Off season research

[Matabele]

Long story but I was vacantly watching a Serie A match on Setanta Sports last night between Lazio and some other side I can't recall.  It made me ponder who would be the "silvertails" of Serie A.  I know very little about the comp apart from the top few sides.

So I thought perhaps we could spend our off season researching all of the major (and not so major) global sporting competitions to discover which side wears the mantle of "the team everyone loves to hate" and/or silvertails.  Would be fascinating to follow the fortunes on "Manly's" all around the world - of course some of us have sides we support in some major comps so no expectation to switch camps.  But there are hundreds of competitions to research, many of them just kicking off a new season.

Example:  Consider Manly's equivalent in the AFL.  There are two sides that "everyone loves to hate"  Carlton and Collingwood.  The hate for Carlton may be a bit muted because of their recent lack of success and Eddie everywhere hogging the limelight on behalf of Collingwood.

But if you had to choose between those two - Collingwood are hated because they are dickheads.  Carlton are hated because they had money and are the Jewish club.  Seems to me Carlton are the Manly of the AFL?

I'll start a few threads on various competitions.

 

[Matabele]

BTTT

 

[Canteen Worker]

Most soccer (football in world talk) comps around the world are not totally interesting as you know that there are only two or three sides that will ever win the Championship. They tend to run by Murphy's Golden Rule (Whoever's got the gold, makes the rules) and they are the rich and wealthy teams. For example it is only Chelsea, Man U, Liverpool or Arsenal that is likely to win the English PL. In Scotland it will be Rangers or Celtic. In Spain it is usually Real Madrid or Barcelona, etc Most of these big clubs are backed by a wealthy benefactor and so they can just buy any player that happens to suit them.

In the NFL and other American Sport, plus the AFL and League there are mechanisms to ensure the evenness of comps. Many American sports have a draft, ensuring that lower finishing teams get the first dibs on new and talented players. This is also so in AFL, though in League it was challenged by Terry Hill and dispensed with. The salary cap in sports also limits the abiility of clubs to allow wealth alone to attract a plethora of good talent. Can you imagine what Brisbane would do in the NRL, should they have unlimited spending.

Re the most hated tag, there are three reasons for this in my view

1) is a hangover from the late 70s when Arko was the best administrator around and Manly had dollars aplenty. We pillaged clubs like Souths and Wests and had internationals running around in Reserve grade. It is still pushed by Roy Masters, Warren Ryan.

2) was our success when we won four comps in the 70s and played a lot of Grand Finals in the early 80s. Parramatta were the bridesmaid team with a huge fan base and we bested them for a long time. People were jealous of Manly. In the 90s it was the extreme competitiveness and 'alleged' sledging on-field from people like Tezza and Hoppa that polarised fans.

3) was the perception (probably partly true) that Manly had undue influence in the game. Rex was the commentator and then Fatty, Arko became ARL Chairman, Bozo was Aussie coach and there was a lot of Manly involvement in the administration of the game, beneifts at the judiciary and in match scheduling etc. This was one of the gripes that led to Superleague, that Brisbane etc didn't have enough influence. (Funny today that now the cap is on the other foot, there is not the same amount of whingeing).

I think much of the hatred for those younger than forty has faded and it is great to travel around NSW and see young kids and all sorts of people sporting the maroon and white again.