Crack

[LongsightM13]

St Etienne, still got a soft spot for them to this day, a vivid green kit and Platini when he was a brilliant young player rather than a bloated, crooked politician. And those games made such an impression on the music writer Bob Stanley that he named a band after them.
Dukla Prague away kit? A sneaky Half Man Half Biscuit reference there?

 

[laserblue]

in the 60s and 70s any side, even average ones, from eastern europe were invariably described in the press as 'crack'. this included teams like dukla prague, honved, dynamo zagreb and lokomotiv leipzig as well as moscow dynamo who may well have been the first side described as 'crack' when they toured britain just after the second world war.

i never really understood why but i think the word was meant to conjure up a vision of a side ruthlessly trained with a iron hand and a relentless fitness regime.

 

[Ducado]

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 and spot on as well

 

[Number10]

"This man commands a qwack legion!"

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E9ZrM-fToCk[/youtube]

Had to be done.

 

[Mad Eyed Screamer]

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.

So I wasn't the only one!
Of course, lads having long hair helped in those days!
My maths teacher, Mr Moore (we called him Massa Moore after the bloke in Roots) and was a Fulham fan from London.
The twat caught me at 2 up and confiscated the tranny, got it back at the end of Friday.
Biked it home as fast as I could and my mum told me it was 2-2!

 

[gordondaviesmoustache]

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.

So I wasn't the only one!
Of course, lads having long hair helped in those days!
My maths teacher, Mr Moore (we called him Massa Moore after the bloke in Roots) and was a Fulham fan from London.
The twat caught me at 2 up and confiscated the tranny, got it back at the end of Friday.
Biked it home as fast as I could and my mum told me it was 2-2!

I remember it well MES. The game had been postponed from the night before because of fog iirc. It was all very exciting.

The return leg is one Maine Road night above almost any other that I wish I'd been at. Apparently the atmosphere was incredible.

 

[Ray78]

Crack means where the team is highly trained or competent in the context of the original thread.

 

[Cellarite]

There was a football arcade game that I'd always play in Wales on holiday. No English teams, just 8 European sides. Barca, Real Madrid, Juventus, both Milans, Bayern, Ajax and Atletico Madrid. I'd choose Atletico because I like an underdog and thought there kit was sublime. I went to see them knock United out of the 1992 ECWC at Old Trafford and have loved them ever since.

Back on topic, I love to tell the Hull City fans at work that we're playing a crack European team no matter who we play.

 

[Mad Eyed Screamer]

There was a football arcade game that I'd always play in Wales on holiday. No English teams, just 8 European sides. Barca, Real Madrid, Juventus, both Milans, Bayern, Ajax and Atletico Madrid. I'd choose Atletico because I like an underdog and thought there kit was sublime. I went to see them knock United out of the 1992 ECWC at Old Trafford and have loved them ever since.

Back on topic, I love to tell the Hull City fans at work that we're playing a crack European team no matter who we play.

TNS. The crack Welsh border team......

 

[bluecityboy]

FYI, the term crack is used in spanish a lot for for fantastic players. "He's a crack!"