Post by chiff on Jul 2, 2006 20:21:55 GMT
IT is for England. And it brings to a conclusion a fortnight plus five years of muppetry.
Lets get one thing clear. I am NOT an England FOOTBALL supporter. In these days of mass communications, it might sound surprising to some of you younger correspondents that the North/South divide brought about a bigger Nationalism than anything the Scots could dream of.
And England was for the southerners. It was all at Wembley. In 66, we had Brazil, Hungary, Portugal and Bulgaria (and bloody good it was too!!!) but the southerners had England. Of course I went to the Semi and the Final - believe it or not they couldn't sell the tickets for love or money but that was the last time I saw England. And I supported the North. Lancs and Utd and I didn't even mind LIverpool in those days except having to pay the local rabble to leave the car alone.
Anyway, unlike some of my respected scribes, I looked at the WC objectively. I was not impressed. "But we're winning" they said. Against who I thought. The fact was they were playing like tarts. All show for the punter mut not much satisfaction. OK they were found out after playing the most passionate football ever and I was upset. For the first time in I don't know how long, I wanted them to win and they deserved it. Despite Sven and his bunch of never have-beens, they found something. In vain but it was good for an hour to see.
Lets get one thing clear. I am NOT an England FOOTBALL supporter. In these days of mass communications, it might sound surprising to some of you younger correspondents that the North/South divide brought about a bigger Nationalism than anything the Scots could dream of.
And England was for the southerners. It was all at Wembley. In 66, we had Brazil, Hungary, Portugal and Bulgaria (and bloody good it was too!!!) but the southerners had England. Of course I went to the Semi and the Final - believe it or not they couldn't sell the tickets for love or money but that was the last time I saw England. And I supported the North. Lancs and Utd and I didn't even mind LIverpool in those days except having to pay the local rabble to leave the car alone.
Anyway, unlike some of my respected scribes, I looked at the WC objectively. I was not impressed. "But we're winning" they said. Against who I thought. The fact was they were playing like tarts. All show for the punter mut not much satisfaction. OK they were found out after playing the most passionate football ever and I was upset. For the first time in I don't know how long, I wanted them to win and they deserved it. Despite Sven and his bunch of never have-beens, they found something. In vain but it was good for an hour to see.
