As Nigeria proceed of their pursuit for the Africa Cup of Nations, followers on social media are solely simply realising that Dundee United is the truth is a weird insult for these in Nigeria.
Dundee United are a aspect which are greater than 100 years previous and have featured in European competitions an astounding 14 seasons in a row by the Nineteen Seventies and 80s, however this most likely means little or no to those that stay in Nigeria.
In truth, the membership and legacy that’s related to the identify means nothing. The identify is nothing greater than an insult used comically between Nigerians.
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Hilariously, for those who went as much as somebody from Nigeria and referred to as them a Dundee United you’ll the truth is be calling them an fool.
The true purpose behind the comical insult is a bit blurry, with no actual purpose pinned down, though some speculate on-line that it comes from the 1989 Fifa Under-16 world championships.
It proved to be a profitable event for the Scots, with the youth aspect making the ultimate earlier than shedding to Saudi Arabia. History books present that Nigeria had been additionally current on the event.
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It’s additionally been discovered that Nigeria performed 4 of their matches at Dens Park, house to Dundee United rivals Dundee FC, which could possibly be the foundation of the insult, as reported by The Guardian.
Despite this being utterly believable, the time period was utilized in a tv advert years earlier than in Nigeria. That means the Nigerian youth crew had been properly conscious of the insult earlier than their journey to Scottish metropolis.
The insult has since been shortened all the way down to “Dundee”, with Dundee United typically used to explain a gaggle of idiots. The reply to how the insult grew to become Nigerian slang appears to have come from the 70s nevertheless, when Dundee United visited the nation as a part of a tour of West Africa in 1972, enjoying 5 novice sides in simply 16 days.
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The journey would show to be a calamity, with the aspect successful only one match, drawing two and shedding two, certainly one of which being a 4-1 loss of their final match. According to The Guardian, an article was printed within the Nigerian Daily Express as United returned to Scotland with the headline: “Don’t Come Back”.
What was meant to be a European powerhouse, representing the Scottish high flight, had been embarrassed vastly. A variety of bitter claims in Nigerian press, a grievance from the Cameroon FA concerning the crew’s therapy within the nation and a declare of a rampant abdomen bug within the United camp all result in a feud between the nation of Nigeria and the Scottish aspect.
(Image: Getty Images)
A damning article printed in Nigeria referred to as for a public inquiry into the entire affair, whereas the long-lasting consequence was the insult that has caught half a century later.
Amara, a Nigerian-Scot who works in Dundee, informed The Guardian that he by no means felt the necessity to point out use of the phrase to colleagues. “Some of my colleagues ask me about Nigeria, and one is actually a Dundee United fan, but I’ve never told them,” he stated. “I didn’t think there was any need.”
(Image: Getty Images)
“I was actually in Nigeria just before the Covid outbreak and someone in the pub was calling someone a ‘Dundee United’, because they were yapping [teasing] their friend, and I said: ‘Do you know there is a football club in Scotland called Dundee United, and they said ‘No? Really?’ They thought it was a really strange thing to call a football team. I explained about the city and that it was a football team and they thought it was pretty funny…”
As Nigeria look set to face Guinea-Bissau within the Africa Cup of Nations on Monday, it stays to be seen whether or not the nationwide crew are heroes or just a “Dundee United”.