Briefcase Posted September 21, 2015 Share Posted September 21, 2015 Football has had plenty down the years, whether thats Wigan beating Man City or Wimbledon beating Liverpool or Birmingham beating Arsenal or even Greece winning the euros in 2004 (and Porto winning the champions league) but then you could also argue that they had to get to the finals in the first place and in some cases its the luck of the draw that gets you there.  I have no idea about Rugby though. There's been a few shocking F1 wins down the years but as with football you can have lots of luck fall your way such as weather, safety cars, mechanical or driver errors. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Four Horsemen Posted September 21, 2015 Share Posted September 21, 2015 Aldaniti winning the National in 1981, or Foinavon winning in 1967 would both have to be up there. Â Football wise, God so many: Â Cameroon beating (literally the living shit out of some of the players) Argentina in 1990, still love the look of innocence on the defenders face after this "tackle" Â https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KeRlJJbtdHc Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members JNLister Posted September 21, 2015 Paid Members Share Posted September 21, 2015 Obviously I'm biased as a Liverpool fan, but I don't really buy the 88 Cup Final as an all-time great upset. Yes, the wider story of a team going from fourth division to Cup winners in five years is outlandish, but they were a top-flight team. They'd already played Liverpool four times in the 1st division and pulled off one win and one draw. They finished the season in sixth place, so it's not even like they were a shitty team by 1st division standards. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Porkchopcash Posted September 21, 2015 Share Posted September 21, 2015 Greece winning the Euros in 2004 was quite the upset. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members PunkStep Posted September 21, 2015 Paid Members Share Posted September 21, 2015 It was the worst upset as well, without a doubt the dullest and most negative football team I've ever seen win a trophy. Look at the state of the team now, the shitarses. Â Football is a hard one, domestically anyway as you always get upsets- which makes it hard to determine what is actually considered an upset. North Korea VS Italy in '66 and USA VS England in '50 are definitely up there and have clearly stood the test of time as they're often referenced today. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WyattSheepMask Posted September 21, 2015 Share Posted September 21, 2015 (edited) With every Rugby Union World Cup, there's always at least one freak result usually involving New Zealand, Australia or South Africa were they put a 100+ point pasting on some poor sods. I think a lot of people may have thought that the Japan game could have been that result, it just goes to show that anything can happen on the day and that's what's great about sport. Â Being a Rugby League fan, Sheffield Eagles beating Wigan in the 1998 Challenge Cup final was a massive upset. Wigan were still by far the best team in the country (some would say the world) and had been so dominant for so long and it looked it would stay that way, their side contained some of the best players in that era. And little Sheffield Eagles go and beat them after taking the lead and never losing it. Edited September 21, 2015 by WyattSheepMask Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Briefcase Posted September 21, 2015 Share Posted September 21, 2015 Jenson Button's F1 title championship win was quite an upset in the sense that the team went into the season after Honda pulled out and they went with Brawn as the name. I know rules change and throw the odd surprise but no one saw that coming at the time. Made better by the fact Jenson won as well. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
patiirc Posted September 21, 2015 Share Posted September 21, 2015 Jenson Button's F1 title championship win was quite an upset in the sense that the team went into the season after Honda pulled out and they went with Brawn as the name. I know rules change and throw the odd surprise but no one saw that coming at the time. Made better by the fact Jenson won as well. His drive and win at Canada2011, could be said to be a biggest upset. Utterly phenomenal drive. Last to 1st in 30 laps... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members bAzTNM#1 Posted September 22, 2015 Paid Members Share Posted September 22, 2015 (edited) Aldaniti winning the National in 1981 Â Yeah, the horse nearly had a bullet put in its head a few months before and the jockey Bob Champion nearly died of Cancer. Excellent John Hurt film "Champions" covers it all. Edited September 22, 2015 by bAzTNM#1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Glen Quagmire Posted September 22, 2015 Share Posted September 22, 2015 (edited) What makes Japan's win over South Africa so special IMO is that not only did they beat them, but they also put 34 points past them and declined the opportunity to take a still well deserved draw by opting for scrums rather than take an easy penalty kick. They didn't play a chokingly defensive game to aim to win on something like 6-3, nor did they panic each time South Africa scored. Winning the game at the death was the icing on the cake. Â With soccer, you can as a weaker side very often try and pull down the shutters and hope you get a break that you take advantage off to go 1-0 up and then keep 11 men in your own half up to the final whistle. That's not something that can be done as easily in say rugby. Â The closest upset I can think of is Ireland's shock victory over Pakistan in the 2007 World Cup. While Ireland then and still has a few players that are reasonably decent, if you played that tie 50 times you'd have expected Pakistan to win 50 times. Edited September 22, 2015 by Glen Quagmire Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members Lion_of_the_Midlands Posted September 22, 2015 Paid Members Share Posted September 22, 2015 I'm a big horse racing fan but I don't think you can count upsets in races because the horse doesn't know he isn't supposed to win or what his odds are. The Japanese rugby team know who the Saffa's are and what they have accomplished as a team. Â For me the biggest upset was Lloyd Honeyghan beating Don Curry. Curry was pound-for-pound best at the time and Lloyd destroyed him. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Keith Houchen Posted September 22, 2015 Share Posted September 22, 2015 Yep, Honeyghan was the first one that sprung to mind for me. I remember it happening at the time, or at least seeing it on the news in the morning and was flabbergasted. I thought he had no chance at all, but to batter him the way he did? Unbelievable. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Four Horsemen Posted September 24, 2015 Share Posted September 24, 2015 Â Aldaniti winning the National in 1981 Â Yeah, the horse nearly had a bullet put in its head a few months before and the jockey Bob Champion nearly died of Cancer. Excellent John Hurt film "Champions" covers it all. Â That is one of the top 5 films that have me blubbing like a good 'un. Â Truly amazing story. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pier Six Brawler Posted September 24, 2015 Share Posted September 24, 2015 Botham's Ashes. maybe not an upset from the beginning of the game but for England to win from the position they were in was incredible - and dubious IMO since some of the Aussie's bet on themselves to lose after seeing how long the odds were after England's first innings. I strongly suspect the Davis - Taylor world snooker final in 1985 was a work too, just worked out too perfectly for everyone involved and Barry Hearn ended up controlling snooker for years after. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members bAzTNM#1 Posted September 25, 2015 Paid Members Share Posted September 25, 2015 (edited) Don't think the "Miracle on Ice" has been mentioned. Lots of good documentaries about it (from both the Americans and Russian viewpoints) on the American Netflix. Edited September 25, 2015 by bAzTNM#1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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