Happiness, Humiliation, and Heart: Real Life as an Underdog
Most underdog stories aren’t the ones you watch in the movies. For every tale with a Hollywood happy ending, there are hundreds featuring only unedifying failure and unrelenting woe…
This is the introduction to December’s edition of the Off-Field newsletter, curating monthly tales from the fringes of sport and society. Read it here.
The scrum-half’s eyes bulged in anticipation as he launched the ball back to his fly-half, who’d scan the crowd for the two most fulfilling seconds of his career. The two seconds that would see the clock tick past 80 minutes. Then he booted the ball towards buoyant heads. The referee’s whistle sparked gum-shield grins as athletic giants transformed into leaping infants. Tearful eyes suggested they knew what would soon await them. National hero status. Autographs in airports. A lifetime of free bar tabs.
This was the most joyful moment from a formidable Rugby World Cup in France just a couple of months ago, but it’s not – as you might have expected – a scene from the final. Nor from any of the epic knockout matches, as it happens.
It was Portugal securing their first-ever World Cup win over an accomplished Fiji side who’d still pip Australia to a quarter-final spot.
Portugal has a formidable pedigree in football but in rugby, they remain what sportswriters are contractually obliged to refer to as “minnows”. Put it this way, their captain earns his living as a dentist. This was only their second-ever World Cup appearance, having lost every match they played the last time around in 2007.
The unbridled elation of the underdog is infectious, and 2023 has been a generous year for spreading such joy. At the Women’s World Cup in the summer, co-hosts Australia and New Zealand were shocked by two sides – Nigeria and the Philippines – unaccustomed to success on the biggest stage. At the Cricket World Cup, a fearless Afghanistan side beat defending champions England while a much-fancied South African outfit was swatted away by a youthful Netherlands team brimming with Dutch vim.
And the underdog tag isn’t reserved for the young and inexperienced. In the States, Pittsburgh Pirates infielder Drew Maggi made his Major League Baseball debut, aged 33, after 13 years and over 1,000 games in the minor leagues. “It’s the best strikeout I ever had,” he said, after receiving a standing ovation despite his failure to add to the score. “Anything is possible. Never give up.”
Everyone loves an underdog story but it’s often a heavily edited, romanticised version of what happens in real life. We get the 1%. The fully-developed character arc with a Ryan Reynolds smile and a Hollywood happy ending. But the underdogs, they live the 100%. Their script comes with blooper reels, stilted dialogue, and unfinished scenes. Nobody shouts “That’s a wrap” at a convenient moment.
And so the other side of being the underdog is painful, unedifying, and humiliating. It’s New Zealand 108 Portugal 13 at the 2007 World Cup. It’s the Philippines women losing 21–0 to China. It’s Drew Maggi being demoted back to the Bush leagues two weeks after his MLB debut. For Gibraltar, seven years after celebrating their ascent to FIFA status, it’s suffering a record 14–0 loss to France just last month.
This month’s Off-Field features underdog stories from both sides of the narrative. Let’s call it the shit and the shine. Some who enjoyed their 1% moment, some who are still striving for it, and some whose glory never came.
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