Nobody likes a game that is a dead rubber. In any form of sport, a game that is effectively meaningless is really no good for anyone and in football, this is no different.
While there has been plenty of excitement across the Champions League this week, there have also been a few games that have not exactly got the heart rate going. So, it seems obvious to me that these sort of games belong in Room 433 (again nothing like the BBC show Room 101), where all the negatives in football are locked away.
Let’s look at some of the worst dead rubbers in football.
The third-place play-off in the World Cup is easily one of the best examples of a dead rubber in the history of football. Literally nobody – and I do mean nobody – can get excited at the prospect of playing another game after a crushing semi-final defeat with the only reward being a fairly meaningless third-place honour.
England and Belgium had the distinct privilege of playing out two dead rubbers in the same tournament against each other. In fairness, the first game to decide who topped the group was not a complete dead rubber. But the fact that by losing England got an easier run to the semi-final tells you all you need to know about the importance of the game.
Another personal least favourite dead rubber would have to be from the 2014 Brazil World Cup involving England and Costa Rica. This was back in the bad old days when Roy Hodgson was our manager and crucially we were not very good.
England were already out and Costa Rica were already through the group and thus a drab 0-0 was played out. Well, drab 0-0 is being generous, to be honest as it was probably the single least eventful football match I have ever sat through and I’ve watched Middlesbrough for most of my life. Just awful.
So, in summary, dead rubber matches are really rather awful and while sometimes unavoidable we should really make sure there are as few as possible. With that being said, dead rubbers are an incredibly easy induction to Room 433. As ever, do comment below with your suggestions for Room 433, we have inducted a lot of things so far but there is always room for more alongside those pesky passion haters.
