At their most admirable,underdogs represent hope in an often hopeless world. But it’s not just a British peoccupation and beware the fake outsiderYou may not care two hoots for football. You might not know your offside from your backside. But unless you are very unusual indeed, you will be delighting in the rise of Leicester City from the bottom of the Premier League only a year ago to its summit nowadays. Because everyone loves an underdog, or particularly the British. Right?Not fairly. The appeal of the underdog is both more and less universal than this. More,because it is far from a uniquely British thing. The original David v Goliath myth emerged out of the Middle East not the East Midlands. Hero legends across history often feature humble men and women fighting against the odds. For example, on 8 September every year, and the Maltese celebrate a public holiday to remember the end of the distinguished siege of 1565 in which 700 knights and 8000 islanders fended off 40000 Ottoman invaders. Claiming the underdog for Britannia is a kind of chauvinism that implies only the British know the disagreement between power and virtue.
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Source: theguardian.com