Villains.
Every good drama needs one and sporting theatre is no different.
Football, in particular, has an inherent pantomime quality about it, with many fans as ready to boo an opponent as they are to cheer on their heroes.
More so in some cases.
But who are these reviled characters that inspire such resentment?
For the sake of convenience, let’s split them into three categories:
Firstly, there is the opponent who commits some misdeed to incur the wrath, be it a foul, a piece of gamesmanship, or perhaps a gesture to the crowd.
And that misdeed does not need to have been committed recently either; the outrage can simmer on through the years without losing any of its potency.
Secondly, there are some players whose very presence on the field antagonises sections of the opposition’s support, whose main offence seems to be nothing more than the fact that they are highly-skilled and have the ability to hurt the teams they play against.
And thirdly, there are players that individual fans simply take a dislike to.
It might be a player who scored the last-minute goal that scuppered your particularly lucrative multi-bet, someone who offends your sense of how the game should be played, or an individual that irritates you for reasons that you just cannot explain in any rational way.
Sound familiar?
From a Glory fans’ perspective, it certainly wouldn’t be hard to make a case for Besart Berisha falling into the first category, Archie Thompson slotting firmly into the second and then for the third, well, it could literally be anyone.
For it’s a deeply personal issue this one.
Maybe Sasho Petrovski really got your goat back in the old NSL days, or perhaps Danny Tiatto made your blood boil during the early years of the Hyundai A-League.
Or have Fernando Brandan’s more recent antics for Melbourne City left a sour taste in your mouth?
So, with the key disclaimer that it’s all done in good spirits and acknowledging that the game would be a far duller place without them, we’re asking the question, who is your biggest football villain?
Let us know on our Facebook page or via Twitter.
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