Olive Grove was Sheffield Wednesday F.C.

Sheffield Wednesday F.C.

Sheffield Wednesday Football Club are a football club based in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England, who are currently competing in the Football League One in the 2011-12 season, in England. Sheffield Wednesday are one of the oldest professional clubs in the world and the fourth oldest in the...

's first permanent football ground, home to the club for just over a decade

Decade

A decade is a period of 10 years. The word is derived from the Ancient Greek dekas which means ten. This etymology is sometime confused with the Latin decas and dies , which is not correct....

 at the end of the 19th century. It was located on the site of what is now Sheffield City Council

Sheffield City Council

Sheffield City Council is the city council for the metropolitan borough of Sheffield in South Yorkshire, England. It consists of 84 councillors, elected to represent 28 wards, each with three councillors...

's Olive Grove Depot, near Queens Road in the centre of Sheffield

Sheffield

Sheffield is a city and metropolitan borough of South Yorkshire, England. Its name derives from the River Sheaf, which runs through the city. Historically a part of the West Riding of Yorkshire, and with some of its southern suburbs annexed from Derbyshire, the city has grown from its largely...

.
In November 2009 it was announced that the world's oldest football club Sheffield FC, plan to return to its Sheffield roots with an 'iconic' 10,000 capacity stadium.

The Need for a Stadium

Prior to the opening of the ground, Wednesday had used several other sites including Sheaf House

Sheaf House (stadium)

Sheaf House is a former home ground of The Wednesday Football Club and was located near the centre of Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England. The club started to use the ground after leaving Myrtle Road in 1877 and it remained their main 'home' ground until 1880...

 and Bramall Lane

Bramall Lane

-Cricket at the Lane:Bramall Lane opened as a cricket ground in 1855, having been leased by Michael Ellison from the Duke of Norfolk at an annual rent of £70. The site was then away from the town's industrial area, and relatively free from smoke. It was built to host the matches of local cricket...

, before newly-formed rivals Sheffield United

Sheffield United F.C.

Sheffield United Football Club is a professional English football club based in the city of Sheffield, South Yorkshire.They were the first sporting team to use the name 'United' and are nicknamed 'The Blades', thanks to Sheffield's worldwide reputation for steel production...

 took up permanent residence there. It was decided that the club should have its own stadium to avoid paying a percentage of gate receipts to the owners of the grounds used. Having their own stadium would also make it easier for Wednesday to accommodate their ever growing fan base.

Construction

Olive Grove was situated near Bramall Lane

Bramall Lane

-Cricket at the Lane:Bramall Lane opened as a cricket ground in 1855, having been leased by Michael Ellison from the Duke of Norfolk at an annual rent of £70. The site was then away from the town's industrial area, and relatively free from smoke. It was built to host the matches of local cricket...

; just south of the city centre

Sheffield

Sheffield is a city and metropolitan borough of South Yorkshire, England. Its name derives from the River Sheaf, which runs through the city. Historically a part of the West Riding of Yorkshire, and with some of its southern suburbs annexed from Derbyshire, the city has grown from its largely...

 next to the railway tracks on Queens Road, on land leased from the Duke of Norfolk

Henry Fitzalan-Howard, 15th Duke of Norfolk

Henry Fitzalan-Howard, 15th Duke of Norfolk, , styled Baron Maltravers until 1856 and Earl of Arundel and Surrey between 1856 and 1860, was a British Unionist politician and philanthropist...

. However, it was in no fit state to host football matches and over £5,000 had to be spent developing the site. Even then, the ground still lacked basic facilities; early on the players even had to get changed at a local pub before matches.

The Beginning

The first match to be played at the completed stadium was against Blackburn Rovers

Blackburn Rovers F.C.

Blackburn Rovers Football Club is an English professional association football club based in the town of Blackburn, Lancashire. The team currently competes in the Premier League, the top tier of English football....

 on 12 September 1887, resulting in a 4–4 draw, with Wednesday coming back from 4–1 behind. Whilst at Olive Grove, Wednesday entered league football for the first time in 1889 by playing in the new Football Alliance

Football Alliance

The Football Alliance was an association football league in England which ran for three seasons, from 1889–90 to 1891–92.It was formed by 12 clubs as a rival to the Football League, which had begun in the 1888–89 season, also with 12 member clubs...

. They won 15 out of their 22 matches to clinch the title in the first season, before finally being granted admission to the Football League

The Football League

The Football League, also known as the npower Football League for sponsorship reasons, is a league competition featuring professional association football clubs from England and Wales. Founded in 1888, it is the oldest such competition in world football...

 in 1892. The first game at Olive Grove at his level was Wednesday's 5–2 win over Accrington

Accrington F.C.

Accrington Football Club were an English football club from Accrington, Lancashire, who were one of the founder members of The Football League. Accrington F.C. was formed following a meeting at a local public house in 1876...

. However, the club experienced a poor season and narrowly avoided relegation from the First Division

Football League First Division

The First Division was a division of The Football League between 1888 and 2004 and the highest division in English football until the creation of the Premier League in 1992. The secondary tier in English football has since become known as the Championship....

.

The End

Despite steady improvement on the pitch over the following years, the days would soon be numbered for Olive Grove. Plans were made to expand the railway track beside the ground, and as a result, Wednesday's lease would not be renewed. To make matters worse, the final season at Olive Grove was a disaster; the team lost more than half of their 34 matches and were relegated from the top tier of English football for the first time. Things looked very bad for the club.

A New Beginning

In the spring of 1899 shares in Wednesday were issued to raise capital for a brand new stadium. Two sites were proposed for the development - Carbrook

Carbrook, South Yorkshire

Carbrook is an industrial area of Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England to the north-east of Brightside. The suburb is named for the Carr Brook, which ran through the area until the late eighteenth century....

, in the North East of the city, and Owlerton

Owlerton

Owlerton is a suburb of the city of Sheffield, it lies northwest of the city centre near the confluence of the River Don and River Loxley. Owlerton was formerly a small rural settlement with its origins in the Early Middle Ages, it became part of Sheffield in the early 1900s as the city expanded...

, then a rural area to the North West; an alternative was a return to Sheaf House

Sheaf House (stadium)

Sheaf House is a former home ground of The Wednesday Football Club and was located near the centre of Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England. The club started to use the ground after leaving Myrtle Road in 1877 and it remained their main 'home' ground until 1880...

. Both new sites could not be obtained, but a new one became available in Owlerton, and work soon began on Owlerton Stadium, later to be renamed Hillsborough

Hillsborough Stadium

Hillsborough Stadium is the home of Sheffield Wednesday football club, Sheffield, England. Football has been played at the ground since it was opened on 2 September 1899, when Wednesday moved from their original ground at Olive Grove. Today it is a 39,812 capacity all-seater stadium, making it the...

, now one of the most famous football stadia in the country.

Sheffield FC

In November 2009, Sheffield FC announced, after months of speculation, they planned to build a 10,000 capacity stadium at Olive Grove. This move was speculated for quite some time, as the club wished to return to its roots in Sheffield.

Records

Due to poor record keeping, it is difficult to give an accurate figure for the record attendance at Olive Grove. For many games the attendance was simply listed as "Good" or "Poor" and when figures were recorded these were only estimates. However, an attendance of 20,000 was recorded at the FA Cup

FA Cup

The Football Association Challenge Cup, commonly known as the FA Cup, is a knockout cup competition in English football and is the oldest association football competition in the world. The "FA Cup" is run by and named after The Football Association and usually refers to the English men's...

 3rd round match against West Brom

West Bromwich Albion F.C.

West Bromwich Albion Football Club, also known as West Brom, The Baggies, The Throstles, Albion or WBA, are an English Premier League association football club based in West Bromwich in the West Midlands...

 on 14 February 1891 and this was probably a record for the stadium. The record receipt

Receipt

A receipt is a written acknowledgment that a specified article or sum of money has been received as an exchange for goods or services. The receipt is evidence of purchase of the property or service obtained in the exchange.-Printed:...

s for a match at Olive Grove were for the third round FA Cup tie played on 29 February 1896 between The Wednesday and Everton

Everton F.C.

Everton Football Club are an English professional association football club from the city of Liverpool. The club competes in the Premier League, the highest level of English football...

when a sum of £889 6s 9d was paid by the crowd to see Wednesday win 4–0.