David Harding
Chris Leahy
Cain LynchCircle of Hate
I want to take this time to talk to you about something that needs to be discussed. I'm talking about bad sports. In any game there is bad sports and they have no place in the sporting arena. These can be bad winners and bad losers and generally if a person is one, they're the other. I will admit, i'm a horrible winner, I love winning the game or the championship itself but nothing compares to drinking the tears of the losers and sticking the boot in and rubbing in that win just that little bit more. I know I probably take it just that extra special bit too far but I don't care, it's what the game is built on. One of the best features of following football is the tribal mentality that all the supporters share, you support your club and everyone else can go to hell, there's none of this “second team” nonsense and it's what makes the game so great and it's what makes the game passionate amongst all the supporters.
However, I think that we as a body of supporters need to start to weed out the weak, cull those who can't handle the pressure of supporting a team full time and who can't handle the back and forth banter that is thrown between supporters. I call this the “circle of hate” and is similar to the concept behind the “Chain of Screaming” episode of How I Met Your Mother. Basically, when your team is up, you gloat about it and rub it in at will. When your team is lose, other teams rub it in. It's a bit circle of hate that flows all around the world. Someone cops a loss and there's always someone around to give stick about it and then after that, the team eventually wins and the circle is continued by the same person passing on that hate they received to whoever is unfortunate to lose to them
Take me for example, I'm a Southampton supporter and have been for years. I had to cop endless time from people who laughed at us and ridiculed us when we got relegated from the Premier League. I was further ridiculed and laughed at when my beloved Saints were struck with financial problems, put into administration and subsequently relegated to League One last season. I would like to take this sentence to point out that we almost did the impossible of achieving promotion despite out 10 point deduction even though we'd be in the auto-promotion place without it but we should climb up against next year
. I've even suffered a not so bad but still equally bad experience of losing a cup final, all that is excepted when your team goes through bad times and you have to cop the bad with the good. And “the bad” isn't always what happens on field, in fact “the bad” is usually everything that happens off the field, and is usually because you lost
Sometimes, there are rare examples where “the bad” happens because your team is going well. Let's take a few examples, look at Italy, Juventus, AC Milan, Fiorentina, Lazio and Reggina were all caught up in a match fixing scandal in 2006 which saw all of them, bar Reggina get relegated to Serie B and Juventus got kicked out of European competition and stripped of two titles. The effects for those fans must have been devestating, having to not only deal with the club being declared cheats but they got relegated AND they got stripped of two titles that they cheated their way to AND they got kicked out of Europe for the year and they then had to sit by and watch Inter lift the Scudetto four times in a row. But the worst part? The Inter fans rubbing in that they won the 05/06 Scudetto by default. It's just part of how the game flows.
How about another example, in China, they're still trying to recover from constant match fixing scandals that have rocked the league since it's inception. It may not mean much to the supporters who usually follow any backwater European league over their own because hey, it's Europe, it's gotta be good but there's still plenty of teams to be labelled as cheats which is perfect ammunition for rival supporters to dig the boot in and make fun of. Although that being said, I doubt there's any supporter of local Chinese football who can claim the moral high ground when it comes to match fixing and cheating
So having said that, sticking the boot is just part of being a football supporter, sometimes it happens cause your team is just plain rubbish, sometimes it happens because your team gets done over in a cup final and sometimes it happens because your team is just a pack of dirty cheats. Either way, you suck it up and deal with it. As you've read, I've had my share of bad times with Southampton and I don't regret picking them as my team in the slightest but even I've been able to return everything that I've copped over the years of being a loyal Saints fan. For me, this came in the form of Sydney FC. I've even copped my share of shit as a Sydney fan, namely last season for failing to make the finals but being knocked out of the finals in season II and III didn't come with their share of stick. But I got to repay everything that I got this year when we beat melbourne to secure the Premiers plate at Sydney and then I got even more back again when we travelled to melbourne to be crowned Champions on their home soil and I rubbed that win in viciously and if you can't tell, im still doing it now
. For me, this is my reward for being a good loser, I sat there and took everything that was thrown at me and I waited and threw it back when the time was appropriate. Sometimes, it's the other way around and you can celebrate first but will no doubt, eventually pay for that later
So after all of that and after dealing with a few fans who couldn't stop crying over their teams failure and my constant sticking the boot in I have this to say, if you can't handle the bad times, you don't deserve to enjoy the good times. Sticking the boot in and giving teams stick is just part of football, it comes with being a passionate supporter and in general terms, there's usually a team who's got it worse, unless you're a Wimbledon supporter. So my advice, suck it up and deal with it and either take it as penance for your own or your fellow supporters past discretion and past boot sticking or use it as motivation when exacting revenge for all the stick that gets given to you. Remember, what goes around comes around. That means that at some point in time, you're going to have to cop some shit, and when you do, please, try to be a humble and nice loser and don't be a sore loser
However, I think that we as a body of supporters need to start to weed out the weak, cull those who can't handle the pressure of supporting a team full time and who can't handle the back and forth banter that is thrown between supporters. I call this the “circle of hate” and is similar to the concept behind the “Chain of Screaming” episode of How I Met Your Mother. Basically, when your team is up, you gloat about it and rub it in at will. When your team is lose, other teams rub it in. It's a bit circle of hate that flows all around the world. Someone cops a loss and there's always someone around to give stick about it and then after that, the team eventually wins and the circle is continued by the same person passing on that hate they received to whoever is unfortunate to lose to them
Take me for example, I'm a Southampton supporter and have been for years. I had to cop endless time from people who laughed at us and ridiculed us when we got relegated from the Premier League. I was further ridiculed and laughed at when my beloved Saints were struck with financial problems, put into administration and subsequently relegated to League One last season. I would like to take this sentence to point out that we almost did the impossible of achieving promotion despite out 10 point deduction even though we'd be in the auto-promotion place without it but we should climb up against next year
. I've even suffered a not so bad but still equally bad experience of losing a cup final, all that is excepted when your team goes through bad times and you have to cop the bad with the good. And “the bad” isn't always what happens on field, in fact “the bad” is usually everything that happens off the field, and is usually because you lostSometimes, there are rare examples where “the bad” happens because your team is going well. Let's take a few examples, look at Italy, Juventus, AC Milan, Fiorentina, Lazio and Reggina were all caught up in a match fixing scandal in 2006 which saw all of them, bar Reggina get relegated to Serie B and Juventus got kicked out of European competition and stripped of two titles. The effects for those fans must have been devestating, having to not only deal with the club being declared cheats but they got relegated AND they got stripped of two titles that they cheated their way to AND they got kicked out of Europe for the year and they then had to sit by and watch Inter lift the Scudetto four times in a row. But the worst part? The Inter fans rubbing in that they won the 05/06 Scudetto by default. It's just part of how the game flows.
How about another example, in China, they're still trying to recover from constant match fixing scandals that have rocked the league since it's inception. It may not mean much to the supporters who usually follow any backwater European league over their own because hey, it's Europe, it's gotta be good but there's still plenty of teams to be labelled as cheats which is perfect ammunition for rival supporters to dig the boot in and make fun of. Although that being said, I doubt there's any supporter of local Chinese football who can claim the moral high ground when it comes to match fixing and cheating
So having said that, sticking the boot is just part of being a football supporter, sometimes it happens cause your team is just plain rubbish, sometimes it happens because your team gets done over in a cup final and sometimes it happens because your team is just a pack of dirty cheats. Either way, you suck it up and deal with it. As you've read, I've had my share of bad times with Southampton and I don't regret picking them as my team in the slightest but even I've been able to return everything that I've copped over the years of being a loyal Saints fan. For me, this came in the form of Sydney FC. I've even copped my share of shit as a Sydney fan, namely last season for failing to make the finals but being knocked out of the finals in season II and III didn't come with their share of stick. But I got to repay everything that I got this year when we beat melbourne to secure the Premiers plate at Sydney and then I got even more back again when we travelled to melbourne to be crowned Champions on their home soil and I rubbed that win in viciously and if you can't tell, im still doing it now
. For me, this is my reward for being a good loser, I sat there and took everything that was thrown at me and I waited and threw it back when the time was appropriate. Sometimes, it's the other way around and you can celebrate first but will no doubt, eventually pay for that laterSo after all of that and after dealing with a few fans who couldn't stop crying over their teams failure and my constant sticking the boot in I have this to say, if you can't handle the bad times, you don't deserve to enjoy the good times. Sticking the boot in and giving teams stick is just part of football, it comes with being a passionate supporter and in general terms, there's usually a team who's got it worse, unless you're a Wimbledon supporter. So my advice, suck it up and deal with it and either take it as penance for your own or your fellow supporters past discretion and past boot sticking or use it as motivation when exacting revenge for all the stick that gets given to you. Remember, what goes around comes around. That means that at some point in time, you're going to have to cop some shit, and when you do, please, try to be a humble and nice loser and don't be a sore loser
