Photo: Asif Burhan / Kick it out.org
Englishman Simon Moyse wrote about soccer for the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, and now has his own site called Are you serious Englishman?
England v Iceland: This Time, England Not Ready to Leave Europe
by Simon Moyse
The flag of St George is everywhere, emblazoned with logos and messages. A campaign based brazenly around xenophobia and hatred. Acts of extreme stupidity, justified in the name of misguided patriotism.
Wait, are we talking about the Leave campaign, or the acts of English hooligans in France?
In truth, both are born from the same basic antipathy that England has towards Europe. It has often been said that we English view the 20 miles of the English Channel as a much more significant barrier to relations than the vast Atlantic Ocean, even after they built a bloody tunnel under it, and there is a lot of truth to that.
On the one hand, the UK has always enjoyed (or, at least, aspired to enjoy) a ‘special relationship’ with the United States. (They even made reference to it in the movie ‘Love, Actually’, when the American President was attempting to bang Tiffany from Eastenders. But that British institution, at least, refused to be violated by the Americans, hurrah!).
US president played by Billy Bob Thornton & Martine McCutcheon in Love Actually
Photo:fanpix.net
Former Prime Minister Tony Blair, for example, made so many references to it during his time at the helm that a movie of the same name was made about it. Britain’s relationship with Europe, on the other hand, has always been characterized by a certain amount of antipathy and distrust.
The UK trudged very grudgingly into the European Union (or the ‘European Economic Community’, as it was back then) in 1973, a full 22 years after the creation of the European Coal and Steel Community, the forerunner of the organization. Even thereafter, the UK retained a considerable reluctance to engage fully as a European partner, exemplified by its decision not to adopt the Euro.
Some aspects of the organization, such as the infamous subsidy programs of the Common Agricultural Policy, have long been the subject of ridicule amongst the British, as well as the more bizarre regulations around, among other things, how bendy your bananas are allowed to be. To am Englishman, having Johnny Foreigner playing around with your banana is about the worst thing that could possibly happen.
Of course, Britain’s exit from the European Union has as much to do with its fear of immigrants as it does with its dislike of the French and Germans.
It makes me very sad, because Britain’s multiculturalism is a big part of what makes it great. Just last month, I felt an incredible pride in my home town when Sadiq Khan, a Muslim, was elected Mayor of London.
Simultaneously, British people were excited by the exploits of British Muslim Amir Khan in his title fight against Mexico’s Saul ‘Canelo’ Alvarez, going up two weights to challenge his more illustrious opponent and making a very good fight of it. But that undercurrent of exclusion also still exists in Britain.
Much will be written on this over the coming days, but let’s be very clear – the Leave campaign in the UK and the Trump election campaign in the US are very much born from the same philosophy. Anyone who thinks that Trump can’t win needs to get their head out of the sand very, very quickly. The US, like the UK, has a large proportion of people who have no understanding of politics or economics beyond ‘I Love My Country’, who can be easily swayed by those who preach division in the name of patriotism.
And then there is the European Championships. Ahh patriotism.
What a blurred concept that is, and such a thin line between it and other, less pleasant concepts. In truth, maybe David Cameron’s biggest mistake was calling the referendum during the European Championships. It’s always struck me that there is an inherent contradiction in the way we talk about these sporting occasions ‘bringing nations together’, while simultaneously celebrating the patriotism of the fans who follow it.
“The Leave campaign in the UK and the Trump election campaign in the US are very much born from the same philosophy. “
There’s nothing like a major soccer tournament to bring out the xenophobia in a lot of Englishmen, that’s for sure. Well, except for a war. It has often been speculated that Margaret Thatcher took such a keen interest in the Argentine invasion of the Falklands/Malvinas in 1982 because she knew she had an election coming the following year, and the groundswell of patriotic feeling would drive her to victory, which it duly did (although I’m sure the island’s large English-speaking penguin population was very relieved to avoid being ruled by Johnny Foreigner). But soccer comes in a close second on the jingoism scale.
In England, as in most European countries, the European Championships is really just as big as the World Cup when it comes to the patriotic fervor it generates. The whole country literally comes to a standstill on days when England have a game in these tournaments. Pretty much everyone, even those who have no interest in soccer the rest of the time, will stop and find a pub to go watch the game. The country experiences a huge patriotic jolt. So it is entirely plausible to me that the timing of the vote, during Euro 2016, was a factor in the result. Maybe Cameron timed it that way so he could get some time off to watch the knockout stages?
Regardless, while Britain contemplates the economic impact of its own stupidity, three of the home nations get to distract themselves with a round of sixteen game in the European Championships (will Scotland take the opportunity to sneak out of the United Kingdom while nobody is paying attention, I wonder?).
Northern Ireland voted to Remain in the EU
While Wales and Northern Ireland face each other tomorrow in Paris, England have to wait until Monday to face off against the minnows from Iceland in Nice, a city with a fountain in it.
Iceland, clearly, have been a breath of fresh air in this tournament, riding their ‘nothing to lose’ mentality and their ‘230% of the population are in France supporting the team’ statistics to an impressive second place in their group. For all their declarations of underdogness, this Iceland team is clearly no joke, having finished second in their qualifying group, a full seven points ahead of the Netherlands and beating the orange ones home and away along the way.
At the very least, for sparing us the sight of Arjen Robben diving around on his ass for three weeks, we should all salute them. Their performance in the group stage, finishing ahead of Portugal and Austria, should only serve to confirm that this is an opponent that England should not take lightly.
In part 2 of this article, I’ll look forward to England’s European challenge on the pitch.
