WEDNESDAY WOES
Back in the 1880s, when Sheffield Wednesday were known simply as The Wednesday, the staunchly amateur club had a little problem. Having just won the FA Cup for the first time in 1896, the club then forgot to apply for the following season’s competition, missing the deadline entirely, which meant that most of their cup-winning side were rather cheesed off, threatened to leave and start their own professional club, Sheffield Rovers, where players would be paid for their performances. The next few months for Wednesday were something of a shambles and in scenes that will be familiar to anyone that has played Sunday League, the club struggled to find enough players to put out a proper side, culminating in a 16-0 defeat to Bolton-based Halliwell FC in January 1887, a match in which Wednesday could only field 10 players. A few months later, an emergency meeting was held between players and president John Holmes, after which the club turned professional. The players were paid and The Wednesday were saved.
