Meningitis, death of the Queen and an unexploded WW2 bomb - Previous Sheffield United postponements as Rotherham derby hit

A number of games have fallen victim to the weather in recent years, when snow and ice has left the Bramall Lane pitch or surrounding areas unfit for players or fans. But not many have been called off because of an unexploded bomb from the Second World War, with other United matches also not kicking off on their original date or time because of the coronavirus pandemic and the Queen’s husband Prince Philip’s funeral.

Back in 1999, a United away trip to QPR was postponed after Rangers defender George Kulczar was diagnosed with meningitis and rushed to intensive care. A number of his teammates displayed similar symptoms, forcing the postponement of their game against United.

Keith Edwards was a member of the United squad that was informed their game against Oldham Athletic would not go ahead in 1985 – because of an unexploded 2200lb bomb from The Blitz, discovered just 24 hours before kick off a good goal kick away from Bramall Lane.

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“You get used to matches being called off for all sorts of reasons,” Keith Edwards, the legendary former Blades striker, said. “But that isn’t one of them.”

The game was postponed, local residents were moved away for their own safety – apart from one, Leung Ho, who watched the bomb disposal team at work from his house 50 yards away – and the delicate process of making it safe took 36 hours, with the team working in pairs in a trench dug alongside the bomb. It had been dropped on Sheffield 44 years earlier.

United and Oldham returned to Bramall Lane a few days later, with the Blades winning 2-0.

“When you think of what people were going through back then, what it must have been like, it puts everything we’re going through now with Covid-19 into a bit of perspective doesn’t it?” Edwards, speaking during the pandemic, added.

“I know it’s been really tough for lots of people out there and tragic for some too. But I can’t even begin to imagine what that must have been like, having bombs dropping on you out of the sky.

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“The people who made the bomb safe obviously did a brilliant job, and it’s not one I’d fancy doing. It does make you think that, as footballers even in our day and age, we didn’t have too bad did we?”

Some years later, the Blades’ Premier League clash with Wolves was postponed to a 8.15pm kick-off to avoid clashing with the funeral of Prince Philip, while United’s pre-season game at Dundee United was abandoned at half-time after the rain of Storm Francis made the pitch unplayable.

An abandoned game against West Bromwich Albion went down in infamy as the ‘Battle of Bramall Lane’ as the Blades had three men sent off, while a number of games last Christmas were postponed because of an outbreak of Covid-19 amongst opposing team’s squads.

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