My First Game: Keep your cartoon Owl - The day I became hooked on Sheffield United, from the other side of the world!

Today, Julian Skirrow shares his memory of falling in love with the Blades… from the other side of the world!

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I am always greeted with puzzled and confused looks when with a thick Australian accent, I proudly declare that the Blades are my team. The norm these days isn't to support a working man’s team originating from the heart of the British Steel industry.

You’re an Aussie, you're meant to be mainstream and support one of the top six or Barca or Real Madrid. Not me! It’s a part of me where partners have never understood my crazy obsession with this football team.

To them, it’s just a football team. To me, it’s something else. It’s hard to explain. Our highs are beyond high and our lows are just that, but we come back for more. I am still trying to work that out! This is my story of how I became a Blade

Growing up my father used to buy me these blue and white striped shirts with a cartoony looking Owl embezzled across the chest (luckily it didn’t sit over where my heart beats!) I didn’t take much interest in those shirts! All I wanted to wear was a Brisbane Broncos jersey or my cricket whites.

I had a red and white bedtime bear with a Sheffield United badge stitched onto its belly, my brother had a blue and white teddy bear with that odd-looking Owl stitched on its belly! The irony of those teddy bears and how they set my brother and me on a collision course clashing over which team from Sheffield was the best. Speaking of which, he has been awfully quiet these last few weeks... seasons even!

Fast Forward to November in 1993 and I find myself sitting at Bramall Lane watching United take on Oldham in the second season of the Premier League. I was finally working out who this team was that Grandad had sent numerous articles about that he had collected from the Green ’Un. That day back in 1993 was when I became a Blade. For life!

No turning to the dark side and not to be seduced by the Liverpools or Manchester Uniteds who had large followings In Australia. Sadly, young people of today’s football world would never understand the magnitude of what Nottingham Forest achieved in the European Cup, that Manchester City languished in the third tier at Maine Road before they were propped up by the Arabs and nor would they have likely to have heard of Ipswich Town!

Back to that day, although it was a nil-all draw, it was one I can still clearly remember. Sat across looking at the old John Street Stand, I had never experienced such cold in my life! But boy was it worth it, I was hooked! I wanted everything Sheffield United - beanies, scarves, shirts, you name it!

All I wanted was the kit! My parents wouldn’t buy me one! All I ended up with was a pair of players socks! Some 27 years later it’s one of the only shirts missing from my collection. I still have the socks though! The greatest of all time for me is that kit. I still have the merchandise catalogue for that season with Jostein Flo on the front of it!

That year also I saw United play Liverpool on Boxing Day and Manchester United in the FA Cup. Upon reflection, I think I am truly lucky to have seen some of the all-time greats play. Rush, Fowler, Giggs, Hughes and even Cantona! So lucky! But I also saw legends: Deane, Ward, Whitehouse, Kelly, Gannon and Flo…. they were my heroes.

Every time I pop over to England I always stop in for a match. I will always plan my trips around the season. I have two highlights, one was winning at West Ham in 2005, the first time in 30 odd years we had done so and the second and favourite, was the match against Hull in 2006 that basically sealed promotion. That game had it all and the roar when Unsworth poked home in the 93rd was the loudest I’ve ever heard! I have been to two NRL Grand Finals and three A-League Grand Finals but that Hull match was the best by far. The Lane shook that day.

The club has always been great to me. One day I went to the club shop to buy a shirt. By day's end I ended up joining a tour group, hosted by John Garrett and got a personal tour of Shirecliffe! The great Andy Pack heard I was in the shop and Stuart McCall was in there too buying a few items.

We ended up having a photo that was for the matchday programme and a feature article in it! Andy had generously driven me up to Shircecliffe and asked me questions along the way for his story.

Steve Hicks was also very accommodating, and I always paid him a visit when I was in town. I hope they are both in good health! To this day I still have their business cards! I was only meant to be out for two hours, but I was gone for eight. My Grandad said I could get to places where oil couldn’t! He had a season ticket for close to 40 years and never had that experience.

Sadly, he passed when we hit rock bottom. Equally sad for me as if it wasn’t for him then I wouldn’t have developed this love affair for United. It was great that we could go to games together, sit in the Sheaf, have a drink then pop down to the Lane at 2.45pm. He must have been watching that day we secured the League One title at Northampton as it coincided with my daughter’s birthday. Grandad and I now have our names on a brick down at the Lane.

Sitting back as I write this amid the doom and gloom of Covid-19, it has been a great time for reflection on just how far we have come. We have had some unbelievable results. I’d never thought I’d see the day of us destroying Wednesday at Hillsborough. I have made friends with guys who I met via Facebook and one special lady; whose father happened to be the great Jimmy Hagan!

Our little group catches up when we can for matches, although this year has been hard as games are on at midnight here. Blades passing through are always welcome. Our highlight was the Leeds match last year, this pub in Brisbane must have had 50-60 Leeds fans and three of us Blades were sat outside getting wet as it was pouring rain. The joy we had when Bash slid the ball home was epic and the look of the Leeds fans faces said it all. Us for Blades fans certainly made the most noise that night. I reckon that was the moment that I knew we were going to get promoted!

This is a story that I am really proud to tell. I am even prouder to be a Blade! Even though I’m on the other side of the world being a Blades fan has no boundaries. We have YouTube and we can buy Peroni... to toast this amazing journey we are on.