I didn’t claim to. But anyone claiming there isn’t massive indifference when it comes to the national team is delusional.
1 Like
Legend… 
1 Like
I didn’t claim anything either way and I’m not delusional.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EyyWJavYk0k
[quote=“Maria, post:496, topic:2072, full:true”]
I think so, for this tournament. I would say more so than 3 Lions song. The Neil Diamond song is such a lively feel good sing a long anthem for everyone.
[/quote]
Maria…
The Red Sox have been playing it at Fenway Park for the past 20yrs…
2 Likes
England Red Sox! 
1 Like
Jaffod,
Respectfully, I look at England team as a total separate entity from the government and its policies. I look at this England team from a different perspective. They don’t represent the government or are responsible for the policies implemented by politicians. They government officials like Patel and Johnson actually encouraged our public to boo our national team players. I mean, how disgusting is that?
This team are just a bunch of earnest boys, who have come from difficult and poor backgrounds, some grew up with hunger, single parents, they also happened to have a talent in football. They care about social issues like poverty, free meals for children. Look at our Captain Henderson, he got the rest of his national team mates to raise money for the NHS and Rashford got the government to do a U turn on free school meals for vulnerable children. These lads are not political in the true sense that they support a political party. They just love the sport they play in.
I think we should support the players, they play for the people who love football, they do not represent Boris’s government, it is not the players fault. Other countries people support their national team in a patriotic way. There is a difference between extreme nationalism and patriotism.
I hope you get the jist of what I mean here.
3 Likes
Rambler,
It took me a long time reconcile myself to love England football team. I grew up in times when the England flag and Union Jack was associated as a symbol to divide people and cause hatred among communities by the National Front etc.
The booing of the national anthem and our own players taking the knee really effected me. Why are our own fans disrespecting other country’s national anthem and OUR own players who playe football for us. I am just so disheartened and angry about it. Also, I don’t understand in 2021 why they are doing it.
Having said that, I read something by Saira Khan (The one from the first series of The Apprentice and Loose Women) which got me thinking.
As I am from second generation children of immigrants, she said that she would be wearing the England flag so that she could show two fingers up all those racists who used the flag to created hatred and division and she was claiming it back for everyone regardless of the colour, religion, gender or race. She said she is cheering on and England team made of white, black, mixed race players as a collective as they represent a mosiac of this country.
She said that the only way to fight racisim is to take control over what they fight with and reclaim it back for everyone. So, it struck a chord with me and pulled my heart strings abit and then my Mum, she has a soft spot for the youngsters. I do like this England team much more than ‘The Golden Generation’.
So, I kind of softened again, we have to try and show the world, we are not part of the minority booers. We just have try and show the rest of the football watching world and that most of us are just decent fans who love the beautiful game, like any other fans who support their country in international tournaments.
6 Likes
Omg! get room you two!! 
1 Like
Hendo: Don’t you fucking dare sign for Man Shitty Jack!
1 Like
I thought I heard it in sporting venues. I thought it was an Arsenal anthem.
I keep singing that song these days, even at work! They are all going mad, telling me to stop singing it!!
1 Like
I’d agree with a lot of what you are saying Maria but you must understand a lot of people from this city feel a massive disconnect when it comes to identifying with ‘Englishness’ and that extends to support for the national team.
It is real. The likes of Rambler will come on here and make out it doesn’t exist, everyone he knows is a flag-waving, patriotic England fan, but there are a lot of people in this city who just don’t identify with it at all. It’s something nobody can quantify but it is a significant percentage especially amongst LFC fans.
I have no particular dislike for most of the England side apart from Pickford, Walker and Sterling so it’s not about hating the players, I recognise many of them are from the same backgrounds as the rest of us and many do a lot of good work in the community and with various charities. The thing is though, football in this country is fucking toxic and the game has given a platform to tens of thousands of bigots to spew their bile left, right and centre over the last 50 years and an awful lot of it has been thrown in the direction of the city of Liverpool and it’s people, therefore people like myself will associate that with the chainmail suit-wearing, St George’s cross face-paint dickheads booing other countries’ national anthems etc. Quite simply I don’t want these people to enjoy any football-related success in much the same way I don’t want Everton or either of the manc clubs winning anything.
At the end of the day it’s each to their own and there’ll be plenty on these boards who disagree with all that. That’s fine by me. I actually enjoy the England cricket and rugby teams doing well but that’s probably because I don’t associate people who follow those sports with the sort of bigotry and behaviour exhibited by those who follow the football team.
2 Likes
Let’s get a few things straight.
First of all I am not a flag waving patriot (and neither are my friends and family) and just because I support the national team, that does not make me so. Anyone who knows me in real life would find that ludicrous. My “patriotism” is most definitely confined to sporting occasions. However, I am not going to allow the minority of the boo boys amongst the England fans to prejudice that. I detest the appropriation of the St George’s cross by those people. Personally I see myself as primarily British anyway…
I am most definitely not a Tory or a Brexiteer. Anyone who remembers my contributions to the Brexit thread on TIA will vouch for that.
I agree with you Jaffod, that football is toxic and Heysel was responsible for me stopping going to Anfield and as someone who had been going to the match since I was a child in the 1950s believe me, that was a very painful decision. Some of the most memorable events in my life were Liverpool matches and especially some of the early european Anfield nights. I have been back a few times but I can’t abide the bile that rains down from the terraces and yes, that includes from Liverpool fans too so it isn’t all one way.
Maybe I have been very lucky but in my personal & business life I have always found being a proud scouser has opened doors and has been a definite ice breaker. There has always been something to talk about and people who have been to Liverpool have always said what an amazing city it is.
I suspect Jaffod, that we are poles apart in terms of personality and outlook on life and I have to accept that we probably wouldn’t enjoy a beer together but I don’t want this to turn into a feud so this will be my last interaction with you. Peace and love to you and yours.
I agree with you Maria, that I also find this group of players and the manager a more likeable lot compared to the Gerrard, Lampard, Rooney group with their WAG culture. I thought that team had an air of unearned entitlement which thankfully appears to be lacking in the present group. They seem very grounded and genuine and the manager should be congratulated for that. If we win on Sunday at least we can celebrate Maria, even if the majority on here appear to want to see us lose.
8 Likes
So I was right. It was that buffon.
3 Likes
A song I have always disliked, but there you go. We all llke different things.
1 Like
Thought bringing Henderson imminently improved England’s midfield but I’m glad Southgate sees it differently. 
Don’t know why you’d say that tbh, some of my best friends are complete bellends.
Only joking Rambler, and I think we’d have more in common than you think. Enjoy the game on Sunday, even though we want different outcomes!
These players are everything the government are others who stir populist nationalism are not.
3 Likes
What about if they lose? 
I’ve now read the article and the inference is that the losing team prize money of £8.5m will also be donated.
The article also mentions that the players have donated all of their match fees to worthy causes as well.
Absolutely fair play to them all. I’m slightly annoyed that this is the first I’ve heard about it, this sort of stuff should be widely praised and publicised.
Then they only win £8.5M which will likely still go to the NHS.
Of course this is all up in the air because of tax reasons.