Bogey team
Bogey team: A team that always does well against another team even though it is not usually expected to.Today’s English for football is bogey team. The word bogey means an evil, bad or unlucky spirit or ghost. Mothers often tell their misbehaving children to, ‘be good or the bogeyman will get you’. And bogey also means something that is annoying, something that bothers you. So, if we put these meanings together, something bad and annoying, we get the idea of what a bogey team is. It is a team that strangely always does well against another team. It is a team that one other team finds hard to beat. For example in the fourth round of the FA Cup (2007), Arsenal were drawn against their bogey team, Bolton. Recently, Arsenal find playing Bolton very difficult and have lost several times. West Ham fans may think that Liverpool are their bogey team at the moment. Last year West Ham lost to Liverpool in a nail-biting final, and this year they have lost to Liverpool in the Premier League home and away.
- Example: Bolton were often regarded as Arsenal’s bogey side.
- Example 2: Euro 2012: Ireland are Italy’s bogey team, says Sean St Ledger
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