Australian Sheffield United fans travel 10,000 miles to Championship play-off final
While 76-year-old Tom managed to get to a game at Bramall Lane two years ago, Tony has not been back to the UK for 43 years. Jack, who is 23, is visiting his dad's native country for the first time. Tony, 51, said: "I'm just buzzing. It's unbelievable to be here and we can't wait for the game. "We always said if we made it to a final at Wembley we'd come back for it. My old man thought he'd missed the boat, but when we got to the final I said to him, "get packing"."The first pub we got into in London was full of Sunderland fans so we had to bail out of that one pretty quickly! It was all red-and-white, but the wrong sort of red-and-white!"
Tom, who was a welder by trade, took his family to Australia as industry in Sheffield hit hard times in the early 1980s. Tony then followed his dad into welding and even ended up becoming his father's boss. Although following their team's results was hard in the early years after they emigrated, the internet and technological advances made it easier more recently. "When we first went to Australia we obviously couldn't watch any of the games, but now we can get SUTV (Sheffield United's in house TV channel) over there," Tony added."I've started to follow the (Sheffield United-supporting) Blades Ramble podcast in the last couple of years and you feel a bit more engaged with it now, because you're part of a community rather than just watching games by yourself at three o'clock in the morning. "My old man lives in a part of Perth called Little England and he goes drinking with some of the Pommie couples who live around there, so we still feel connected to England."
Listen to highlights from South Yorkshire on BBC Sounds, catch up with the latest episode of Look North.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
The Independent
26 minutes ago
- The Independent
Stuart Broad picks England bowling attack for first Ashes Test against Australia
Stuart Broad has selected his preferred England bowling attack for the first Test of this winter's Ashes against Australia and has prioritised raw pace. After the thrilling drawn series with India this summer, England's Test side are now turning their attention to a daunting trip Down Under, trying to win the famous old urn on Australian soil for the first time since 2010-11. In fact, England haven't even won a single Test in Australia since that 2010-11 tour and questions remain as to whether their bowling unit has enough quality to consistently take 20 wickets. In the pace stakes, they have a number of options and former England quick Broad, who now works as a pundit, has taken to social media to name his attack for the first Test in Perth, which begins on 21 November. He has oped for out-and-out pace, even though his selected seamers are injury-prone, and explained his reasoning for the line-up. On X (formerly Twitter), in answer to a tweet asking users for their England bowling attack for the first Test in Perth, Broad wrote: 'Wood, Archer, Atkinson, Bashir, Stokes. Go all out for the W there as have to start well and it's a bowler friendly pitch.' Mark Wood, Jofra Archer and Gus Atkinson are probably the three quickest options England have, although Wood and Atkinson spent at least part of the summer injured, while Archer finally played his first Test matches in more than four years after injury hell of his own. Broad would complement this pace trio with England skipper Ben Stokes, whose own bowling capabilities are often injury-limited but still have the ability to turn a match when they are unleashed, as shown by his brilliant 5-72 during India's first innings of the fourth Test at Old Trafford last summer. Shoaib Bashir is Broad's spinner of choice and the 21-year-old will likely be competing with the likes of Rehan Ahmed, Liam Dawson and Jack Leach for slow-bowler berth in England's XI for the Ashes. His reasoning for the make-up of the attack –that England need to be aggressive in their selection to try and win the first Test on a bowler-friendly pitch – is sound, although the lack of fitness reliability may cause a few jitters among England fans. After the first Test in Perth, the Ashes heads to the Gabba in Brisbane for a day-night encounter with the pink ball before more traditional Tests in Adelaide, Melbourne and then Sydney to finish. Australia have held the Ashes since 2018, having won the two series Down Under in that time 4-0 and retaining thanks to 2-2 draws in the pair of series in England.
BBC News
27 minutes ago
- BBC News
McInnes on silverware, 'huge value' of set-piece coach & transfer updates
Hearts head coach Derek McInnes has been talking to the media before his side's League Cup tie at St Mirren on Saturday. Here are the best bits from his news conference:He wasn't "jumping through hoops" about playing St Mirren when the draw was made, but says you have to beat good teams to win silverware and made it clear that is one of the main goals for this adds: "There's not one player should have signed for Hearts without having that aspiration to win a trophy here."He insists Hearts think they are "good enough to go the full way" in cup competitions and there's nothing wrong in saying Hearts' fast start to the season, McInnes says new investment, a new manager, a new way of working and the League Cup group stages mean you can build confidence quickly. He also points out there were already good players at Hearts and says the club have not done anything special yet. They need to "set about the task quietly, don't bump our gums, work hard and see where it takes us".McInnes spoke about the importance of dead-ball situations, which played a crucial role in the win at Dundee United. Set-piece coach Ross Grant has brought "huge value" since joining in June. Grant "looks forensically" at opposition and brings an additional focus - "it's about identifying areas where we think we can get as much joy as possible". Adam Forrester returning to Hearts shows the "beauty of the cooperation loan" with St Johnstone, according to McInnes. Hearts "felt it was a good move to maintain his minutes", but had to act after Christian Borchgrevink's injury. McInnes played down the prospect of signing another right-back, stressing there isn't unlimited money available. He expects Borchgrevink to be back quicker than first expected and pointed out Forrester played regularly last news: Calem Nieuwenhof and Beni Baningime both played a bounce game on Tuesday and will be available. Craig Gordon, Jamie McCart and Finlay Pollock are still out, while Kenneth Vargas has a slight hip issue.
The Sun
27 minutes ago
- The Sun
Former top jockey, 33, hailed as superhero after saving child from drowning ‘moments before going under'
A FORMER jockey has been hailed as a "superhero" after saving a child from drowning. George Chaloner, an ex-jockey who rode well over 200 winners on the Flat before his career was ended by injury at the age of 25 in 2017, was holidaying in Filey in North Yorkshire last weekend. 2 2 But during the family holiday with his partner and kids, he witnessed a horrifying sight. The 33-year-old spotted a youngster - described as being eight or nine years old - out at sea who had been swept out by the strong currents. Chaloner swam out to sea to save them alongside another rescuer, recalling how the lad was "about to go under". He told RacingPost: "We went on holiday to Filey with the kids. We were at the end of Filey Bay, Reighton Sands, with the boys all day. We were just about ready to go and there were some shouts of 'help' from the sea. "Everyone stopped and looked but no-one went down. After ten or 15 seconds, I went down with another tall lad. A woman at the side of the sea said 'those kids are drowning, I can't swim'. "The kids were playing in the breakers but the tide had come in and pushed them into a pool and they'd got out of their depth. I couldn't touch the floor there. "There were two girls who were shouting 'my brother, my brother!' and pointing to a little lad about 15 or 20 feet away. "He was eight or nine and when I got to him he was being pulled out by the rip tide, on his last legs and about to go under. "I got him and swam him halfway back where someone had come out with a half-bodyboard and we got him on that and brought him back." The incident would not have been publicly known were it not for his partner, Daisy Jones, who shared a Facebook post and praise him as a "real-life superhero". Match of the Day host Gabby Logan cheers on jockey daughter, Lois, as she makes racing debut at Goodwood However, humble Chaloner insisted he had not done anything extraordinary, saying of his "hero" label: "I don't know about that. "You just hope that if it was one of your kids, somebody else would do it for them." Chaloner, a graduate from the National Horseracing College, recalled how lifeguard training when he was young helped him cope in the strong currents, despite having not swum properly in years. He added: "The kids were fine but they were jiggered and so was I. "I'm not as fit as I used to be and I'd legged it from the top of the beach, swum out about 50 feet and brought the lad back in. I was ready for a cup of tea! "It turned out two women we had seen were the kids' mothers, but they were deaf and didn't hear them shouting; they just saw them splashing about and didn't know they were in trouble." Chaloner's biggest win as a jockey came in the Wokingham Handicap and Northumberland Plate in 2014. The retired jockey now works as a stud manager at Cliff Stud, and will be in York next week as he serves the horseman there. He said: "I work closely with the vets and doctors and monitor the horses from the stableyard, to the pre-parade ring and so on and if there's any bother I'm the first one on the scene."
