The day girl-band were arrested at Sheffield Wednesday v Barnsley match for x-rated outburst
The day girl-band were arrested at Sheffield Wednesday v Barnsley match for x-rated outburst
An unexected turn of events saw a half-time performance descend into chaos and police called in to intervene
Things can be a little tense in matches involving Sheffield Wednesday and Barnsley but no-one really expects the half-time entertainment to bump up the police’s arrest statistics.
However, that’s what happened during a South Yorkshire derby between the sides back in October 2006, thanks to a girlband who didn’t take heckling all too well.
Wednesday were leading the match 1-0 after an early goal by Glenn Whelan and that was the highlight of a fairly dour encounter until the half time whistle blew. A short time later it was announced that fans would be treated to some on-pitch entertainers from a new pop outfit, sisters Nicola and Francine Gleadall who went by the name TWIN.
The lively teenagers were to perform a cover of Slade’s ‘Cum on Feel the Noize’ to the not-far-off 30,000 crowd at Hillsborough but their introduction as ‘two girls from Sheffield’ didn’t endear them to their Barnsley neighbours in the crowd and they were met with jeers and boos and, almost certainly, more than that.
The girls reacted by flicking ‘V’ signs at the away end in response to the abuse hurled at them and let rip with a mouthful of four-letter words… into the microphone.
Officials at Wednesday were not best pleased and neither were the police, who arrested the pair and later confirmed they had been given an £80 fine for ‘public order offences’.
The extra publicity can’t have hurt the band too much but they were full of remorse following the incident. “Our actions were totally knee jerk and when we heard the foul abuse being shouted at us from the crowd our natural defence mechanism took over,” they said.
“We apologise for offending anyone, and would hope that most would agree they may well have acted in the same way if faced with the torrent of obscenities we were exposed to. We are also sorry for letting down Sheffield Wednesday after their hospitality, and trust they also understand that our actions were a genuine mistake.”
Wednesday won the match 2-1 and the girls’ behaviour was just about the height of South Yorkshire Police’s problems on the day
The girls would later reappear on TV in 2008, with X-Factor judge Simon Cowell the next to give them a bit of unwanted criticism. “You came in here with the personality of two bananas,” he said.
After that, while studying at Sheffield Hallam University, they had another go at stardom and did quite well, featuring in the final stages of ‘Your Country Needs You’ – a BBC reality TV talent show, used to pick the UK entry to Eurovision. They didn’t win but at least they didn’t tell Andrew Lloyd Webber to **** off.
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