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Why Sheffield United fan who pulled on the Sheffield Wednesday shirt is cycling 500 miles
It might not be as financially significant as the one Paul Heckingbottom’s squad have just achieved from the Championship but, more than three decades after Sheffield United’s Class of 1990 beat Leicester City to reach the old First Division, events at Filbert Street remain part of Bramall Lane folklore and still live long in the memories of those who witnessed them.
Ritchie Humphreys was among them, after travelling to the East Midlands with friends and his late father John. The site of the old stadium, which sits in the shadow of City’s new home, is one of six ports of call on a gruelling cycle tour Humphreys is shortly undertaking to raise money to St Luke’s Hospice; where his dad, a devoted follower of United, passed away last year.
“You couldn’t do this these days and it seems strange, given some of the things I’m campaigning for at the moment about fans staying off the pitch,” admitted Humphreys, a former Sheffield Wednesday player and ex-chairman of the Professional Footballers’ Association. “But he (John) was away from us in the stand and I remember him hopping over the hoardings, onto the track around the pitch, and coming down to bring me a cup of tea.”
Despite proudly representing Wednesday, where he made more than 80 senior appearances, Humphreys is also a United supporter. Released from there as a youngster, he used to watched some of Bramall Lane’s most legendary figures prepare for matches at Warminster Road, which bordered his old school Newfield.
“We could see them through the fence, all of these great players, many of whom I ended up facing on the pitch in my career,” Humphreys remembered. “Every so often, a ball would come over into the ravine and we’d nip down to get it – they’d be pristine Umbro’s. Someone would always come back and fetch them. But it was strange, looking back, pretending to be those guys in the playground when they were training only a stone’s throw away.”
‘Big John’s Promotion Bike Tour’ will see Humphreys, together with his friends James Goddard, Wayne Morton and Dave Palmer, visit all the grounds where his father personally witnessed United win promotion. After leaving Bramall Lane later this month, they aim to visit Wolverhampton Wanderers and Feethams, where Darlington used to be based, as well as the east Midlands and Hartlepool. The latter is a nod to the fact Humphreys spent more than a decade of his career there after leaving Hillsborough. The five day trip, a 500 mile journey, is scheduled to end on June 27th.
Humphreys and his pals, two of whom he has known since his schooldays, will be wearing vests displaying the St Luke’s logo en route. But they are also carrying replicas of the shirts United were wearing when they went up at Molineux, City and Darlington.
“I’m really grateful to Paul Reeves, United’s commercial manager, and the club as a whole for donating them to us,” Humphreys said. “As it turns out, they’ve just re-released them and they’re in the club shop. So it was a great touch from Paul to say he’d get the versions we needed for us. I really appreciate that.”
