What makes the underdog so loveable?
PHOTO: By Fauzan Saari on Unsplash
Ah yes, the humble underdog.
The phenomenon of a team or an individual overcoming the odds and succeeding is one of the most glamourised sports storylines.
From Buster Douglas proving the 42-1 odds wrong and knocking out Mike Tyson in 1990 to the Cleveland Cavaliers becoming the only NBA team to recover from a 3-1 deficit in the 2016 NBA Finals, underdog success stories are cherished in athletes and fans memories alike.
But what spurs us, as sports fans, to root for the plucky underdog?
According to University of Canterbury lecturer Doctor Brad Miles, the want for a result against the status quo plays a major role, especially from the perspective of a neutral fan.
“I think a main driver of underdog support is the effects of unexpected events,” Miles said.
“Successes and windfalls that happen unexpectedly often come with greater psychological reward than successes that we expect.”
Miles said scientific theories explain our relationships with underdogs. We feel a sense of resentment toward teams or athletes who have been recently dominant, which fuels support for the side battling against them.
Additionally, Miles said many a sport fan can empathise with the struggles the underdog has to go through. As a neutral watching a game, there is far less relatability to a dominant, heavy favourite as the level of struggle isn’t there.
Put simply, people love getting behind a team they can relate to. Everyday life is full of struggles, so when picking a side to root for when you have no skin in the game and one of your own favourite teams aren’t involved, most times you’ll find the fan rooting for the team who has endured more hardship.
As a result, the pure power of a successful underdog story can catapult an athlete or a franchise permanently.
Just look at Leicester City - after defying quite literally 5000-1 odds to win the Premier League in the 2015-2016 season, their popularity rose beyond exponential levels.
Stats don’t lie, and Leicester City’s social media numbers prove it. Before their championship season, their combined social media (Instagram, Facebook and Twitter) following sat at 473,000.
After? Over 5.5 million.
Even now, that number reads 22.8 million, placing them 7th in the Premier League in terms of social media following, even though they’re facing relegation.
The New Zealand Warriors’ 2023 season is another great example. It demonstrated how a perennial underdog winning games they weren’t supposed to creates an explosion in fandom.
Cast your mind back two years. Hearing or seeing the phrase ‘Up the Wahs’ was a daily event. Trains were being graffitied in Auckland in the height of the mania, jerseys for the 2024 season sold out in a whopping 18 minutes and there was genuine discussion if their fandom could reach the level or even overtake that of the mighty All Blacks.
Underdogs are an essential portion of sports. Inevitably, one team or athlete will be favoured to win more than the other, but when the gritty, never-say-die attitude of the underdog overpowers the odds, it creates moments that are etched into sporting history.
And the fans will come back, salivating for more.
Every. Single. Time.