History SeriousBusiness / Sports

* Up until the early 1990's, English football fans were [[FootballHooligans infamous for rioting]], to the point where individual teams had 'firms' of hooligans, which essentially engaged in gang warfare. This behaviour, combined with high fences to keep fans off the pitch and standing areas, culminated in the Heysel Disaster of 1985 in which 39 Juventus fans were killed (resulting in the ban of English teams from European competition for five years) and the Hillsborough disaster, in which ''96'' Liverpool fans were killed, with the [[TearJerker youngest victim, Jon-Paul Gilhooley, being only ten years old.]] He was also the cousin of a nine-year-old boy who grew up to become legendary Liverpool and England captain Steven Gerrard, lauded by legends of the game as one of its finest players, who later said in his autobiography that he played for Jon-Paul. The latter, however, can mainly be blamed on poor policing and the police and ambulance service attempted to pass the buck to the fans with the support of the Thatcher government. The ''Sun'' newspaper responded by viciously slandering Liverpool fans, alleging that they looted and pissed on the dead. To this day, despite several apologies of dubious sincerity, the ''Sun'' sells very few papers in Liverpool. Over twenty years after the disaster, a documentary proved that you can't even give it away.

** Unsurprisingly, the Liverpool-Manchester United derby (considered the counterpart of Spain's El Clásico between Barcelona and Real Madrid) has been nicknamed 'El Vitriol', and it is aptly named. Unlike the more local Liverpool-Everton and (to an extent) the Manchester United-Manchester City derbies, there's no family ties among the supporters and the reaction of the two to one another is best described as vitriolic and/or pure hatred. Despite the recent decline in both sides fortunes, it is still one of the most fiercely contested match-ups in world football, watched by hundreds of millions of fans worldwide.

* UnnecessarilyCreepyRobot: Most of their designs seem to focus on being scarier rather than efficient.

** [[IncrediblyLamePun Happy LeBronukkah!]]

* Legendary [[UsefulNotes/AssociationFootball soccer]] manager Bill Shankly ([[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bill_Shankly link for baffled non-Brits]]) gave the page quote in a 1981 interview. It's also repeated as, "Someone said 'Football is a matter of life and death to you,' and I said 'Listen, it's more important than that'."

** A particularly tragic case of soccer being taken far too seriously in that part of the world; Andres Escobar, a Colombian national team player who was murdered following an accidental own-goal which saw Colombia kicked out of the 1994 World Cup. It's generally agreed that his death was a result of the match; some argue, however, that it wasn't just the work of a particularly ticked-off fan, but committed on the orders of drug dealers who lost out big on bets made on the game. Either way, it's a pretty harsh example of this trope. To this day, Andres is mourned by Colombian football fans, especially those who support Atletico Nacional - his favorite team in his lifetime.
*** To make things worse, the murderer allegedly shouted, "Goooooooal!" for every shot that he fired.

** Argentina, 16 February 2016. Referee Cesar Flores issued a red card in an amateur league match. Cut to a few moments later, where the player who was sent off [[DisproportionateRetribution has fetched his gun, which he uses to shoot Flores to death]].
*** Speaking of Argentina, fans of club football are known to be so batshit '''insane''' that they make even the most hardcore of European Ultras ''look modest'' in comparison. Derbys in the Argentine Premira have caused so many riots and casualties that opposing fans aren't even allowed into the home team's stadiums. The fiercest rivalry in Argentine football, Boca Juniors and River Plate a.k.a. the "Superclasico", are said to be incredibly intense affairs that riots are guaranteed to break out regardless of the result. In fact, both clubs made it to the 2018 UsefulNotes/CopaLibertadores Finals that [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2018_Copa_Libertadores_Finals#Violence_and_a_move_of_venue nearly ended in disaster]] because of a riot prior to the second leg, causing THAT game [[WhyFandomCantHaveNiceThings to be played outside of Argentina]], officially due to safety concerns. [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rIG13KfUSkI COPA90 recently did a Derby Day documentary of the Superclasico during the 2018 Copa Libertadores after massive fan demand]] and [[BeCarefulWhatYouWishFor ended up getting an event far more intense than they could handle]].
** Egyptian soccer fans are equally guilty of this trope. Case in point: In 2012, Al-Masry scored a 3-1 victory against top team Al-Alhy. [[http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/feb/01/egypt-football-pitch-invasion-dead?newsfeed=true Cue deadly riots by frenzied fans...]] and the population's disappointment at the police's supposed incompetence at handling the mad football fanatics quickly led to more riots, not over football, but over the assumed failure of the security forces. Easily one of the harshest examples of both this trope and the snowball effect.

*** In the 2002 World Cup, the Italian national team was eliminated in the Round of 16 by South Korea, in no small part thanks to bad officiation from referee [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Byron_Moreno Byron Moreno]] (later suspended by the Equadorian football association and investigated on charges of favoritism and even falsification of a report in a match between the Liga Deportiva Universitaria de Quito[[note]]at the time Moreno was a candidate in imminent elections for Quito's city council[[/note]] and the Barcelona). South Korean player Ahn Jung-hwan, who scored the decisive goal and at the time played for the Italian team Perugia A.C., was kicked out of the team, and Moreno was invited to Italy specifically to get booed and hit with rotten eggs and dedicated a song chanting for his death and the public toilets of an Italian town.
* Up until the early 1990's, English football fans were [[FootballHooligans infamous for rioting]], to the point where individual teams had 'firms' of hooligans, which essentially engaged in gang warfare. This behaviour, combined with high fences to keep fans off the pitch and standing areas, culminated in the Heysel Disaster of 1985 in which 39 Juventus fans were killed (resulting in the ban of English teams from European competition for five years) and the Hillsborough disaster, in which ''96'' Liverpool fans were killed, with the [[TearJerker youngest victim, Jon-Paul Gilhooley, being only ten years old.]] He was also the cousin of a nine year old boy who grew up to become legendary Liverpool and England captain Steven Gerrard, lauded by legends of the game as one of its finest players, who later said in his autobiography that he played for Jon-Paul. The latter, however, can mainly be blamed on poor policing and the police and ambulance service attempted to pass the buck to the fans with the support of the Thatcher government. The ''Sun'' newspaper responded by viciously slandering Liverpool fans, alleging that they looted and pissed on the dead. To this day, despite several apologies of dubious sincerity, the ''Sun'' sells very few papers in Liverpool. Over twenty years after the disaster, a documentary proved that you can't even give it away.

** Unsurprisingly, the Liverpool-Manchester United derby (considered the counterpart of Spain's El Clasico between Barcelona and Real Madrid) has been nicknamed 'El Vitriol', and it is aptly named. Unlike the more local Liverpool-Everton and (to an extent) the Manchester United-Manchester City derbies, there's no family ties among the supporters and the reaction of the two to one another is best described as vitriolic and/or pure hatred. Despite the recent decline in both sides fortunes, it is still one of the most fiercely contested match-ups in world football, watched by hundreds of millions of fans worldwide.

*** The notably vicious Barcelona-Madrid rivalry, culminating in the 'El Clasico' derbies watched by hundreds of millions worldwide, is rooted in what can be politely called political disputes going back decades or, arguably, centuries. Barcelona FC are based in the city of Barcelona, de facto capital of Catalonia, a part of Spain with its own language and fearsomely independent identity (it frequently attempts to secede, for one thing). Real Madrid is based in Madrid, capital of Spain as a whole and the region of Castile, which ended up dominating the rest, and was also the favoured club of military dictator Francisco Franco, who ruled until his death in 1975, and therefore seen as a tool of his regime and representative of his harsh repressive measures taken against the Catalonian language and identity. In this context, it is perhaps unsurprising that Portuguese winger Luis Figo, who moved from Barcelona to Real Madrid, had a pig's head thrown at him on his first return to Barcelona.

* Australians as a nation are, for the most part, utterly ''mad'' about almost all forms of sports (but especially the ones they're ''really'' good at, such as cricket and UsefulNotes/AustralianRulesFootball). Here's a fun exercise; watch any Australian commercial TV news broadcast and make note of how many of the stories relate to sport in some way. Bet it's over half. If you happen to live in Australia and ''aren't'' particularly interested in sport, it makes an otherwise wonderful country somewhat less wonderful to live in. It doesn't help that when they ''lose'' something that they normally win (as happened a couple of years ago, when England unexpectedly won the Ashes (a Cricket Test Series), or with recent grumblings about their winning less gold medals at the Beijing Olympics than expected), they can be pretty bad losers. Although strangely, unlike other places in the world with strong team loyalties, it's possible to wear shirts with slogans like "I support two teams: Collingwood and whoever is playing Brisbane" without being shanked. Try wearing a shirt saying "I support two teams: Manchester United and whoever is playing Liverpool" and see how long you last anywhere where the English Premier League is followed.
** The Ashes. It's one of the most fiercely contested (and smallest) trophies on the planet and it can be guaranteed that the supporters of whichever side wins will gloat about it incessantly until the next set of fixtures.

** All this for a race that lasts less than ''three minutes''.

** Martha Coakley found out the hard way just what SeriousBusiness this was, when it cost her a US Senate seat... [[EpicFail to a Republican, costing the Democrats supermajority]]. One particular problem was how adverse she was to actually campaigning for the election, which her opponent was quite comfortable doing. This trope tends to get play about one of her famous quotes regarding her loss - "What, did they expect me to shake hands outside of Fenway Park in the cold?" While the quote is more about her aversion to meeting with voters, the venue choice leads some to think that her disdain for the Red Sox caused her defeat. Compare with Massachusetts' other senator, John Kerry - while he has proven to be less than knowledgeable about the team itself, he does claim to be a fan, and usually gets a pass on his lack of knowledge.

* Philadelphia...Good Lord, Philadelphia! The city is infamous nationwide for its fanatical, insanely devoted fanbase when it comes to sports, ESPECIALLY where their football team, the Eagles, is concerned. Public support for the Eagles can be seen everywhere in the city during football season. Eagles fans have been dubbed the meanest fans in America as well as the scariest and most intimidating. Every year there are multiple cases of sports-related violence and destruction of property. People will attack each other, especially opposing fans, break store windows, tip cars, and climb poles with such frequency that the city has had to grease them up to try and curb this behavior (it doesn't always work). And this can be whether the fans are angry about a loss, or giddy about celebrating a victory, the latter being most notable in the Eagles' victory in Super Bowl LII. And if you're foolish enough to put down the Philly teams or the sports they play for in front of a fan, well, it was nice knowing you.
** Philly fans have thrown batteries at players, and ‘’booed Santa Claus.’’ They had a ‘’judicial court’’ under Veterans Stadium, their old stomping grounds, they were so bad.

*** RIDER Nation.

** In 1994 the Canucks lost Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Finals to the New York Rangers. [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1994_Stanley_Cup_riot Cue riot]].
*** [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2011_Stanley_Cup_Riot It got repeated]] when the Canucks lost Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Finals in 2011 to the Boston Bruins.

*** Incidentally, he received a ''16 minute'' standing ovation in 1996, and when he died in 2000 he received a state funeral broadcast across the country, with the Governor-General and prime minister attending. In Quebec, Richard was truly SeriousBusiness.

* OlderThanPrint: Chariot Racing in the Roman, and later, the Byzantine Empire. The hatred between the Reds, the Whites, the Greens, and the Blues was both comparable to modern day events like soccer riots. But then, in 532 AD Constantinople, an incident involving a botched execution of Blue and Green leaders for the murder of a citizen resulted in the two factions unifying and attempting, and almost succeeding, in ''overthrowing the Byzantine Empire itself''. The [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nika_riots Nika Riots]] were so bad that Justinian I attempted to flee the capitol, but his wife Theodora (a [[TheHighQueen High Queen]] who was born a low-class woman) stopped him at the last minute. The riots only stopped when his clever resident hawk, [[MagnificentBastard Flavius Belisarius]] no less, was recalled from retirement, along with two generals and several army divisions, lured the rioters into the Hippodrome, convinced the Blues to walk out, and killed ''thirty thousand'' people.

*** Ironically, current head coach Urban Meyer's initials are UM.

** In 1997, Tom Osborne retired from the position of head coach of the University of Nebraska–Lincoln (The Cornhuskers) football team. That single story took over the ''entire front page'' of most newspapers in Nebraska, plus large chunks of the rest of the news sections, plus a good chunk of the sports sections. OK, the guy had been head coach for 25 years, but come on people, priorities?

* High school basketball in Indiana, at least back in the day. Showcased well in the movie ''Hoosiers'' where the ''entire'' town came out to all the basketball games and followed the team everywhere they went. This was very much TruthInTelevision back when there wasn't much to do around a small town.

** When anti-apartheid protesters clashed with rugby fans over the [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1981_Springbok_Tour 1981 Springbok Tour]] it [[PowderKegCrowd sparked off the bloodiest rioting]] in the country's history. New Zealand subsequently didn't play South Africa again until August 1992.

** And in 2012, a U.S. Representative who was a diehard Carolina fan said, "I have said very publicly that if Duke was playing against the Taliban, then I'd have to pull for the Taliban."[[note]]He had already decided not to run for re-election.[[/note]]

** The hype is rarely if ever lived up to. The aforementioned draft expert Mel Kiper, Jr. and dozens of others said to be in the know praised [=JaMarcus=] Russell as "John Elway-like" and fully expected him to throw up huge numbers in the NFL. Russell actually did get drafted first, but... let's just say all those experts have quite a bit of egg on their face; Russell is likely to be remembered as the single biggest draft bust in NFL history, never performing with even moderate skill in spite of his illustrious college career. Conversely, one of the most enduring and successful NFL stars of the last decade, Creator/TomBrady, was a ''sixth round'' pick.

* A sports team losing their best player to free agency. When [=LeBron=] James left the Cleveland Cavaliers to sign with the Miami Heat, [[http://www.nba.com/cavaliers/news/gilbert_letter_100708.html the reaction]] [[http://deadspin.com/5582399/cleveland-fans-react-with-usual-grace-and-tact was about on par]] with expectations.

* Basketball and boxing are notoriously Serious Business in the Philippines. The Philippine Basketball Association, formed in 1975, is the second oldest professional basketball league in the world, only behind the UsefulNotes/NationalBasketballAssociation; the PBA came out from a league that started in the [[OlderThanTheyThink late 30s]]. It also helps that you can find a basketball court (full or half) on just about everywhere - from the streets to construction sites. Barangays (the smallest administrative unit in the country) are also known to hold basketball leagues every summer that draw in hundreds. "Multi-purpose halls," which are basically glorified basketball courts are the favorite projects of most city and town mayors, often [[ItsAllAboutMe bearing their name]] on the roof or on the backboards. That's how serious basketball is in this country; if it were a religion, it would easily upstage Roman Catholicism as the biggest one.

* Surprisingly enough, cycling is rather serious in Italy-enough that Bartali's 1948 victory played a part in ''averting a civil war''.[[note]]tensions in Italy were high after Palmiro Togliatti, leader of the Communists Party, had been shot and was comatose, the country was on the brink of civil war, and then people calmed down when Bartali won three stages in a row, gaining enough time for Togliatti to wake up and calm everyone down[[/note]]

** Even these days, football rivalries are taken ''very'' seriously, with derby games such as Liverpool vs Everton/Manchester United, Arsenal vs Tottenham/Manchester United, Manchester City vs [[RuleOfThree Manchester]] [[RunningGag United]], Sunderland vs Newcastle and Aston Villa vs Birmingham City capable of making or breaking a player or manager's career. Accordingly, they tend to be scrappy affairs - Liverpool vs Everton, the Merseyside Derby, has yielded the most red cards in Premier League history, for instance, and heavily policed. Perversely, it should be noted that as 'the Friendly Derby', as it used to be known, it is also one of the few derbies that doesn't enforce total fan segregation and the crowds tend to be relatively well-behaved, since there are usually members of the same family supporting both sides. As recently as the FA Cup Final of 1984, both groups of fans freely mingled, chanting 'Merseyside, Merseyside' and 'Are you watching Manchester?'. Despite the recent intensifying of the rivalry, as recently as 2002, a player called Abel Xavier moved from one team to the other in the middle of the season, playing for Everton in the first derby, then Liverpool in the return match. Astonishingly, he is still alive today. With that notable exception out of the way, wearing the wrong shirt in the wrong stand, for instance, is pretty much a suicide note. And let's not even discuss Millwall [[HateSink 'No one likes us, we don't care']] FC...

** A particularly tragic case of soccer being taken far too seriously in that part of the world; Andres Escobar, a Colombian national team player who was murdered following an accidental own-goal which saw Colombia kicked out of the 1994 World Cup. It's generally agreed that his death was a result of the match; some argue, however, that it wasn't just the work of a particularly ticked-off fan, but committed on the orders of drug dealers who lost out big on bets made on the game. Either way, it's a pretty harsh example of this trope.

* In many parts of the South, the Holy Trinity is God, Jesus and Creator/DaleEarnhardt.

** The legendarily competitive [[FanNickname Shanks]] was a goldmine of quotes to this effect:
*** To Liverpool player Tommy Smith: "Take that bandage off. And what do you mean about YOUR knee? It's Liverpool's knee!"
*** And about local rivals Everton: "If Everton were playing at the bottom of the garden, I'd pull the curtains."
*** "I know this is a sad occasion but I think that Dixie would be amazed to know that even in death he could draw a bigger crowd than Everton can on a Saturday Afternoon." For context, this was ''[[CrossesTheLineTwice at a man's funeral.]]''
*** And on a cup semi-final in 1971 against Everton. "Sickness would not have kept me away from this one. If I'd been dead, I would have had them bring the casket to the ground, prop it up in the stands and cut a hole in the lid."
*** "In my time at Liverpool we always said we had the best two teams in Merseyside, Liverpool and Liverpool reserves."

* UsefulNotes/AssociationFootball/Soccer vs [[UsefulNotes/AmericanFootball American Football]] [[AmericansHateTingle debates]] are very serious at least on the internet. Both sides [[strike:are rather respectful in their debate and employ eloquent and well-researched arguments]] have {{Flame War}}s about each other's favored "football" with complete FanDumb behavior and absolutely pathetic and not researched arguments to why their sport is better. It would be easier if both sides just said "I just don't like that other football" and be on with it, but that's why it's here in the first place. Calling the former sport "soccer" is a BerserkButton to Association Football fans. Ironically, in a research mistake by these two sides, [[AwfulTruth the word was actually coined by a Brit and not an American]].

** Spanish fans are less violent, but still fairly racist - Barcelona fullback Dani Alves, a black Brazilian, had a banana thrown at him. He picked it up, peeled it, and took a bite, before chucking it off the pitch.

* Up until the early 1990's, English football fans were [[FootballHooligans infamous for rioting]], to the point where individual teams had 'firms' of hooligans, which essentially engaged in gang warfare. This behaviour, combined with high fences to keep fans off the pitch and standing areas, culminated in the Heysel Disaster of 1985 in which 39 Juventus fans were killed (resulting in the ban of English teams from European competition for five years) and the Hillsborough disaster, in which ''96'' Liverpool fans were killed, with the [[TearJerker youngest victim, Jon-Paul Gilhooley, being only ten years old.]] He was also the cousin of a nine year old boy who grew up to become legendary Liverpool and England captain Steven Gerrard, lauded by legends of the game as one of its finest players, [[CrowningMomentOfHeartwarming who later said in his autobiography that he played for Jon-Paul]]. The latter, however, can mainly be blamed on poor policing and the police and ambulance service attempted to pass the buck to the fans with the support of the Thatcher government. The ''Sun'' newspaper responded by viciously slandering Liverpool fans, alleging that they looted and pissed on the dead. To this day, despite several apologies of dubious sincerity, the ''Sun'' sells very few papers in Liverpool. Over twenty years after the disaster, a documentary proved that you can't even give it away.

** Spanish fans are less violent, but still fairly racist - Barcelona fullback Dani Alves, a black Brazilian, had a banana thrown at him. In a CrowningMomentOfAwesome, he picked it up, peeled it, and took a bite, before chucking it off the pitch.

* The Welsh treat rugby and rugby players with a similar reverence, with football coming a very distant second to rugby in the otherwise football mad British Isles (though this might be changing, somewhat, with the unexpected recent success of the Wales football team, which broke into the top 10 of the World Rankings in October 2015). And while Wales isn't quite as absurdly successful as New Zealand, they are always considered to be contenders for the Six Nations title [[note]] The Six Nations is an annual competition comprised of England, Wales, Scotland, Ireland, France [[MyFriendsAndZoidberg and Italy]], generally considered to be the best teams in the northern hemisphere - though Italy, while much improved, [[ButtMonkey is still considered to be an opportunity to rack up the points by the other teams]] [[/note]] and are frequent winners of [[CrowningMomentOfAwesome the Grand Slam, achieved only by beating every other team in the Six Nations, including 2003 World Cup Winners and 2007 Finalists England, 2011 Finalists France and Ireland]], being the most frequent winners in the 21st century.

** Martha Coakley found out the hard way just what SeriousBusiness this was, when it cost her a US Senate seat... [[EpicFail to a ''Republican...'' costing the Democrats supermajority]]. One particular problem was how adverse she was to actually campaigning for the election, which her opponent was quite comfortable doing. This trope tends to get play about one of her famous quotes regarding her loss - "What, did they expect me to shake hands outside of Fenway Park in the cold?" While the quote is more about her aversion to meeting with voters, the venue choice leads some to think that her disdain for the Red Sox caused her defeat. Compare with Massachusetts' other senator, John Kerry - while he has proven to be less than knowledgeable about the team itself, he does claim to be a fan, and usually gets a pass on his lack of knowledge.

** Philly fans have thrown batteries at players, and ‘’booed Santa Claus.’’ They had a ‘’judicial court’’ under their stadium at one point, they were so bad.

** Even better: Steeler Nation. (Which was given its name in 1975, as the Other Wiki documents. You may note that's before "the beginning of the '80s.)

*** On the flip side, they have such a large hatedom, it is almost hard to believe there is a single American who follows Football and does not care about them. Double both when they actually have a chance at winning something.

* The Serious Business of sports was mused upon in a Sunday(?) comic of ''Frazz'', wherein Frazz and his cycling partner concluded that the unimportance of sports made them the most important thing there is.

* Basketball and boxing are notoriously Serious Business in the Philippines. The Philippine Basketball Association, formed in 1975, is the second oldest professional basketball league in the world, only behind the NationalBasketballAssociation; the PBA came out from a league that started in the [[OlderThanTheyThink late 30s]]. It also helps that you can find a basketball court (full or half) on just about everywhere - from the streets to construction sites. Barangays (the smallest administrative unit in the country) are also known to hold basketball leagues every summer that draw in hundreds. "Multi-purpose halls," which are basically glorified basketball courts are the favorite projects of most city and town mayors, often [[ItsAllAboutMe bearing their name]] on the roof or on the backboards. That's how serious basketball is in this country; if it were a religion, it would easily upstage Roman Catholicism as the biggest one.

*** On the flip side, they have such a large hatedom, it is almost hard to believe there is a single American who follows Football and does not care about them. Double both when they actually have a chance at winning something

** And then there was the controversy when former University of Southern California Trojans and current New Orleans Saints running back Reggie Bush, who had without a doubt the most electric season the year that he won the Heisman (had 2,600 all-purpose yards (rushing, receiving, returning, and passing), and 18 touchdowns (15 from rushing, two from receiving and one as a punt returner) and broke out runs of SportsCenter Top 10 Plays quality almost every game) was declared retroactively ineligible as a player for the year he won the award over accepting illegal benefits. Bush and USC airmailed both copies of the trophy they received back to the Heisman Trust, who decided not to declare a winner for 2005. But this didn't stop sports journalists from awarding former Texas Longhorns and Tennessee Titans quarterback Vince Young, who ironically tore Reggie's Trojans a new one in the 2006 Rose Bowl the next month to decide the national championship, the trophy. And to make things worse, [[UnPerson Reggie's name has been stricken from all record books that he is mentioned in, all awards he received that year were taken away, and any images or mentions of him in USC's athletic facilities have been removed.]]

* Surfing. In Polynesian culture, surfing has deep cultural and spiritual associations, and many surfers find it annoying when tourists treat it as a mere pastime. In Hawaii in particular, there are "locals only" beaches, and informal clubs and gangs that make sure they stay that way. In Southern California localism has even led to violence on occasion.

* IceHockey. People who think Canadians are always polite and well-behaved have clearly never been in Vancouver during a Canucks game.

* Australian UsefulNotes/{{cricket}} legend and WorldWarTwo fighter pilot Keith Miller put things into perspective when he was asked how he handled the pressure of international cricket. His reply: "Pressure? A Messerschmitt up your arse is pressure. Playing cricket is not."

** When Brazil lost the last and decisive match ([[EarlyInstallmentWeirdness there was no final]]) of the 1950 [[FIFAWorldCup FIFA World Cup]], two fans in the stadium committed suicide by throwing themselves off a stand.

* Keep the idea of "stadium justice" in mind when going to another team's arena to cheer for your team. If you cause trouble (and depending on who the opponent is, they ''will'' be unwelcoming!), you're going to be sorry, even the security will pick favors.

** During one of the recent matchups, the city of Ann Arbor sent their own police officers along to protect their fans in Columbus. **Legendary coach Woody Hayes reportedly went on a recruiting trip to Michigan with an assistant coach, who noted that they were about to run out of fuel. Woody was adamant that they would NOT fill up in Michigan or spend a dime there, and they had to coast across the state border, barely making it to the first gas station on the other side.

** During one of the recent matchups, the city of Ann Arbor sent their own police officers along to protect their fans in Columbus. Legendary coach Woody Hayes reportedly went on a recruiting trip to Michigan with an assistant coach, who noted that they were about to run out of fuel. Woody was adamant that they would NOT fill up in Michigan or spend a dime there, and they had to coast across the state border, barely making it to the first gas station on the other side. In tribute to Hayes and his absolute hate for all things Michigan, Ohioans will often say "That Team/State Up North" instead of Michigan. Even the school and team's Facebook pages do this, along with covering ANY "M" on campus the week before "The Game".

** During one of the recent matchups, the city of Ann Arbor sent their own police officers along to protect their fans in Columbus. Legendary coach Woody Hayes reportedly went on a recruiting trip to Michigan with an assistant coach, who noted that they were about to run out of fuel. Woody was adamant that they would NOT fill up in Michigan or spend a dime there, and they had to coast across the state border, barely making it to the first gas station on the other side.

* Up until the early 1990's, English football fans were [[FootballHooligans infamous for rioting]], to the point where individual teams had 'firms' of hooligans, which essentially engaged in gang warfare. This behaviour, combined with high fences to keep fans off the pitch and standing areas, culminated in the Heysel Disaster of 1985 in which 39 Juventus fans were killed (resulting in the ban of English teams from European competition for five years) and the Hillsborough disaster, in which ''96'' Liverpool fans were killed, with the [[TearJerker youngest victim, Jon-Paul Gilhooley, being only nine years old.]] He was also the cousin of a little boy who grew up to become legendary Liverpool and England captain Steven Gerrard, [[CrowningMomentOfHeartwarming who later said in his autobiography that he plays for Jon-Paul]]. The latter, however, can mainly be blamed on poor policing and the police attempted to pass the buck to the fans with the support of the Thatcher government. The ''Sun'' newspaper responded by viciously slandering Liverpool fans, alleging that they looted and pissed on the dead. To this day, despite several apologies of dubious sincerity, the ''Sun'' sells very few papers in Liverpool. Over twenty years after the disaster, a documentary proved that you can't even give it away.

*** On a lighter note, an Egyptian joke holds that Egypt is a country of three religions: Islam, Christianity, and football.[[note]]Theoretically, Egypt's legal system recognizes Islam, Christianity, and Judaism, but virtually all of the Jews left/were forced to leave for [[ArabIsraeliConflict obvious reasons]] in the 1950s and 60s.[[/note]]