2016: The Year of the Underdog?

In the first five months of 2016 the world has lost what some think is an inordinate amount of celebrities.

From Alan Rickman and Ronnie Corbett in the UK, Prince in the US to the Congolese singer Papa Wemba, it does at times seem like the famous are dying off at quite a rate. Of course, this is arguably only even noticeable because of tools like Twitter Trends. Surely most of us in the UK wouldn't have heard of Papa Wemba without social media.

The BBC say they've been running more obituaries than usual, and let's be honest, as the Baby Boomers reach their seventies the frequency with which they will pop their proverbial clogs is going to increase.

The Sixties, what a time to be alive they said. With the rise of TV, popular music and seemingly accessible celebrity, the number of celebrities has been rising since. And with more celebrities comes more celebrity death.


So why don't we focus on something else? 

2016 is shaping up to the be the real year of the Underdog.

Politically, Jeremy Corbyn's Labour leadership victory may have been 2015, sure, but their recent victory (Okay, "not loss") in local and regional elections was arguably a real turning point in the discourse around his electability.

Trump, whilst one might not like to accept it, was just 12 months ago a rank outsider in the Republican Party. He can't be seen as a good old fashioned British underdog, fighting his way through poverty and adversity on his way to the top. But he was seen as a joke by damn near everyone. Now he's steamrollering his way to the Convention, and maybe, it's true, the White House.

And sport! What a year it's already been for sport!

Leicester City.

There's almost no need to add anything to that. Their tale has been a magnificent one, their rise from the third tier of English football, to kings of the land has been remarkable. A team of underdogs, for underdogs, with underdogs.

The Six Nations championships even produced a win from a team that might not have been expected to produce such a performance. After England's embarrassing exit in their own Rugby World Cup, the only host to ever (Yes. Ever.) fail to qualify from their group, they hired a new coach and mounted a brilliant comeback. Not only a Championship win, but a Grand Slam. They literally beat everyone. It was their first Grand Slam in 13 years.

And, though it's more niche of a sporting arena, cycling is getting bigger in the UK, and therefore we should mention Mat Hayman.

The veteran Australian, 38 this year, has been a professional for 16 years. In that time he'd won 5 races, committing his effort to supporting team leaders. That is, apart from the Spring Classics season, where he has been given free reign to try and win the races he really loves, the Tour of Flanders (de Ronde) and Paris-Roubaix.

And this year, the rider many among the pro-peloton say was the most deserving of that win actually managed it. After 15 attempts, the nearly-man of Australian cycling had his rock (the winner of Paris-Roubaix is given one of the course's famous cobbles as a prize).

And as if that isn't enough, on February 27 he was in a heap on the ground with a broken arm, after crashing during the Omloop Het Niewsblad race. Fast forward to 10 April, and there he is, top step of the podium.

A real victory for the underdog. "One for the good guys", as his teammate Luke Durbridge put it.


All years have their tragedies, and all have their success stories. Let's make 2016 the year of the optimist. While we celebrate those whose time is up, let's not lose sight of the here and now.

Especially when it's the 5000/1 outsider winning the biggest football league on the planet.