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The Guardian - UK

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Helen Pilcher

Is your ill fate bad luck or a curse? You could ask Ted Lasso, but why not consider the psychology

Lasso Ted Lasso Mayo Helen Pilcher Birmingham City

Mayo's Jack Coyne and team-mates celebrate, lifting the Sam Maguire Cup on the pitch — Mayo celebrate winning the 2026 All-Ireland Gaelic football title after 75 years – and 11 finals losses. Photograph: Stephen McCarthy/Sportsfile/Getty Images

As the new season of Ted Lasso started, I was reminded of one of the show’s stranger storylines. When Dani “Football is life!” Rojas gets injured, his teammates blame the incident on a curse said to haunt the treatment room.

Absurd? Perhaps. But sports curses aren’t just fictional plot devices. Football is fertile ground for stories of mysterious forces, blamed for everything from missed penalties to decades of failure.

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