It’s Football Season!!
The country has been inflicted with a serious attack of football fever - and is feeling rather poorly.
Over the past weeks England has seen a rise in nationalism with the imminent arrival of the World Cup. The media has been steadily building the idea that this is THE year for an England win, and many reminisce of the last victory by Bobby Moore's great team of '66 - the year I left Britain. The decorated flag-waving cars pass us by as the locals show their red and white colours.
Last weekend, there was a strange intensity in the air when we were in York. Large groups of emboldened men patrolled the streets ahead of the kick-off against the United States. Not wanting to be a part of the blokey pub crowd, we headed off to the movies. We attended two different films to accommodate different tastes (basically, it was me who didn’t want to see a B-grade dance movie, so I chose Robin Hood instead), and both Saturday movies attracted a meagre combined audience of nine.
As we emerged into the night, I looked at the throng in the streets to gauge the result. The sombre faces made it obvious it wasn’t a win, but it appeared that England didn’t lose either. Upon enquiry, the disappointing draw result was hard to handle by a stunned public with its sense of entitlement.
And today the self-loathing media are on the attack, looking for someone to blame. The coach, Fabio Capello, striker Roonie and management are all targets from an angry print media. Rumours started of player disharmony and rebellion in the ranks.
And the team hasn’t even lost yet!
Tomorrow's make or break game will have all players concerned about their reputations at home; this excessive national pressure will bear heavily on their shoulders should they fail.
Here's hoping they win.
.. and North o' the border, there are World cup T-shirts reading ABE - enlarge to read details.
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