The Top five times 'good' did not triumph over 'evil'

i think a good recent one is New Zealand winning the Rugby League World Cup in 08 after Australia DOMINATED everybody in the rounds and semis. WE WAS ROBBED I TELLS YA!!!

1. When the North Sydney Bears were lied to - "you must move to Gosford"; 2. When the North Sydney Bears were put into administration when they were actually cashed up. 3. When the North Sydney Bears were railroaded into a "merger" with Manly - then the North Sydney Leagues Club put in $10 million; 4. When John Singleton decided to drop any support for the Central Coast Bears and keep the Gosford stadium management rights - even though this was never in their agreement; 5. When the NRL decided to give any club $8 million to relocate to Gosford and has not, for 10 years, given the Central Coast Bears any chance at all. Finally, when the likes of Gould, Hadley, Jones, Vautin etc, all well aware of what happened, sat back and did nothing to help protect an establishment club. Shame, rugby league, shame.

Guy, My comments of course, as I believe are most of the comments in this thread, were tongue in cheek. Apart from the one about United. And you're dead right. It's their fans that turn your stomach, but I just love it, love it when somebody makes Ferguson bitch and whinge. If I was in power for a day, I would shoot every Manchester United fan with an Irish accent. And that's not tongue in cheek. I'm deadly serious.

I was at Lansdowne Road when Australia snatched that last gasp win in the 1991 QF. I can still remember with perfect clarity the confused, baffled silence that fell over the ground quickly followed by utter heartache. Still I don't think it's a case of good losing to evil as that Wallabies team is the greatest I have ever witnessed in my life. Horan was a genius and a joy to watch, Campo was and still is a prick but just unbelievably gifted. I turned up the next week to watch them dispatch the ABs with clinical precision. Those Wallabies were one-offs. Dublin Dave I also hail from our fair city and I have to ay I'm on the opposite side of the fence when it comes to Man Utd v Bayern. The German team was terrifically arrogant (which was part of their charm in a funny way). United were anything but and on the night they looked terrible until that last crazy three minutes. United's arrogance stems mainly from their fans not the team itself. One that also springs to mind is Jean van de Velde (sp?) losing the British Open at Carnoustie to no-one else but his evil mental frailties. That was horrific to watch, an obviously good, decent man mentally imploding live on TV and throwing away his chance at sporting immortality. Danny Green losing to Anthony Mundine - surely that's the personification of good losing to evil. Anyone who lost to Marion Jones over the years, they will never get their time on the podium back. Cheating b*tch.

Hmm. Nobody's mentioned underarm bowling yet. Come on, Kiwis. That one must still be hurting. :) One of my top ones would be Australia beating Ireland in the 1991 World Cup quarter final with a last minute try. In the previous Five Nations Ireland had been the most attractive but least successful side, scoring more tries than the Grand Slam winners that year but finishing bottom without a win. In the quarter final they came back from being way behind to an arrogant Australian side who were cruising and showboating in the best Campese manner by snatching a lead with a great try with only a few minutes to go. Then a missed clearance kick gave Australia the platform from which Michael Lynagh scored the winner. Australia won the cup that year through judicious use of pcyhological warfare, bullshitting the English into playing a running game which played right into the ultra defensive Aussie team's hands. Pure evil. Also Manchester United's win over Bayern Munich in the 1999 European Cup final. Any win for United is a victory for Devil Worshippers but that one particularly hurt. I've a personal attachment to the lovely city of Munich I also hated it any time some hairy lesbian beat the fragrant Gabriella Sabatini. :)

5. Floyd Landis 2006 Tour (though in the end Oscar P got his title, but alas all too late) 4. NBL v Canberra Cannons (taking the licence off a league legend that ends up in Singapore via the Hunter - shame) 3. Australian Cricket team v just about anyone (pure evil those blokes) 2. Organised international sports bodies (FIFA, UCI, IOC etc etc) v athletes who just want to get on and play 1. Video Ref v Raiders (any time, any game - evil always wins over our poor green machine) No chip on the shoulder about the 'administration v our local teams' here ;)

If it had been anyone - anyone - but Goran I would have been gutted for rafter in 01, however if ever a bloke deserved a win and in those circumstances it was this guy, an eccentric and likeable fella. As Andrew Jones said above, the real shame was Rafter not beating Sampras the year before!

From an NZ rugby fan's perspective the great Auckland teams of the late 80s and early 90s provided many instances of evil triumphing. I remember a few games where they got a good lead and towards the end of the game infringed with impunity knowing the team they were playing needed to score a try rather than kick a penalty (this was before the introduction of the sin bin for repeat infringing). The penalty try Auckland received against Otago (though probably deserved) that effectively gave them them the title in (I think) 1989 or 1990 or so only added to the evil triumph. Ironically they ended up losing to Waikato in the first NPC semi-final series in part due to some blatant cheating from Graham Purvis. Steve Walsh's one sided reffing that allowed Ben Blair to score a late try against a 14 man Wellington team a few years back to allow Canterbury to retain the shield also qualifies.

Don't forget Rafter also had Sampras a set down and netted a relatively straightforward (or him) forehand volley with Sampras defending break point in the second set. Had he got that one over the net, he could have beaten Pistol Pete as well. Shame he didn't!

Ivanisovic got there on a huge serve/volley game, the type that used to rule on grass but has all but disappeared. He might have been the last of the breed. Rafter was a bit unlucky to meet him when he was on fire for the last time.

Fantastic responses troops - please keep them coming. A few reactions so far: 1. as a Swans fan Good has beaten Evil more often than not in recent years, so can't complain. However agree that no-one likes to see Hawthorn and Collingwood win - perhaps the cheering of their fans should be construed as a cry for help! 2. Kingston Town v Gurner's Lane is a great call. I actually thought of it during the week then forgot it when I was writing the column. It would displace Liverpool and Michael Thomas at #3. (Melbournites would know that Gurner's Lane was named after the alley behind the Australian Club there; the horse was owned by a syndicate of club members and the win is commemorated with a display in the foyer of the club to this day) 3. Love Goran, but was unashamedly going for Our Pat that day 4. Good being beaten by Evil in rugby league for me as a kid was the constant failure of Western Suburbs and the signing of all their marquee players (Lamb, Boyd, Ribot etc) by other clubs, plus the very same T Lamb knocking out Ellery Hanley in the 1988 Grand Final. However, much like some Geelong fans I know, the Wests Tigers' victory has put my Rugby League karma in the black forever. (As to the Bulldogs, they too lost me forever in 2004, although the docking of 37 points did make me chuckle.) 5. My top Rugby heartbreak would be Steve Tuynman's disallowed try in the Second Test in 1986; the ABs storming back in 1988 to a 14-all draw would also go close. The Farr-Jones, Kearns and Eales eras fortunately provided so many moments where Evil was defeated by Good. 6. Love the 1982 World Cup reference - the list of Top 5 All-Time Azure-Shirted Match-fixers would naturally be captained by Paolo Rossi

Sorry, what I said was light hearted in intent and from an unabashed Rafter fan's perspective. I was certainly not intended to be recieved in any other way.. Perhaps I need to clarify. Rafter won at Flushing Meadows in 97 & 98 but had never done that well at Wimbledon. He made the Semis for the first time in 99, where he lost to Agassi, and the Final in 2000, where he lost to Sampras. It seemed he was never going to achieve that particular long held aim. 2001 he played some beautiful tennis and was the red hot favourite going into the final - and, at least in mine and many of my friends eyes, the sentimental one as well. Given he retired in 2002 it turned out to be his last real shot, which for many who followed his career, was a great disappointment. Not saying Goran was undeserving - anyone who wtahced the match would no doubt agree that nothing could be further from the truth. Just saying that in my eyes, he was the beaten "good" guy.. But that's just my opinion.

Thats right, Goran Ivanisevic who had NEVER won a Grand Slam was the EVIL one...Pat who already had 2 Grand Slams was the Good one. Wake up

What about Goran Ivanisevic beating Pat Rafter at Wimbledon in 2001?? 6-3 3-6 6-3 2-6 9-7 in about three hours of heart wrenching tennis.. Say what you like that was Pat's year and the big bad Croat - who became the first wild card to ever win Wimbledon - comes and steals it from right under his nose! Pat was never the same again.. The ultimate in Evil over Good!

Here is my list - stand by for a surprise at 5! : 1) The Bulldogs win the Rugby League premiership after that Coffs Harbour incident and subsequent graceless behaviour in 2004. 2) Greg Norman' (entirley self inflicted) collapse at the US Masters in 96, to that boring Pom Nick Faldo. You could add in all those other disasters - US Open 84, masters 87, PGA 86 to name a few, but that was one too far. 3) Collingwood's failures in the 70's and early 80's and then Geelong's losses in 89 and 92 denied a fair turn for all. 4) Australia's losses on the 81 grand slam tour to Wales, Scotaland and England were heart-breaking for me. 2 World cups and 25 years domination of the 4 home unions since (apart from England at world cups in 95, 03 and 07) have eased the pain though. 5) The Kiwi's 07 RWC QF elimination - yes I enjoyed the schadenfraude as much as any non-kiwi, but they truly had been a great team in 05 and 06 in particular (hubris was setting in by 07) and did deserve at least a shot at the title of world champions.

My five: Jimmy Connors beats Ken Rosewall 1974 Wimbledon final - last chance for 'Muscles' to win an all-England title goes begging to the brash American, 20 years after he played his first Wimbledon final. Eastern Suburbs beat St. George 1975 Grand Final 38-0 - Langlands finishes up his career as a disaster in white boots. Kingston Town beaten into 2nd 1982 Melbourne Cup - what a let down. Bit like Rosewall - a champ without the big prize. Germany beat Holland 1990 World Cup - Van Basten, Gullit, Rijkard, Koeman. How did that team get knocked out in the second round if evil wasn't playing a part? Australia beaten by Italy last world cup - goes without saying.

A great aidea for an article...pity you chose those examples..... If you want true 'evil' winning over 'good' here are some great examples. - Hawthorn and West Coast defeating Geelong in 1989 and 1992 Grand Finals - McEnroe defeating ANYBODY..... one of the worst sportsman ever - And the daddy of them all...the 1982 World Cup where the French and the Brazilians were defeated by the Italians and the Germans