams meet if your side doesn't win then going in to work the next day is going to involve some ribbing.

Living away from Sheffield means when the Blades lose I at least don't have to listen to the fowls. In fact, on the rare occasions when I meet a Wednesday fan here it is good to meet a fellow Sheffield exile.

Now neither the Owls or the Blades have been all that good in my lifetime. Both have had spells in the top flight, both have had the odd cup run here and there, but both have had more dreary 0-0 draws on a cold damp February afternoon against some other struggling club such as Grimbsby or Crewe.

Many afternoons at Beautiful DownTown Bramall Lane (BDTBL) there has been nothing to cheer apart from maybe a stray dog wandering on to the pitch.

Back in the day there was no fancy digital scoreboard, just the letters A-Z with hooks alongside with room for someone to go and hang up the scores at half time. If you wanted to know which game was which you had to buy the program. But A was always for the Owls game.

What is more, the Owls score would get updated every time a goal went in. When the Blades play at home, the Owls are away. Since most seasons they are likely to be struggling the odds are they will lose.

So when the man wanders out and puts up the score and the crowd sees that they have let a goal in, the chant would go up:

Sheffield Wednesday Fucked It Up Again

On a good day, you would hear the chant 2-3 times.

And that is where swfiua comes from. In short, the loudest cheer at many a Blades game.

However, it is not all doom and gloom as a Blade. Last night was yet another memorable cup tie at BDTBL. We were drawn at home to Southampton in the quarter final of the League (Capital One) Cup, also known as the "whatever it is called this year cup".

At the time of the draw Southampton were defying gravity and placed 2nd in the Premier League. Meanwhile the blades were holding their own in League One, but not exactly scoring goals for fun.

In the meanwhile, the football gods have intervened, Southampton's last few league games have been tough ones and they have lost them all.

All was set for a classic cup upset at BDTBL on a December night in Sheffield.

There was a good crowd. Night games at BDTBL are always special.

At this point it is worth saying a word about Sir Nigel Clough.

It is difficult to talk about Nigel without mentioning his father, although I hesitate to do this, it cannot be easy being Brian's son.

Brian Clough was an absolute genius of a football manager. He was always entertaining in interviews, always had sides that played good football and his teams always respected referees and won fairly. Oh, and Brian always took the cups seriously.

Nigel Clough has now been in charge for 18 cup ties, all whilst the Blades have been down in the third tier of UK football. They have only lost 2 ties.

Last night was a wonderful win. They took the game to Southampton. The longer it went on the more I started to believe they might actually win. As a Blade, this is an uncomfortable feeling. So many times, just when you think we are going to do something it all unravels. The journey is always fun though, but we all know how it ends.

Well last night was one of those rare occasions when everything went well. We got to half time 0-0. We were the better side first half.

The first 10 minutes after half time were going to be key. Southampton no doubt got a talking to, we had to be ready for them to come at us. Southamptin did come out a little stronger, but the Blades held their own.

And then the unbelievable happended, one of those freaky goals, ball trickling over the line, with keeper and Sparky McNulty both racing to get to it. Sparky won the race and sparked off a fantastic last 30 minutes.

We know it will end in tears, but it is nights like this that make it all worth while.

As I said to a Chelsea fan (who also had a soft spot for Derby) before the game, the great thing about following the Blades is if we win two games on the trot it is like winning the Champion's League.

So on to the semis, looking forward to the draw later today.

Oh, and those wondering how the Owls did this year in the League Cup: they lost 7-0 to Man City in the third round. swfiua * 7.