Sometimes a sporting blowout contest is memorable because two equally matched competitors bring out the best in each other in a thrilling spectacle for the fans. But sometimes the contests are memorable for less grandiose reasons. Whether it’s a major mismatch, or one competitor just spectacularly implodes, major sporting blowouts tends to live long in the memory.
There’s often a good story behind the incident. From the rule change that forced a tiny Pacific team to field novice teenagers against professionals, to the rugby gamble that backfired, this collection looks at the most painful drubbings in sports – those lopsided results where you can’t help but say, “Ouch!”
Top 10 Sporting Blowouts
10. Australia Beat Namibia
In the rugby world, Australia is very much the crème de la crème. The two-time world champs were on home turf in a 2003 World Cup match against Namibia, whose team was still chasing their first-ever win on rugby’s grandest stage in 15 attempts. The African team occupies a bit of an odd place in international rugby.
The Welwitschias, as they are known, is a tier-two side that suffers from a small talent pool and a lack of local competition to compete against. Neighboring South Africa is on a different level, so developing as a rugby nation is difficult for Namibia.
9. Canada Defeated Denmark
When it comes to ice hockey in Canada, standards are sky-high. Until 1963, Canada was represented in international tournaments by senior amateur club teams. The one chosen for the 1949 World Championships in Sweden was Northern Ontario’s Sudbury Wolves (modern lineup pictured). The team wasn’t highly regarded by sportswriters at the time and went to Stockholm with a point to prove.
8. Australia’s National Soccer Team Defeated American
In a 2001 qualifying match for the 2002 World Cup, Australia ran riot against American Samoa. Such was the blitz of goals that even the scorekeeper couldn’t keep track of, with the result initially recorded as 32-0 before being corrected to 31-0. As great as the gap between the two sides was, some important mitigating factors contributed to the landslide.
7. The Chicago Bears Obliterated Washington
the run-up to the 1940 NFL Championship game (the Super Bowl didn’t begin until 1967), all the signs pointed to a close, competitive match between the Chicago Bears and the Washington Redskins (now the Commanders). Just three weeks prior, Washington edged out the Bears in a 7-3 victory in the regular season. Legend has it, that Washington owner George Preston Marshall derided his team as “quitters” and “crybabies” in the build-up to the game.
6. John Heisman’s Georgia Tech Defeated Cumberland
At the time of this bizarre contest, Georgia Tech’s football team, known as the Yellow Jackets, was coached by John Heisman (pictured, 1918). The John Heisman. He also coached baseball and basketball, and it was a drubbing in the former – to the Cumberland Bulldogs – that sowed the seeds for the football rout. Cumberland brought in several ringers from the minor leagues to thrash Heisman’s team 22-0.
5. Brazil Fell To A Huge World Cup Loss
7-1 is an astonishing scoreline at any level of soccer, but in the latter stages of the World Cup, it’s unheard of. The 2014 semi-final pitted international soccer’s two most successful sides against each other. Five-time champs Brazil were on home turf and gunning for a place in the final in front of a packed crowd at the Estadio Mineirão stadium. In their way were four-time champions Germany, who last reached the final in 2002, losing out to Brazil.
4. Steffi Graf Inflicted A ‘Double Bagel’ On An Opponent In The 1988 French Open Final
In tennis terminology, a “bagel” is when a set finishes 6-0. A double bagel is – you’ve guessed it – when two sets finish 6-0, 6-0. In women’s tennis, this is the shortest route to victory possible. At the highest levels of tennis, it’s pretty rare to see one set finish 6-0, let alone two, and in most cases, they occur in the early rounds of the tournament, not between the top seeds.
3. The Texas Rangers Set A Record With 30 Runs In A Single Game
On August 22, 2007, two major league teams going through mediocre seasons served up the biggest blowout in baseball history. The Texas Rangers defeated the Baltimore Orioles 30-3. The last time a team scored more than 30 runs in a game, William McKinley was president.
There was nothing out of the ordinary for the first four innings; the Orioles were leading 3-0 going into the fourth.
2. Stade Olympique de l’Emyrne Lost A Soccer Match 149-0
Madagascar is probably known more for its lemurs than its sporting blowouts accomplishments, but the African island does have the unusual distinction of the most lopsided result in soccer history. As you might have guessed, there was certainly something fishy about Stade Olympique de l’Emyrne’s absurd 149-0 loss to rivals AS Adema in 2002. In the previous match in a tournament to crown the Malagasy champions, SOE needed a victory against Antananarivo to have any chance of retaining the crown.
1. The Czech Republic Broke Multiple Records Against Turkey’s Cricket Team
In 2019, Turkey was one of the participants in the Continental Cup, a Twenty20 cricket tournament held in Romania. For the uninitiated, in simple terms, T20 cricket is a shortened version of the game used for international matches.
Where traditional test matches play out over multiple days, T20 sees both teams get one turn a bat for a maximum of 20 overs (that’s six bowls). The whole thing is done in about three hours.