Football v NBA: Some of sport's most brutal initiation ceremonies

A box-fresh NBA season is underway across the pond, and the league's 30 teams have the chance to blood some new talent.

But while the latest batch of rookie ballers might harbour hoop dreams of becoming the next Michael Jordan, LeBron James or Steph Curry, they must first pass a very public initiation.

In the NBA, this comes in the shape of some pretty awesome dance-offs.

Here’s the Sacramento Kings' Harry Giles, De’Aaron Fox, Frank Mason III and Justin Jackson showing what they’ve got in the locker, much to the amusement of veteran pro Vince Carter.

And from the LA Clippers…

Despite the development of Paul Pogba and Jesse Lingard's hot-stepping at Old Trafford and those questionable Spurs handshakes, you probably wouldn’t really get this in the Premier League, where people are still blown away by Peter Crouch's robot.

But the initiation ceremony is not completely alien to us in the UK.

In fact, the opportunity to humiliate and ridicule one's new team-mates in the name of bonhomie is a staple of British sports teams too. After all, isn't that how our strongest relationships are formed – in an atmosphere of purest rinsing?

Back in the late-1990s, John Hartson turned up on his first day at Wimbledon in a designer suit, only to have it torched by persons unknown, external in the dressing room.

He later described that time as “the best two years for morale and spirit I've ever had in my life".

Former Sheffield Wednesday defender Mel Sterland described the rather brusque welcoming he used to give new signings:

“I’d get a really hard toilet brush”, he writes, “shove it in their b****cks and twirl it around.”

Rugby union star Chris Ashton once explained, external how the ability to drink at least 21 alcoholic beverages in one sitting was requisite for playing for England.

While all this old school japery used to go on well away from the public's gaze, social media has opened up these hazings for a much wider audience.

As a result, the long-standing tradition of the initiation songs for new players - a staple of British football - has become regular viewing during the various transfer windows. Here are some notable examples:

John Terry at Aston Villa

'Captain, leader, legend' going for it with everyone's favourite Ben E King song at his new club, Aston Villa. He may be one of the more divisive players in Premier League history, but he knows what the public want and he's happy to give it to them.

Jack Colback’s rendition of Uncle Kracker’s ‘Follow Me’ at Newcastle

Nervous as anything and stiff as a board, but everyone's having a great time.

“I’ll be the one to tuck you in at night...” Jack mate, I'd rather you didn't.

Rio Ferdinand and Steven Caulker at QPR

What we like most about this is how Rio tries a bit too hard with Biggie's hip-hop gold standard 'Juicy', while Steven Caulker thinks about going for it on City High's seminal 1999 hit 'What Would You Do?' but then kind of bottles it and doesn’t commit, which is a shame.

Of course, rugby lads have to be different - and shirtless.

Here are Saracens' Liam Williams and Calum Clark with their team's own victory song - a Kiwi kids song that drives opponents mad., external

Clearly, though, ritual humiliation is something that transcends sport in Britain, and the song initiation shows off our love for anything banal and a bit rubbish…

That is until someone comes along and ruins the fun by actually being good at singing… like England U21 goal-machine Tammy Abraham.

Alright. Give us a break, Tammy!

But if you thought American teams would go easier on each other with these initiations, think again.

NFL team the Denver Broncos have a little thing called 'Rookie Cuts'.

Brutal.

Turns out pro athletes, in the interest of team bonding of course, just love the chance to be horrible to one another.

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