Crack

[Franny Lee's Barrel Chest]

No, not crack cocaine, but football teams, particularly continental football teams being called, for example "The crack German team". As in, City will play crack German side Bayern Munich.

You heard it a lot in the 70s and 80s and the odd time now, but not as much.

Does anyone know how that phrase came into being?

 

[TCIB]

To "Crack" is to strike fast and hard so it was associated with special forces and then simply lent it's self to footballing parlance.

Not gospel but it stands to reason.

 

[AlexWilliamsGloves]

Not to be confused with "craic"

 

[marco]

my mrs has a crack

 

[Mad Eyed Screamer]

Funny i was thinking this the other day, was reading an old City programme from the 70's and it was talking about the teams left in the UEFA Cup - one of them was ''the crack Dutch team Ajax''.

I always thought that the teams tended to be from the Eastern European bloc - the crack East German side etc etc.<br /><br />-- Thu Jul 12, 2012 1:35 am --<br /><br />

my mrs has a crack

Yes, and many a player has scored in there ;)

 

[sergiokun]

Crack heads

 

[Dom38]

Associated with 'crack' troopers, fast-attack skirmishers in armies. Later used to describe ones that are particularly tough and unbeatable.

 

[LongsightM13]

The saturation coverage of modern football through Sky and the internet has killed off a lot of old phrases which reflected a more innocent time.
Once upon a time, you only knew about teams like Barca, the Milan clubs, Bayern, Madrid etc through the papers, Shoot magazine or occasional European tie highlights on Sportsnight.
As late as the mid to late-80s, the FA and League cup finals and England internationals were pretty much the only live games you'd see on TV, unless a British club got too a European final.
Foreign teams were very exotic with their strange names and kits and alien tactics, and they made big impressions on the imaginations of footy-mad youngsters — Red Star Belgrade, Grasshoppers Zurich, 1860 Munich.
You'd never heard of most, if any of their players, let alone be able to fill up a dreary, self-serving blog debating where in a fluid 4-1-2-2-1 they would be best utilised.
But they were all, without fail, described as 'The crack German/Yugoslav/Italian outfit".
And for the away leg, their fans were always, without fail, described as "Partisan".

 

[Mad Eyed Screamer]

The saturation coverage of modern football through Sky and the internet has killed off a lot of old phrases which reflected a more innocent time.
Once upon a time, you only knew about teams like Barca, the Milan clubs, Bayern, Madrid etc through the papers, Shoot magazine or occasional European tie highlights on Sportsnight.
As late as the mid to late-80s, the FA and League cup finals and England internationals were pretty much the only live games you'd see on TV, unless a British club got too a European final.
Foreign teams were very exotic with their strange names and kits and alien tactics, and they made big impressions on the imaginations of footy-mad youngsters — Red Star Belgrade, Grasshoppers Zurich, 1860 Munich.
You'd never heard of most, if any of their players, let alone be able to fill up a dreary, self-serving blog debating where in a fluid 4-1-2-2-1 they would be best utilised.
But they were all, without fail, described as 'The crack German/Yugoslav/Italian outfit".
And for the away leg, their fans were always, without fail, described as "Partisan".

Great post - brought back memories of the Paninni stickers I'd collect (still have!) from the early / mid 70's.
One of them had a European team page and I remember trying to pronounce teams like Fenerbache, Panathinikos, etc when trying to do swappsies on the playground.

You hit the nail firmly on the head about being treated to watching European sides via limited highlights on Sportsnight. Any young teenager watching St Etienne in the mid 70's could only be mesmerised by that team and that classic game v Liverpool still has neck hairs standing up when watching it today.

 

[1_barry_conlon]

The saturation coverage of modern football through Sky and the internet has killed off a lot of old phrases which reflected a more innocent time.
Once upon a time, you only knew about teams like Barca, the Milan clubs, Bayern, Madrid etc through the papers, Shoot magazine or occasional European tie highlights on Sportsnight.
As late as the mid to late-80s, the FA and League cup finals and England internationals were pretty much the only live games you'd see on TV, unless a British club got too a European final.
Foreign teams were very exotic with their strange names and kits and alien tactics, and they made big impressions on the imaginations of footy-mad youngsters — Red Star Belgrade, Grasshoppers Zurich, 1860 Munich.
You'd never heard of most, if any of their players, let alone be able to fill up a dreary, self-serving blog debating where in a fluid 4-1-2-2-1 they would be best utilised.
But they were all, without fail, described as 'The crack German/Yugoslav/Italian outfit".
And for the away leg, their fans were always, without fail, described as "Partisan".

The partisan Partisan Belgrade crowd;-)

I still wear my Dukla Prague away kit with pride.

The kids of today wouldn't understand how Massive our draw with crack Italians Milan was when we were 2 up. I was sat in school listening to that with the single ear piece you got gratis with the old transistors. Happy days.
U<br /><br />-- Thu Jul 12, 2012 2:15 pm --<br /><br />I remember Gansgear in the Arndale flogging the St Ettiene shirt and they flew off the rails. The kits seemed glamorous as they had sponsors names on them which was a big no no here at the time.

The saturation coverage of modern football through Sky and the internet has killed off a lot of old phrases which reflected a more innocent time.
Once upon a time, you only knew about teams like Barca, the Milan clubs, Bayern, Madrid etc through the papers, Shoot magazine or occasional European tie highlights on Sportsnight.
As late as the mid to late-80s, the FA and League cup finals and England internationals were pretty much the only live games you'd see on TV, unless a British club got too a European final.
Foreign teams were very exotic with their strange names and kits and alien tactics, and they made big impressions on the imaginations of footy-mad youngsters — Red Star Belgrade, Grasshoppers Zurich, 1860 Munich.
You'd never heard of most, if any of their players, let alone be able to fill up a dreary, self-serving blog debating where in a fluid 4-1-2-2-1 they would be best utilised.
But they were all, without fail, described as 'The crack German/Yugoslav/Italian outfit".
And for the away leg, their fans were always, without fail, described as "Partisan".

Great post - brought back memories of the Paninni stickers I'd collect (still have!) from the early / mid 70's.
One of them had a European team page and I remember trying to pronounce teams like Fenerbache, Panathinikos, etc when trying to do swappsies on the playground.

You hit the nail firmly on the head about being treated to watching European sides via limited highlights on Sportsnight. Any young teenager watching St Etienne in the mid 70's could only be mesmerised by that team and that classic game v Liverpool still has neck hairs standing up when watching it today.