The Accident & Emergency department records of Nottingham’s University Hospital (UK) were scrutinised for cases of deliberate self-poisoning presenting during the weekend of Nottingham Forest’s F.A. Cup Final defeat in 1991 & the weekend of their subsequent failure at the quarter-final stage in 1992. Rates of deliberate self-poisoning during these periods of intense expectation and disappointment were compared to the weekends either side of these important football matches. These defeats were associated with a short-term excess of cases of deliberate self-poisoning in Nottingham. This was statistically significant following the Cup final but not so after only reaching the last eight. The repeatability of these findings support the hypothesis that a sudden disappointment experienced through an entire community may prove one stress too many for some vulnerable members of that community. (4 refs.)