Aarthee Parimelalaghan
Sure, some things are bigger than football. Breathing, comfortable shoes, making sure you time your washing with the exact second the sun is going to shine in between the monsoon flashes in London. But for one month every two years, nothing compares for me. There is something so exhilarating about becoming swept up in the paranoia, stress and unbridled joy of something that literally does not matter and, after the year we’ve had, EURO 2020 has become even more of a small speck of light in this dark timeline.
“There is something so wonderful happening right now, and I, a PPE student, am prepared to ignore politics for a second, to watch it all unfold.”
I’ve spent a good part of the past year carefully watching numbers: the rise, and fall, and rise, and fall, and rise (I could go on…) of infections; the seemingly dart-board allocation of ‘yes’-dates and ‘no’-dates and three bags full dates; and now more recently the slightly happier steady rise in 1st and 2nd dose vaccinations against the slightly sadder rising seven day rolling average of new cases.
Let me tell you, absolutely none of these numbers have given me as much joy as those I’ve been checking everyday for the past month, so much so that my computer now auto fills ‘Euro 2020’ for me. There is something so wonderful happening right now, and I, a PPE student, am prepared to ignore politics for a second, to watch it all unfold.
Yes there are some who mock, some who scorn, some who believe themselves singularly above the sport. Frankly, they are severely mistaken. Even God puts his hand in football sometimes.
What they’re not seeing is Wembley stadium, set up to be the stage of daydreams this week. With both Semi-Finals for the 2020 UEFA European Championship taken straight out of fairy tales, I don’t know one person, football fan or not, who didn’t enter this week slightly on edge (although if you’re a Tory Politician, maybe it wasn’t the football…).
On one side of the pitch you had two heavy weights, seven EURO wins between them, seeking vengeance and redemption. Italy have come into this tournament all guns blazing, after failing to even qualify for the World Cup in 2018, for the first time since 1958. After disappointing a nation, this team was ready to right their wrongs, and with 15 consecutive EURO wins, a new record for the competition, fair play to them- they seem to have done alright.
“On the other side of the line are two fairytales (or maybe one actual fairytale and one story I will attempt to make romantic, as a long suffering England fan).”
Spain wasn’t without a point to prove either, however. Having started the 2018 World Cup in the most turbulent of fashions, sacking their manager two days before the start of the tournament, and then, in the last 16, losing to Russia, the worst ranked side in the competition, on penalties, recent history didn’t look too appealing.
Spain, more than Italy, seemed to grow into this competition, with their slightly controversial style of play gaining support with fans as it started to reap results. Italy on the other hand came out the blocks fast, with an impressive performance in the group stage that seemed to shock anyone and everyone who didn’t closely follow the Italian national team (i.e. probably most people, let’s be honest).
On the other side of the line are two fairytales (or maybe one actual fairytale and one story I will attempt to make romantic, as a long suffering England fan).
Even my most football-averse friends have heard of Denmark’s first-game distress. With the traumatic collapse of Christian Eriksen, their story was always going to be bigger than football. But to have recovered from that initial heartache, lose their first two group games, and now be in the semi-final, you can’t blame their fans for thinking this must be meant to be. Even Denmark’s past Euro success in 1992 was off the back of an inconceivable happenstance, having been brought in as last-minute replacements when Yugoslavia were sent packing amid war in the Balkans, and then going on to win the whole thing.
“Are the stars aligning for Gareth and his boys?”
England on the other hand have their own tale to finish. With only one achievement to name (do I need to remind you of the year?), the self-proclaimed footballing nation (sorry Scotland) hasn’t won a lot of football to date. Four years after Denmark’s win, we came our closest, only to miss out on the final when Southgate missed that penalty. Now England manager, and also only man to oversee an England win over Germany since ‘66, are the stars aligning for Gareth and his boys?
Popular opinion seems to indicate so. I have to admit I spent way too much time scrolling through comments I know will bring me down, but every reaction to any England social media post at the start at the tournament was filled with ‘Southgate out’ and ‘It’s never coming home’.
But after some emphatic wins, albeit against a poor Germany side and Ukraine, somehow Southgate has brought the critics onboard. Fans are filled with confidence, flags line the streets, ‘ENGvDEN’ was trending on twitter the other day filled with positive tweets (yes apparently there is such a thing as a positive tweet…).
https://twitter.com/BoxingWorldUk/status/1412101991149576194
Sure, there are some negative ones too. People who wish misery on England because of the team’s “arrogance”. The thing is, yes England have been arrogant before (I can still hear the Icelandic slow clap when I sleep) but this current side, under Southgate, is as far from arrogant as is feasibly possible. Every press conference, you hear them say ‘Onto the next match’ , ‘a win at this counts for nothing if we lose the next’ and so on.
“”International sports, and particularly football, seem to act as some sort of patriotic medicine for a nation.”
The people who are citing arrogance are citing those outside that bubble; the media, the positive tweets, the guy who covered his house top to bottom in St. George’s flag. And if those people can’t be a little hopeful, a little carried away, then literally, what’s the point?
No team ever goes to a Semi-Final not considering what might happen. And no England fan has ever sung ‘The Three Lions’ really believing we were unbeatable. The song, like the attitude, is a desperate, long fought hope, for something, anything to go right. We have as much right as Denmark to be hopeful. There is no shame in that.
International sports, and particularly football, seem to act as some sort of patriotic medicine for a nation. More so than ever, having something bigger than yourself to believe in seems to be an integral part of the small push towards the end of this pandemic. With every win, commentators and players alike rejoice in what it will mean to people after ‘the past 18 months’. Even following Italy’s overthrowing of Spain yesterday, BBC commentator Jürgen Klinsmann mentioned the difficult time that Italy as a nation had with Coronavirus, and what this success would do for the country in that regard.
“Up and down the country, people seemed to have switched out the adrenaline of the daily walk, for that of the school or office sweepstake.”
And I agree. I’ve always found international football to provide some sort of respite from the toils of life. In 2018, I finished my GCSEs and proceeded to gladly switch off my brain for a month to fully invest in the World Cup. This year hasn’t been much different; I remained oblivious to the existence of the leaked cursed content, courtesy of our former health secretary, for two whole days because I was too engrossed in the EUROS.
And it’s not just me. Up and down the country, people seemed to have switched out the adrenaline of the daily walk, for that of the school or office sweepstake. Indeed, even I was fully invested for all two seconds, my draw, Poland, was still in. (Lewandowski, I had £3 on you!)
But more than anything it’s the story, the most wonderful story. A group of people overcome adversity to achieve a success that is so much bigger than just themselves. You don’t need to understand the off-side rule to understand why that sells.
“Amongst all the pain the world has to offer, it’s not naïve to dive head first into a football fantasy; it’s a crucial part of my human survival.”
International football is appealing; it’s easy to understand the basics, it’s a game that requires no privilege to play (it’s not like you need a horse or anything), and most importantly, it takes place under a unifying symbol. It’s not an individual name you’re supporting, or even an owned team, it’s a flag, and a people. I’m not one to describe myself as English, ever… unless there’s an international football tournament on.
Every match feels like a match I suffered through too, donning the colours, mouthing the anthem, clutching my face in my hands for all of 90 minutes or two hours. Amongst all the pain the world has to offer, it’s not naïve to dive head first into a football fantasy; it’s a crucial part of my human survival.
So, back to the most important point here: Italy are around 90-120 minutes of running up and down a glorified field away from cementing their version of ‘happy ever after’; the question is will it be Denmark or England who joins them?
Featured image courtsey of Mitch Rosen on Unsplash. Image license found here. No changes were made to this image.
Aarthee Pari
Aarthee is a second-year PPEist at The University of Oxford. She is passionate about social affairs and sharing the stories of the marginalised. Aside from politics, Aarthee is a keen musician, playing both piano and saxophone and harbours a secret dream to play the saxophone solo in Miss Saigon’s ‘Last Night of the World’.