Off Topic International Break Thread

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1. England are no Spain.
2. My terror would have been equal (perhaps worse) if Spain were the opponent.

Spain had Morata, England have Kane. Spain have a better midfield than England but the English defence is better. There is little to fear about the Italians, good side but more than beatable.
 
Just a reminder, but the Brazilian fans in 2014 were guilty of the following
- Booing other team's national anthems
- Jeering when the opponents strung two passes together
- Making all manner of excuses for their team's cheating
- Acting as if their team had a divine right to win the tournament
- Being enabled by incredibly sycophantic media coverage

There's a reason why the largest case of schadenfreude in human history occurred when the Germans put seven past them in their own backyard
 
Call me thick if you like but I haven't the foggiest clue what this post means!
I'm with you Maggie, most of the time I've not a clue with this goddamn interweb net thing , I'm trying to connect my phone to the hifi via bluetooth, the instructions are 1 line , simple ? Oh no the damn thing is not having it
 
Call me thick if you like but I haven't the foggiest clue what this post means!

1. Don't want you to be called a "Nazi" for your enthusiastic support
of England (in the 1930s England played Germany, and in one game
the whole England team did the Nazi salute - for "diplomatic" reasons) .

2. I was expecting an 'I may be old, but I'm not THAT old' in response. :)
 
1. Don't want you to be called a "Nazi" for your enthusiastic support
of England (in the 1930s England played Germany, and in one game
the whole England team did the Nazi salute - for "diplomatic" reasons) .

2. I was expecting an 'I may be old, but I'm not THAT old' in response. :)
That doesn't clear it up. What was with the M W and ........O business.
Are you equating taking the knee to giving the nazi salute? If not, why include it?
 
I am conflicted over this whole subject of football and flags, in fact over international sport in general. I stopped watching the Olympic games in 2004, Athens being the last one I watched. The modern Olympics had gone from a celebration of amateur sport to a professional based celebration of Country. Ironically this happened once the British aristocracy lost control of the modern games. I have continued watching international football because, again ironically, it is the one form of the game, apart from kick abouts in the park, where you can't just buy players to improve your chances, although they are stretching the rules of nationality as far as they can to get those 'best' players. I am sometimes uncomfortable with my support for Spurs and this will no doubt increase when things like the ESL are muted. That ESL incident did pretty much unite football fans in their condemnation and this shows where my confliction lies. Those same football fans are celebrating the success of Southgate's England team and wrapping themselves in the flag of St. George, which is more appropriate than the Unions Jacks that were mostly in evidence in 1966. What happens next is where in my opinion it starts to go wrong. As long as the England football team fails the issue does not arise but as soon as there is a measure of success huge numbers of the non footballing English population start joining the celebrations. From politicians to racists, xenophobes, and little Englanders and any number of unsavory characters. I have to tell you that despite being English and having spent most of my life in England I don't actually like the English very much, many people are excepted from that of course, including friends and relations and many millions of decent English humans. Why because basically the English keep voting for the Tories and keep supporting Thatcherite policies. They vote for a moron like Boris, no doubt because he made them laugh on TV. We have much in our history to be ashamed of but consistently hear from proud little Englanders. When I first left the UK in 1963 my eyes were immediately opened to how backward Britain was compared to places like Germany and France and Scandinavia. It still is in my view and Brexit just about sums up the English postion. All of this leads me to feel not just uncomfortable but angry with this thinking that winning a football match somehow justifies their narrow minded views.

Sing your songs if you like and wave your support but just be aware of how you are being used by others with their own agenda.
I agree with your sentiments by and large.
As others have been quick to point out, you can't tar everyone with the same brush, but we do seem to have large numbers of the type you describe in England.
The association with Empire is something we still haven't shaken off; "Great Britain", "Rule Britannia" etc. This unwarranted superiority complex is still with us - and it spills over through events such as this.
 
I agree with your sentiments by and large.
As others have been quick to point out, you can't tar everyone with the same brush, but we do seem to have large numbers of the type you describe in England.
The association with Empire is something we still haven't shaken off; "Great Britain", "Rule Britannia" etc. This unwarranted superiority complex is still with us - and it spills over through events such as this.
And don't get me started on the last night of the Promos

...mainly because Inside No9 took care of that a few weeks back
 
1. Don't want you to be called a "Nazi" for your enthusiastic support
of England (in the 1930s England played Germany, and in one game
the whole England team did the Nazi salute - for "diplomatic" reasons) .

2. I was expecting an 'I may be old, but I'm not THAT old' in response. :)
Quite frankly I find that insulting implying that I may be regarded as a Nazi because I enjoy supporting my country. If that is the case there must be an awful lot of Nazi's around judging by the huge support around the country. To equate something that happened 90 years ago to present day is ludicrous. I get fed up with being told I musn't be patriotic or enjoy the Last Night of the Proms. It was my parents generation who fought the Nazis. It was us kids who lived through the bombing & all the shortages for years afterwards. Thank goodness my Dad came back but so many didn't and I sometimes wonder was it all worth it? With social media dictating so much bad behaviour, booing anthems, bullying etc. So glad it was not around in my day. I am not a 'little Englander' by the way, I had a lovely Welsh Mum and just wish Wales were the other finalists. As for the other cryptic part of post I don't think I want to know....
 
Quite frankly I find that insulting implying that I may be regarded as a Nazi because I enjoy supporting my country. If that is the case there must be an awful lot of Nazi's around judging by the huge support around the country. To equate something that happened 90 years ago to present day is ludicrous. I get fed up with being told I musn't be patriotic or enjoy the Last Night of the Proms. It was my parents generation who fought the Nazis. It was us kids who lived through the bombing & all the shortages for years afterwards. Thank goodness my Dad came back but so many didn't and I sometimes wonder was it all worth it? With social media dictating so much bad behaviour, booing anthems, bullying etc. So glad it was not around in my day. I am not a 'little Englander' by the way, I had a lovely Welsh Mum and just wish Wales were the other finalists. As for the other cryptic part of post I don't think I want to know....

<applause> <applause> <applause> <applause> <applause> <applause> <applause> <applause> <applause> <applause> <applause> <applause> <applause> <applause> <applause> <applause>
 
So quick question, which a few people need to answer: when have I ever said every obnoxious, entitled bonehead making England matches insufferable to watch is a Tory supporter?

Underlining just how unpleasant this country has got with every booing of national anthems, jeering when opponents have the ball, shining laser pointers at opposition goalkeepers and making all manner of excuses doesn't make them Tories, although their behaviour sure as hell mimics the government's attitude to anything other their own wallets

And I can't help but notice those using that straw argument ignore that I've been just as critical of the nauseating fawning from pundits, be it the BBC using the same bulletpoints - 1966, "they'll become legends", 55 years, "legends" etc - since the round of 16 draw (and their internal investigation proving they aren't biased, a sentence we've heard a lot out of the BBC since 2014...) while ITV's commentary the other night saying England fans deserve to be in the final due to the last sixteen months as if we're the only country to experience Covid was downright offensive

It's like the fawning over Liverpool "deserving" to win the Premier League but on a national scale, with the entitlement of the fans and the press even more obnoxious

Just catching up on this thread. Straw-manning you was a low blow and one I apologise for. I too find a lot of the punditry and commentary in bad taste for the same reasons and I don’t like the more jingoistic elements of England fandom and English national pride in general. There’s a fine line between pride in your nation and unwarranted exceptionalism and I think it’s one that a lot of media and people in this country (and indeed many countries) don’t tread very well. Not a dig at anyone on here btw

I think we all agree, regardless of how we feel about patriotism, flag waving at football games, the last night of the proms etc., that governments use sport for their own, often divisive ends. I don’t dispute that. Sportswashing is real and it’s important to be aware of it.

I just think that expecting fans who are posting on a football thread, on a football forum, to celebrate England reaching a final which is a historic achievement for the team, to immediately caveat every post with the political disclaimer is a bit OTT. It’s a discussion absolutely worth having but in the immediate aftermath of the game I think expecting people to want that when they’re drunk on the joy of football (and significant amounts of beer lol) is perhaps unrealistic. Fair play for sticking to your guns and continuing to bring up these points though, it’s something you’re clearly passionate about even if I don’t agree with you 100% of the time. Discussion is what this place is all about and it’s ok not to agree <cheers>
 
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I still think there is too much being read into the vast number of people that love football wanting their nation to win their first major tournament for a very long time for many probably for the first time in their lifetime.

I am here for the football not the politics and I don't think the two are one and the same thing.

As for cheating, new don't cheat anymore than anyone else, certainly no more than our opponents tomorrow night do, they are and always have been masters of the darkest arts, and if we have closed the gap in order to be competitive then why should I care, 2 FIFA level referees looked at the challenges on Stirling in the semi final and decided that he was fouled, but some people here know better than the trained officials because they don't like Stirling.
 
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I still think there is too much being read into the vast number of people that love football wanting their nation to win their first major tournament for a very long time for many probably for the first time in their lifetime.

I am here for the football not the politics and I don't think the two are one and the same thing.

As for cheating, new don't cheat anymore than anyone else, certainly no more than our opponents tomorrow night do, they are and always have been masters of the darkest arts, and if we have closed the gap in order to be competitive then why should I care, 2 FIFA level referees looked at the challenges on Stirling in the semi final and decided that he was fouled, but some people here know better than the trained officials because they don't like Stirling.
Agree with the first 2 paragraphs. However you cannot tell me that trained officials are always correct, many have never played football and make astoundingly poor decisions. I am convinced Sterling dived, not because I don't like him (in many ways I admire some of his public statements) but because what I saw was not a foul in my opinion.i have no agenda except I don't like cheating and my opinion is he dived.
 
Agree with the first 2 paragraphs. However you cannot tell me that trained officials are always correct, many have never played football and make astoundingly poor decisions. I am convinced Sterling dived, not because I don't like him (in many ways I admire some of his public statements) but because what I saw was not a foul in my opinion.i have no agenda except I don't like cheating and my opinion is he dived.

No you are quite right officials are not always right, but they are the arbiters of the rules, and I whilst I don't deny that it was a 'soft' decision two players in my opinion impeded him one from behind which is as we all know is often penalised these days even if contact with the ball is made and to my eyes (as a trained official) no contact with the ball was made, whether there was sufficient contact for him to fall over is hugely debatable but whether we like it or not those decisions are given more often than not in the modern game.

I would also suggest that the ref was consistent if he got that wrong, because there was not much wrong with Shaws challenge for Denmarks free kick and even after that it should have been re-taken as the Denmark players were too close to the wall when it was taken. 2 wrongs don't make a right but they do say these things even up over time and we have had our fair share of shocking decisions in the knock out stages of tournaments.
 
Quite frankly I find that insulting implying that I may be regarded as a Nazi because I enjoy supporting my country. If that is the case there must be an awful lot of Nazi's around judging by the huge support around the country. To equate something that happened 90 years ago to present day is ludicrous. I get fed up with being told I musn't be patriotic or enjoy the Last Night of the Proms. It was my parents generation who fought the Nazis. It was us kids who lived through the bombing & all the shortages for years afterwards. Thank goodness my Dad came back but so many didn't and I sometimes wonder was it all worth it? With social media dictating so much bad behaviour, booing anthems, bullying etc. So glad it was not around in my day. I am not a 'little Englander' by the way, I had a lovely Welsh Mum and just wish Wales were the other finalists. As for the other cryptic part of post I don't think I want to know....

My family came to this country before WW1 fleeing religious persecution. We were taken in by this country and prospered. My grandfather fought in WW1, my father fought in WW2 and I also served. I don't know why I shouldn't be proud of, and thankful to this country, nor why I should not be patriotic. There is no direct link to nationalism or racism in being patriotic. As far as Rule Britannia goes, I heard an expert talking about the lyrics and he thought that "slaves" was probably in there because it rhymed with "waves" - nothing more sinister than that (sometimes the most mundane explanations are the actual ones!) But even having said that, the song says *Britons* won't be slaves. It doesn't either specify white Britons - it's completely non-discriminatory - or that Britain is going to make anyone else slaves. So I'm rather irked that people use their own interpretation, then get upset based on their own interpretation.

Having said all that there is a minority that take it all too far, and I wonder what might happen if we lose tomorrow.
 
My family came to this country before WW1 fleeing religious persecution. We were taken in by this country and prospered. My grandfather fought in WW1, my father fought in WW2 and I also served. I don't know why I shouldn't be proud of, and thankful to this country, nor why I should not be patriotic. There is no direct link to nationalism or racism in being patriotic. As far as Rule Britannia goes, I heard an expert talking about the lyrics and he thought that "slaves" was probably in there because it rhymed with "waves" - nothing more sinister than that (sometimes the most mundane explanations are the actual ones!) But even having said that, the song says *Britons* won't be slaves. It doesn't either specify white Britons - it's completely non-discriminatory - or that Britain is going to make anyone else slaves. So I'm rather irked that people use their own interpretation, then get upset based on their own interpretation.

Having said all that there is a minority that take it all too far, and I wonder what might happen if we lose tomorrow.

Well said.

Three of my grandparents were born in other countries and came to England/London to escape persecution and poverty. I am appalled by the recent return to the thinking of division and racism but I don't comprehend any reason why I should allow that to interfere with my enjoyment of tomorrow's game and to stop me celebrating if we win. This England team is socially and ethnically diverse, as is the nation that they represent. A load of ****s claiming otherwise doesn't make it so. They don't speak for me or mine and they're peddling a load of bollocks.

All this crap comes around every 40 years or so and started up in the '70's as well. Young people rejected it on favour of a culture that embraced tolerance and understanding through music that crossed all boundaries and cultures. It's time for my kids generation to do the same. I think that they will.