I am a football fan, but…..
I am a football fan, I have been since I was very small. BUT……
I have been seriously wondering over the past few days, whether it is possible to be a football fan, and NOT to support your own national team. For a long time, I have not really taken much interest in the England team, EXCEPT when it comes round to major tournaments such as the European Championships and World Cup. Then, every time, I allow myself to be swept up, at least partially, in the national fervour. I never realistically believe that England are going to win the World Cup, as the tabloid press would have us think, but I watch the games willing them to do well, and, at this time at least, I consider myself an England fan.
The 2010 World Cup debacle has made me determined to resist this temptation in future. I have come to loath the England football team and everything that surrounds it. I hate the faux-patriotic jingoism that surrounds their involvement in major tournaments, I hate the debates about the 4-4-2 system which people who normally take no interest in the game try to engage me in, and, in previous years, I have hated the ugly, racist, xenophobic, violent group of thugs which have followed the team around. Thankfully, the latter seems to have been a diminishing factor in recent years, although that could be something to do with the prohibitive cost of travelling to places like South Africa and Japan.
The 2010 England World Cup team were a truly appalling embarrassment when compared to the beautiful football played by some of the other, much smaller, nations. Just as I hate the fact that I live in a region which is now represented in the European Parliament by the BNP, I also hate living in a country which is represented on the international footballing stage by such a pathetic shower, who can’t hold onto the ball on the pitch, and can’t form a coherent sentence off it.
So, as with the BNP in Brussels, I say “NOT IN MY NAME” Gerrard, Lampard, Terry, Cole and Capello.
Next time a major tournament comes around, please remind me to watch it as a footballing spectacle from the start and not to give an iota of attention to any claims that England might stand a chance.
