Dozens of Sheffield Wednesday fans set for USA road trip to meet up and watch Owls

Owls based as far afield as Portland, Arizona and Toronto are set to travel to New York next weekend to mark 10 years of the New York Owls and watch Sheffield Wednesday take on AFC Wimbledon.

The supporters will come together under the umbrella of the Owls Americas – a larger group for Wednesdayites living in the US, Canada, Brazil and Argentina – which hosted its first meet-up in New Orleans in February 2020, with more than 40 Wednesday fans in attendance.

The New York Owls was founded by Mexborough-born Paddy Jones in 2012, one year after he moved to New Jersey with his American wife Chelsea.

"When I was getting interested in football it was the early 90s when we were by far the best team in the area,” says 41-year-old Paddy of his history supporting Sheffield Wednesday.

"I was a big fan of David Hirst and Chris Waddle. I just started following them from there, my dad used to take me to games.”

Up to 40 Sheffield Wednesday fans gather at the Football Factory bar, close to the Empire State building, to watch their beloved Owls on matchdays.

"It’s a good little community,” adds Paddy, who works in digital marketing for Unilever.

“We have a WhatsApp group and everyone’s chatting every day and gets on really well.”

Around 50 people have already confirmed their attendance next week, which will see Wednesdayites enjoy drinks together the night before the game and head out for brunch after full-time, before a night out later that evening.

"It’s just nice to chat without Wednesday ruining it,” jokes Paddy.

“Everyone from the Sheffield area tends to be really friendly and there’s lots of Americans coming along too.

"The Americans are more optimistic than we are, they haven’t had it beaten out of them like we have.”

A party of 10 Owls fans in town for a wedding are also coming along.

When Sheffield Wednesday reached the Championship play-offs in consecutive seasons between 2016 and 2017, Paddy and Co were surprised to be joined at the bar by a fair-weather fan, who had jumped on the bandwagon!

"Most of the people already follow Wednesday in that respect,” says Paddy.

You can find out more about the group, who recently launched their own podcast, HERE.