Here's to Green 'Un's next 100 years!

But it didn’t take very long at all for it to become known by the name that has long been part of Sheffield’s sporting lexicon.

When it first hit the red-brick streets of Sheffield, it was originally called The Football and Sports Special – but it was printed on green paper.

The story goes that within a couple of Saturdays, people were asking for a “Green ’Un”. Sellers were heard to shout: “Green ’Un, get yer Green ’Un.”

It wasn’t until the fourth edition that the paper actually made reference to itself as the Green ’Un, doing so in a cartoon – and cartoons and caricatures were a feature of those early years.

But there were photographs too and it might be reckoned that there’s nothing new.

In this high-tech world of the 21st century, newspapers and news organisations invite the public to email in photographs they may have of newsworthy incidents for use on websites and in the paper.

Well, back in that very first Green ’Un, readers were invited to send in their photographs of sporting matters and incidents.

They must have been a tad more generous in those days too...

The Green ’Un offered 5 shillings – that’s 25p – for the best photograph sent in each week. They said it was to encourage amateur photography!

When those green copies first rolled off the presses, some taken away on handcarts for delivery, few realised how successful it would become.

Sporting interest was not widespread and this was classed as a major venture in terms of publication. If it was to succeed, the publishers believed it would take several years to become established.

Instead, it became an instant hit and people were soon enraptured by being able to read about the day’s sporting events on the same day!

Unless, of course, the old telegraphic service proved a letdown as it did on that first Saturday.

No problems reporting from Bramall Lane on Sheffield United’s 2-2 draw with Nottingham Forest.

But they were only able to carry a first half report of Sheffield Wednesday’s 2-0 win at Bristol City. The sheer distance defeated the attempts of the telegraphic service to provide anything about the second half.

Another method had been even less reliable on occasions – pigeons!

The white-domed Telegraph and Star building on the corner of York Street and High Street had its own pigeon loft and pigeons were used to carry back half-time and full-time results.

Reporters covering local matches had a pigeon basket with them (present-day ones think lugging a laptop around is a bind) and they would send the birds off with their crucial message.

Occasionally, they didn’t quite home in on where they should and there are stories of the pigeon-keeper rattling his tin of bird-seed to entice a result-carrying pigeon off a nearby roof!

But those early teething troubles were to become a thing of the past because the Green ’Un bosses acted and it became one of the first papers to replace the telegraphic service with the telephone.

Today, Green ’Un writers still phone in their reports as the matches they are covering are taking place although some have swapped phones for laptops on a Saturday afternoon.

From the start, and as it has done since, the Green ’Un has essentially concentrated on football and all the six local professional clubs had articles from their own correspondents although none were named.

Sheffield United had United Notes and Notions by Red and White. For the other half of the city it was Wednesday Whispers by Blue and White.

It was a bit catchier elsewhere – Barnsley Breezes and Chesterfield Chit-chat.

The way the Green ’Un presented its sports news, the comments and the standard of writing, soon saw its appeal rise. It also carried great influence.

In fact, the paper reported that the legendary Sheffield Wednesday administrator Eric Taylor was going to be sacked by the club. He approached the Green ’Un’s top sports writer of the time, Fred Walters, asking if he could help and Walters spoke to Wednesday directors he knew advising them.

It also built a reputation across the country and its own circulation area was to stretch from Grimsby to Manchester and from Wakefield to Derby and Nottingham.

It kept going right through World War One – and was even sent out to the troops to help morale – but did stop during World War Two.

The Green ’Un recommenced in 1946 and this led to its halcyon period – as indeed it was for sport itself in terms of watching numbers.

In the late 1940s and early 50s, the Green ’Un circulation topped an astonishing 200,000 – even going as high as 240,000.

It was even flown, from Sheffield, out to the East Coast holiday resorts.

In those days, very often the first that people knew about their team’s fortunes – if not the score then certainly the scorers – was when they got their hands on the Green ’Un.

People today recall waiting in a lengthy queue at the local newsagents early on a Saturday evening, often with like-minded customers and, while waiting, they’d discuss the day’s events they’d seen at Bramall Lane or Hillsborough, all eagerly watching for the Green ’Un van to arrive.

Of course, times change and a number of Saturday night sports papers, some pink, some green, some ordinary white, are no longer.

But the Green ’Un goes on and continues to be, for so many people, an essential and vital part of their sporting weekend.

Long may it continue – and here’s to the next century!