I watched 35 minutes of England’s opening group game of Euro 202021 yesterday before I had to leave for work. I’d been upset since I found out the game was taking place on a Sunday because I know I always have to work on a Sunday. I have previously made the mistake of being competent at jobs specifically done on Sundays. Now I know that I should not do my job well at all in my life ever because I might have to work when England are playing football. I’m also not going to be able to watch the rest of England’s group games because they are on Friday and Tuesday and I always work Fridays and Tuesdays. Anyway. Those first 35 minutes of watching England were brilliant, and I will now explain in a humorous yet surprisingly emotional way why that is the case.
I’ve previously associated supporting England with being one of those fans. You know the ones I mean, the bald 40 year old blokes with bad 3 lions tattoos on one arm who think they’re still 18 and enjoy smashing up lovely plazas in various tournament host countries. The guys who travel to Europe to watch their national football team and complain that there’s too many foreigners there and why can’t they find a pint of Carling and pie and chips for goodness sake? But supporting England is just what you do when you’re from England. You’re not a fascist enabler or a racist just because you support the same team as people who are exactly that, they just happen to be from the same place as you. And have you seen some of the other countries in the tournament? They’re hardly beacons of respect and tolerance. England might be a completely embarrassing country to be from and I abhor any sort of English nationalism but this isn’t that. It’s football. I like football and I’m from England, so I support England, I always have and I always will.
This is an England team that is inherently likeable though. I support them because I’m from England but I feel so much prouder of this team because of all of the positive off field work these players have done. The obvious example is everything Marcus Rashford has done to help make sure kids who need to be fed have been fed. We can debate the merits of his day job and the amount of money he is paid to do it, but it cannot be denied that it is one of the most pressurised jobs in the world. The happiness of lots of people rests on how he performs and, as was obvious after the Europa league final, if he doesn’t do his job well he is on the receiving end of a lot of foul abuse. This is a young man who has a lot to deal with in his own life yet he commits a considerable amount of his time to fighting for good causes. This is not something he has to do, and it is not something others before him have often done. It is something to be admired.
Another obvious thing to mention here is the taking of the knee before games. This has dominated a lot of the pre-tournament conversation and it is so tiring to have to hear the same old arguments attempting to justify the racist acts of racist people when they boo the England team taking the knee. Are we really supposed to believe that anyone actually thinks a group of multimillionaire footballers are kneeling in support of a Marxist revolution? If Harry Kane and Kyle Walker want to help the workers seize the means of production then I’m all for it but this is very clearly not what they are doing. It’s about trying to make the game of football and the world a better place for people who currently experience unfair treatment because of the colour of their skin. People who boo this act of solidarity are obviously just racists and we should call them what they are. But it is encouraging that the players are continuing to take this action despite being booed by their own ‘fans’. It must be a horrible feeling for them, especially the black players, having to experience being booed for the colour of their skin by people who claim to support them. It must affect their performance at the start of the game. Gareth Southgate has spoken exceptionally well on this subject too, giving those ‘fans’ who do boo no room for maneuver. If you boo you are racist.
Obviously a lot of the joy from supporting the England football team comes from my love of football too. I know some people roll their eyes at people loving football, very original right? But it is a fantastic escape, the world is almost at the point where it is beyond saving but if you stick me in front of a game of football I’ll forget all about the pandemic and our shambolic and evil government for 90 minutes and that’s an invaluable thing to have. Everyone knows I hate to mention that I suffered from depression and anxiety, especially in my blogs where it has never been mentioned, but when I was really suffering with my mental health football still had the power to keep me engaged for the duration of a match. I struggled to engage with anything for that length of time back then.
But the experience of a football match is enhanced so much when you’re invested in the outcome of it. Even in the build up to the match today I felt nervous. I was excited to see the lineup and to discuss the merits of Raheem Sterling starting ahead of Jack Grealish with my Sterling-skeptic friends. I was nervous about the booing when the players kneeled and I was pleased when any boos were drowned out by a lot of applause; happy that the racists appear to be in the minority but disappointed that the racism was still audible. I was encouraged by England’s start and anguished when Phil Foden hit the post very early on. I was concerned when Croatia appeared to be getting control of the game just before I left for work and I was disappointed that I had to go. When I had a look at my phone some time after 3pm and someone in a group chat had commented that the ‘Yorkshire Pirlo’ was too good I assumed England had scored and when Charlie popped round the corner to ask me if, hypothetically, I would like to know if England had scored I was happy to know that they had scored both hypothetically and in real life. I could see his eyes smiling.
And that’s another thing about football, people enjoy it together. To be in a group of people all so invested in the outcome of an event that none of you have any control over is a very unifying experience and I think supporting the national football team is one of the best examples of this. Just look back to the summer of 2018 and the World Cup. Combined with the nice weather and Love Island (which I didn’t watch but now kind of wish I did) I think that shared experience and joy resulted in a summer that many of us will remember as one of our happiest. I know I will (despite the fact that I was dumped about halfway through the group stage, these things happen though). I think some of that spirit is already returning for this tournament too, I can see it in a few friends and work colleagues and it’s obvious on social media. A lot of my favourite follows on Twitter usually provide dry, sarcastic and hilarious takes on politics and current affairs (I know, very on brand), but they are also getting into the football spirit. Basically I just think this is all very nice.
So this summer, like every other tournament summer, I will be supporting England. But this year I will be doing it with more pride in the players than ever, and I will be doing it more at ease that my fandom is not an endorsement of the fascist-adjacent fans who support the same team as I do. I will enjoy watching the sport I love, that has done so much for me throughout my life with a lot of people I love who have done so much for me throughout my life. I will enjoy experiencing the agony of not knowing what the score is along with my work colleagues while we’re filling shelves with Soleros and Calippos and I will enjoy it when I actually get to watch an England game live. And most of all I will love it when we beat them (all of them) and my team are the champions of Europe. COME ON ENGLAND.
Scholey Scribbles 