Plus: why Montpellier are the French Nottingham Forest; Brazil's strangest trophies; and which footballers have gone on to make it big in the NFL? Send your questions and answers to knowledge@guardian.co.uk and follow us on Twitter
"Having seen 'goal music' coming third in your Gripe of the Season poll," begins Martin Mitchell, "it got me wondering who the worst offenders are? Whose goal music is the most inappropriate?"
First a disclaimer: goal music is, of course, the great bane of modern football. Fewer and fewer fans can celebrate a stunning strike without being deafened by Tom Hark or similar guff – if we had our way it would stop immediately. This week's Knowledge should in no way be seen as an endorsement of goal music in all it's ghoulish guises.
Right, with that off our chests we can head to the continent, where they at least make a bit of an effort rather than simply stick Chelsea Dagger on over the Tannoy. First to Wolfsburg, as suggested by @Der_Schotte on Twitter:
The wolf's howl? Fine. Rama Lama Ding Dong? Far less so. The Bundesliga as a whole has a very poor record in this regard. Hannover 96 used to use Nellie the Elephant, while Werder Bremen are another guilty party, opting for the little-used boat horn/Proclaimers combination:
And in the box marked 'jaunty' we can stick Duisberg, SG Wattenscheid (who helpfully remind you in the lyrics that there has been a "Goal, goal, goal for Wattenscheid") and FC Ingolstadt.
Outside Germany, Lille must have Graham Coxon kicking himself for not thinking to start Song 2 with Fred Flintstone yelping "Yabba Dabba Doo!":
And it's hard to know exactly what FC Zurich fans get out of Kiss's I Was Made For Loving You after scoring in the Swiss Super League.
To be honest, there are just too many candidates to come up with a definite 'worst of' (and British teams don't get off scott free: Norwich used to play Ocean Colour Scene's Riverboat Song when they won a corner). Perhaps the last word should go to Finland's FF Jaro, who really do go the whole hog:
MONTPELLIER: THE NEW NOTTINGHAM FOREST
"With Montpellier winning the title in France for the first time, who and when was the last first time winner in Europe's other major leagues?" writes Paul Morony.
It's not as rare as you might think. Only in England do you have to go back more than 20-odd years.
Italy Sampdoria, 1990-91
Spain Deportivo La Coruña, 1999-2000
Germany VfL Wolfsburg, 2008-09
England Nottingham Forest, 1978-79
STRANGE TROPHIES
"This weekend the state leagues in Brazil finally came to a close," begins Paulo Padilha. "Bahia ended a 11-year trophy drought when they were crowned champions over local rivals Vitoria and I couldn't help but notice that the trophy they were lifting was in the shape of an elevator. In this case it was one of the landmarks of the city of Salvador. Are there other examples of trophies that don't conform to the usual cup/vase/shield/pedestal-thingy shapes?"
Brazilian state federations are the chief culprits here, as Paulo goes on to explain: "Over the years the state championships have provided several trophies in the shape of buildings. The federation of Rio Grande do Norte presented another replica of a local landmark in addition to the regular trophy that changes hands from year to year, while the Santa Catarina and São Paulo federations have been known to hand out replicas of their own headquarters. The São Paulo federation even had a somewhat traditional trophy in the shape of the state's gubernatorial palace, that was around for several years and required several people to carry."
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KNOWLEDGE ARCHIVE
"I was surprised to learn that former Tottenham goal machine Clive Allen had a brief spell as specialist goal-kicker with the NFL Europe outfit London Monarchs," wrote Mike Hopkin back in 2007. "Have any other footballers ever had any success in the sport. And have any American footballers ever gone the other way?"
Quite a few 'soccer' players have had a crack at gridiron actually Mike - all of them, unsurprisingly, as field goal kickers - but few have been as successful in both sports as Toni Fritsch. Nicknamed 'Wembley Toni' after scoring a memorable brace for Austria in a come-from-behind 3-2 win over Alf Ramsey's England at Wembley in 1965, diminutive forward Fritsch was spotted by then Dallas Cowboys coach Tom Landry on a scouting trip to Europe in 1971. According to Uefa, Landry offered Fritsch a contract after just one session kicking a 'pigskin' through the posts.
"I never saw a game before; I never saw a football," recalled Fritsch years later. "And I signed a contract with him a couple days later, a contract that I couldn't read, but it was maybe the best contract I ever signed in my life and my career." His American football career was certainly a successful one - spanning 12 seasons from 1971 to 1982, and including a Super Bowl win with Dallas in 1972 (he remains the only Austrian to ever win the Super Bowl) and a Pro Bowl (all-star game) appearance when he was with the Houston Oilers in 1980. In all Fritsch played for four NFL clubs, spending a year with each of the San Diego Chargers (1976) and New Orleans Saints (1982), on top of longer spells with the Cowboys (1971-75) and Oilers (1977-1981), scoring 758 points in 125 games. Afterwards he also played briefly for the Houston Gamblers in the USFL.
Fritsch wasn't the first European footballer to kick in the NFL, though. German Horst Muhlmann played for Schalke 04 from 1962-66 before resurfacing stateside, aged 29, with the Cincinnati Bengals in 1969. He eventually played nine seasons in the NFL (Bengals 1969-74, Philadelphia Eagles 1975-77), and remains something of a celebrity in Cincinnati, where he owns two bars in the Bengals' new Paul Brown Stadium. Shortly after Muhlmann had retired, two American soccer-playing brothers - Chris and Matt Bahr - made a similar switch, giving up careers in another doomed league - the North American Soccer League (NASL) - to kick in the NFL. Sons of NASL Hall-of-famer Walter Bahr, Chris and Matt quit the Philadelphia Atoms and the Colorado Caribous in 1976 and 1979 respectively, going on to enjoy long and successful gridiron careers, both of which included Super Bowl wins.
Many more professional footballers have enjoyed lower-level gridiron spells - with former Borussia Dortmund and Werder Bremen striker Manfred Burgsmueller and Barcelona keeper Mariano Angoy among a number to have kicked in NFL Europe. Likewise, many successful NFL kickers showed promise as footballers without ever going professional; most notably Morten Andersen, who became the NFL's all-time leading scorer this season at the age of 46 with 2,445 points, after nearly making the Danish national side as a youngster, according to the Atlanta Falcons' website.
Finding athletes who have gone the other way is far trickier, but diligent reader James Andrews managed to dig one up. "According to Wikipedia, Paul McCallum travelled from Canada to Scotland to play professional football in the Scottish third division after playing gridiron for the Surrey Rams in the junior American football league. He returned to American football afterwards, winning the Canadian Football League's Grey Cup with the BC Lions and the World Bowl with the Scottish Claymores."
For thousands more questions and answers take a trip through the Knowledge archive
Can you help?
"Last weekend, York City beat Newport County in the FA Trophy Final," writes Ian Symes. "Then on Sunday, they beat Luton Town in the Conference play-off final - both games were at Wembley. Have any other clubs won at Wembley (or any other national stadium) on consecutive weekends?"
"Seeing Fernando Torres celebrate after the Champions League Final yesterday got me thinking," writes Jesse Ziter. "Torres has now won the World Cup, European Championship, European Cup/Champions League, FA Cup, and even a Second Division title with Atletico Madrid. However, he has never won a top-flight domestic league championship with any club for which he has played. This seems like it could possibly be a unique, or at least very unusual feat. Are there any other similar tales of success with club and country in which the humble league title is absent?"
"There's a rumour that Roma have offered Alessandro Crescenzi in exchange for Catania releasing Coach Vincenzo Montella," writes ZonalMarking on Twitter. "A player-manager swap deal? Would that be a first?"
"Everyone knows Lee Dixon won the League on multiple occasions with Arsenal, but fewer know he actually reached quite the opposite end at the start of his career, finishing bottom of the Football League with Chester City in 1983-84," writes Philip Kent. "Has any other player in the modern age managed this auspicious feat?"
"Currently 39 managers have left their posts in this season's Serie B," notes Joe Murphy. "Grosseto have had six managers this year (one twice) and Gubbio and Vicenza have had five. Has any other league had more than this and can any team top Grosseto?"
"As a fan of Manchester City I don't want to rub salt into any teams wounds however (gleefully rubbing salt as fast as my still shaking hands will go) Manchester United led the Premier League by eight points with only six games remaining and managed to choke and lose the league title in heart breaking circumstances," writes Mike Lewis. "My question is: who are the biggest 'chokers' in history? Which team has been in the strongest position in terms of points lead with fewest games remaining to win a league only to crumble under the pressure?"
Send your questions and answers to knowledge@guardian.co.uk
انسخ الكود التالى و ضعه فى موقعك او مدونتك.
