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England’s route to Euro 2020 glory
Wembley’s status as sole host next week to both Euros semi-finals and its showpiece final is both an honour for the country and a potential advantage for England but it is also a source of unease.If England are involved then it will be a case of crossed fingers that the millions watching should be spared the embarrassment of hearing England fans booing the opposition anthem.
The reception which greeted the playing of the German anthem at Wembley on Tuesday was ugly. An international match is a sporting contest between two countries, not a proxy war.
Germany are England’s great rivals on the football pitch but respect for your opponent costs nothing.
Football will never be the opera but it should still have some behavioural codes. Some may view drowning out anthems in booing as harmless Punch and Judy stuff, as a method of conveying home team advantage but it didn’t feel like that on Tuesday evening.
If England fans feel the need – as they did – to boo the German team as they ran onto the field, fair enough. That is an audio assault on the team itself, a base attempt to maximise home advantage by creating an atmosphere of hostility. But booing the anthem is the verbal burning of another nation’s flag.
It wasn’t just a small minority involved – the usual numbskull knee-booing suspects – either. The stadium reverberated with catcalling when Haydn’s stirring bars struck up.
England fans sang loudly as their national anthem was played at Wembley (Image: GETTY)
A Wartime hangover from 76 years ago? If the ovation was intended to convey to the German players that this was England’s green and pleasant land and that they were about be repelled again by a proud island race blah blah blah it didn’t work. The visitors made the sharper start. All it did was make English football look ignorant.
England’s football team are proving to be powerful ambassadors for the country at this tournament. Talk to onlookers from other competing nations and while they may not be bowled over by England’s brand of football, they are taken by them as a collective.
The players are admired for the courage of their convictions in taking a stand against racial injustice and on other social issues. Harry Kane wore a rainbow armband for the Germany game to support Pride Month.
The manager is loved for being the personification of English manners and fair play.
Yet there is still that lingering sense that all the good work in painting a picture of the English nation as progressive, welcoming and respectful could be undone by their own feral support.
Are England fans letting the country down by booing the opposition national anthem? Let us know in the comments by clicking here
It it is true that in midweek there was no rendition of the grim ‘Ten German Bombers’ song which has disfigured previous meetings between England and Germany following a pre-match plea from Kane but complimenting fans for not singing an offensive song is a bit like praising someone for not robbing a bank.
Instead the ‘Scotland get battered everywhere they go’ dirge was the flavour of the month outside the ground. It didn’t make much sense after last week’s 0-0 draw but admittedly it does scan better than ‘Scotland get a deserved point after a well-thought out and shrewdly delivered tactical game plan.’
The England v Scotland game was another example of anthems being booed at Wembley – by both sets of fans.
It is a grubby habit and one which needs to be kicked as the tournament heads towards its deciding days.
England fans booed when the German national anthem was played (Image: GETTY)
England will be the sole remaining hosts of this pan-European jamboree after this weekend. The rest of the continent will be looking and listening.
The players have raised their game on the pitch. The same needs to happen off it.
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Mark Cavendish has won countless Tour de France stages but none have been as emotional as Tuesday’s tearjerker.
Five years on from his last stage victory in the race, his stage four triumph after a last-minute call-up as an injury replacement by Deceuninck-Quick-Step was the stuff of fairytales.
Nobody but Cavendish will truly know the depths of despair and emptiness he has been through in his wilderness years but as one of British cycling’s greats sat sobbing uncontrollably on the roadside he offered up a window into his soul that gave the outside world an inkling.
As it enters its second half, 2021 has a strong contender for sporting comeback of the year.
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The tears shed at Wimbledon by Serena Williams as she exited Centre Court hinted at farewell as well as frustration. Let us hope not.
The physical ailments have started to mount up as the Grand Slam titles have dried up and she will turn 40 in September. There may be a temptation to call it quits after the US Open that month.
Time waits for no-one, not even champions of her stature. But limping out injured in the first round, beaten by the surface rather than a rival, is no way for her to end the love affair with an event she has won seven times.
Venus is still going at 41. One more year Serena?
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Paul Pogba’s statue pose after his wonder goal against Switzerland was something to behold. Shame for France he did not move for it for the rest of the game.
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