Gill writes:
It could be suggested that tonight kickstarts a summer of sport, although cricket fans amongst you would say it’s already started (which is more than could be said for the meteorological summer!). Whatever your starting point, we have T20 World Cups for men and women, the Tour de France, Wimbledon, the British F1 Grand Prix, the men and women’s golf ‘Open’, the Olympics, Paralympics and kicking off tonight – the Euros 2024.
I’m not much of a football fan (unlike my Toon Army son who is currently blasting out ‘Local Hero’ as I write!), but I do quite enjoy tournaments like the World Cup and Euros. Apart from the penalty shoot-outs obviously.
It seems to me, as a bit of an outsider, that football has its positives and negatives. Having grown up in the 70’s, the image of hooliganism is etched on my memory. I’ve always found the strong team allegiances to the point of divisiveness extremely disconcerting. And I am fully aware that there will be a sharp increase of domestic abuse if our teams don’t do well.
On the other hand, football brings people from all sorts of backgrounds and countries together. It enables a sense of community and a feeling of being part of something bigger. I think that when you peel it all back, you’ll find that right at the heart of being a football fan is having a sense of belonging. Not dissimilar to being involved in politics or religion then.
For once, I’m focusing not on the lyrics of a song particularly, but the feelings that it conjures up. This song was written for the 1990 England World Cup team by the members of New Order with Keith Allen (actor and producer) and was their only Number One (despite some real classics like Blue Monday and True Faith). It broke the mould of national football team songs – previous examples being Scotland’s ‘We Have a Dream’ and England’s ‘This Time’ for the 1982 World Cup.
This was the first England football song that didn’t sound too out of place in pubs and nightclubs and prompted a little arm-pumping dance that fans in the stadiums would do. It seemed to tap into the changing culture of football which was beginning to embrace a more tolerant and peaceful approach, moving away from football fan troubles of the previous decades.
It exuded positivity and self-expression – express yourself. It encouraged determination and staying power – let everyone see you never give up. It reminded us that love beats hate every time – love’s got the world in motion and I know what we can do. And, in my opinion, it is also a banging song that friends and strangers happily belted out together (though I do recognise that this probably excludes friends from other countries – sorry).
So here’s to a summer of sport. Good luck to Scotland tonight; and England on Sunday.
See what New Order are up to at the moment at https://www.neworder.com/
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