History Series / FantasyFootballLeague

%% * GettingCrapPastThe Radar: Due to overwhelming and persistent misuse, GCPTR is on-page examples only until 01 June 2021. If you are reading this in the future, please check the trope page to make sure your example fits the current definition.
* HeterosexualLifePartners: David and Frank, who had previously shared a flat together (the studio set being modelled on it).

The format centred around comedic observations about football (particularly recent [[UsefulNotes/EnglishPremierLeague Premier League]] matches and off-the-pitch going-on) and short comedy sketches that usually referenced said observations, with different celebrity guests each week. The humour was usually irreverent, with just about anything football-related considered fair game for mockery. Originally, the show was heavily reliant on [[UsefulNotes/FantasySports an actual fantasy football league]], fantasy leagues having become popular in Britain in the early-to-mid-1990s after various [[UsefulNotes/BritishNewspapers newspapers]] picked up on the idea at around the time when the Premier League was established. Each week, the show's celebrity guests would talk about football and their fantasy team line-ups. As the show progressed, however, the fantasy league element was pushed to the background and eventually dropped. As a result, though, the guests tended to be people who had a decent knowledge of football. The likes of Creator/DeliaSmith, Creator/NickHornby and Creator/SeanBean were all guests on the show, as were football presenters and commentators like Creator/DesLynam, John Motson and Richard Keys.

* BroadcastLive: Following the 1998 [[ChannelHop switch to ITV]]; previously, the show had been recorded the night before it was broadcast. Going out live led to a few problems, including the eccentric behaviour of some guests (see under {{Cloudcuckoolander}} below) and the fact that one episode went out ''mere hours'' after England got knocked out of that year's World Cup, which ''really'' killed the atmosphere (as David [[LampshadeHanging mentioned]] during the show).

* TheAlcoholic: Frank, although he'd been teetotal for several years before the series started and it wasn't mentioned. Hosts and guests frequently drank from beer cans or bottles as part of the show's "laddish" atmosphere; Frank's always contained water. Frank's own problems did not stop him from mocking Jimmy Greaves for his much-publicised problems with alcoholism when the latter appeared in a "Phoenix from the Flames" skit.

A British [[UsefulNotes/AssociationFootball football]]-based comedy TV show in TheNineties, presented by comedians David Baddiel and Frank Skinner, which capitalised on the growing mainstream popularity of [[UsefulNotes/AssociationFootball football]] in England following the 1990 World Cup and the creation of the [[UsefulNotes/EnglishPremierLeague Premier League]], a time which also saw the publication of good-quality football literature (''All Played Out'', ''Literature/FeverPitch'', etc) and -- crucially for the initial premise of this show -- the rise of fantasy sports leagues on this side of the Atlantic. Three series were broadcast on [[Creator/TheBBC BBC Two]] between 1994 and 1996, followed by a further, smaller series during [[UsefulNotes/EuropeanChampionship Euro 96]]. The show subsequently moved to Creator/{{ITV}}, airing during the [[UsefulNotes/TheWorldCup 1998 World Cup]] and later the 2004 European Championship.

The format centred around comedic observations about football (particularly recent [[UsefulNotes/EnglishPremierLeague Premier League]] matches and off-the-pitch going-on) and short comedy sketches that usually referenced said observations, with different celebrity guests each week. The humour was usually irreverent, with just about anything football-related considered [[AcceptableTargets fair game]] for mockery. Originally, the show was heavily reliant on [[UsefulNotes/FantasySports an actual fantasy football league]], fantasy leagues having become popular in Britain in the early-to-mid-1990s after various [[UsefulNotes/BritishNewspapers newspapers]] picked up on the idea at around the time when the Premier League was established. Each week, the show's celebrity guests would talk about football and their fantasy team line-ups. As the show progressed, however, the fantasy league element was pushed to the background and eventually dropped. As a result, though, the guests tended to be people who had a decent knowledge of football. The likes of Creator/DeliaSmith, Creator/NickHornby and Creator/SeanBean were all guests on the show, as were football presenters and commentators like Creator/DesLynam, John Motson and Richard Keys.

* BitingTheHandHumor: The long list of AcceptableTargets extended to coverage of football -- regardless of whether the show was on Creator/TheBBC or Creator/{{ITV}}, commentators and pundits working for both channels (and also Creator/{{Sky}}, which had the broadcast rights to live Premier League matches) were not immune from being made fun of by David and Frank. Most of them took it in good humour, with some of them appearing on the show.

* ThemeTune: Originally, an instrumental version of "Back Home" (the England football team's 1970 World Cup song), although they also used a version in which the words "fantasy football league" were sung over and over to that tune. The latter was also how the celebrity guests and the "Phoenix from the Flames" segment were introduced. After the move to ITV, the show used the old ''Series/WorldOfSport'' theme, although for 2004 this was itself replaced by the theme from ''Saint and Greavsie'', a football show featuring Ian St John and Jimmy Greaves which ran from 1985 to 1992 on ITV [[note]] basically, ''Saint and Greavsie'' was a continuation of the lunchtime football section from ''World of Sport'' [[/note]]. Funnily enough, those two were guests on the show during the 2004 run - despite the fact that in the early episodes, they'd been a regular target for mockery by David and Frank. The 2022 Sky revival uses an instrumental version of "Back Home".

* {{Jerkass}}: Some guests came across as this. Pundit (and former Scotland international) Andy Gray displayed plenty of schadenfreude when he appeared on a Euro 96 episode after England had been knocked out, but the prize goes to Johnny Rotten, who was so obnoxious that he was kicked out of the studio during the commercial break.
* LanguageBarrier: Encountered every so often in "Phoenix from the Flames" when they brought in non-British ex-footballers, like Argentinian 1978 World Cup winner Mario Kempes, who couldn't speak English.

* NerdGlasses: Worn by Statto. Averted by David, who (as one of the main presenters) came across as a lad despite wearing glasses.

* BroadcastLive: Following the 1998 [[ChannelHop switch to ITV]]; previously, the show has been recorded the night before it was broadcast. Going out live led to a few problems, including the eccentric behaviour of some guests (see under {{Cloudcuckoolander}} below) and the fact that one episode went out ''mere hours'' after England got knocked out of that year's World Cup, which ''really'' killed the atmosphere (as David [[LampshadeHanging mentioned]] during the show).

* {{Crossdresser}}: Statto, and sometimes David, occasionally did sketches in drag.

* BroadcastLive: Following the 1998 [[ChannelHop switch to ITV]]; previously, the show has been recorded the night before it was broadcast. This led to a few problems, including the eccentric behaviour of some guests (see under {{Cloudcuckoolander}} below) and the fact that one episode went out ''mere hours'' after England got knocked out, which ''really'' killed the atmosphere (as David [[LampshadeHanging mentioned]] during the show.

* {{Jerkass}}: Some guests came across as this. Andy Gray displayed plenty of schadenfreude when he appeared on the Euro 96 episode after England had been knocked out, but the prize goes to Johnny Rotten, who was so obnoxious that he was kicked off the set during the commercial break.