In all seriousness though, do you believe in the revenge of the sporting gods?
I used to be sceptical, but now I’m not so sure...
Essentially it goes that the penance a club pays for years of dominance is years- decades even- of heartbreak, being rubbish or being a banter club:
In the 70’s and 80’s, Liverpool were the kings of English (and European) football- then went 30 years without winning a single league title and several false dawns/ near misses along the way while their most hated rivals down the M62 racked up the major trophies and the glory...
That club, who dominated the first 20 years of the Premier League, signed off 2022/23 having gone a decade without another league title. PLUS the ignominy of suffering a record- equaling 7-0 destruction to their most hated rivals up the M62. PLUS being unable to stop their cross-town rivals, for so many decades their inferior neighbours, beating them in the F.A Cup Final en route to matching United’s storied 1999 feat by claiming The Treble...
Arsenal went undefeated in 2003/04 and won the league at the home ground of their most hated rivals- and their invincible season was recognised with a unique golden trophy. But since then? You could argue the fan channel has become more famous than the club, and the less said about the last 2 months of the 2022/23 season, the better...
If you want to see the future for all-conquering Man City, look at Chelsea.
Yet- I believe the revenge of the sporting gods also works in reverse. What is robbed, is paid back later with interest:
The Socceroos for decades couldn’t qualify for the World Cup, even campaigns where they didn’t suffer a single defeat. It was like they were cursed. But since 2006 they’ve qualified every campaign, even campaigns like the most recent one where you thought surely we were sitting out Qatar. Yet against all odds, somehow we qualified, and somehow it turned out to be our best ever World Cup as a nation...
Or (in the A League). Take the Melbourne Victory. Hahahahaha. That’s all that needs to be said.
Then there’s CCM-
I still remember around 2009, a Jest fan rubbishing the Mariners and labelling CCM as “the A-League finals equivalent of the bye” (amazing how a single rather fortuitous GF win makes some people think it earns them the right to carry on like swinging dicks). Indeed for years it looked as if, in the Grand Final, CCM were destined to be the gallant nearly men. Good enough to make it, but not good (or lucky) enough to win it...
Since those days, the most the Jest have had to brag about is 8-2. But this season alone, CCM:
- Knocked The Jest out of finals contention again (how many times is that now?)
- Enjoyed amazing support at home and respectable support at all their NSW away games (remember when they used to bag our support?)
But perhaps most importantly:
- Enjoyed perhaps the most emphatic Grand Final victory seen in A-League history, and arguably one of the biggest underdog victories seen in Australian sporting history.
The sporting gods taketh, true, but by goodness do they give back in spades