Or, for the illiterati of today, fone-etik-ully. Luckily for us, the sound of a few thousand patriotic French should drown out the dirge of 70-80k Franglais singers.
Calling off the Belgium-Spain game seems a bit of an admission by the Belgians that they can't handle their own security.
However, in a far smaller but also significant way, in terms of the sheer practicalities, so has the number of injuries England have sustained. Seventeen players are now out, with Fabian Delph, suffering from “fatigue”, the latest withdrawal yesterday. The Manchester City midfielder’s absence meant a late call-up for Tottenham Hotspur midfielder Ryan Mason, who was added to the squad the day after Manchester United’s Jesse Lingard. It will, Hodgson said, be a young team – “six under 22”, he claimed. “There will be 11 on the field, many quite young, making debuts even. It’ll be a big night for them. We mustn’t forget that is an important moment for them, and we want them to enjoy playing football. “I hope when the whistle goes it’ll be about football: the French trying to beat us, and us them. But, around that, the discussion and thoughts are around the fact this game is being played.” Lingard, 22, is unlikely to start, but will probably feature as a substitute, with Hodgson revealing that he had spoken to Louis van Gaal, the United manager, about selecting the winger, who has made just eight first-team appearances for his club. Van Gaal said last week that a call-up would be “too early” for the player. “I can understand why he said that,” Hodgson said. “But the situation has changed enormously. He gave his blessing without any problem whatsoever.” But that now felt like a very minor issue. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/fo...s-FA-Chief-after-Paris-terrorist-attacks.html
It could be done using the Latin alphabet in the way that Japanese is written out for foreigners. Using the Latin alphabet doesn't mean you need to know Latin!
To be fair, I think the Belgian police have quite enough to worry about at the moment, without 50,000 football fans rocking up.
I'm at ship in dunswell playing darts tonight But will attempt to sing along with the "La Marseillaise" .. **** knows what the Old codgers I play with will think but.. **** um...
We had a minutes silence at my work on Monday, I can actually speak French and was tempted to sing their anthem for work colleagues but for the fact that the footage would probably find its way onto the internet. I'd like to see the England fans have a go at singing it or humming it, but like OLM says enough of them probably struggle enough with our own anthem so haven't got high hopes
The French anthem is also a reminder of the circumstances that lead to the popularity of football in Victorian Britain.
The French Revolution of 1789 was the catalyst. Aristocrats in Britain thought the French Monarchy would be restored to it's former glory (which it was but with much less power after the defeat of Napoleon) and the socialist upstarts put in their rightful place. When it became apparent that France had changed for good and that events such as the Peterloo incident in Manchester were stirring the working classes, laws were passed to placate the workers in Britain. The Reform Act, the Repeal of the Corn Laws and the Factory Acts were all aimed at the working classes. It was the Factory Acts in the 1840's and 1860's (IIRC) that gave workers a shorter working week. With this new found leisure time (mainly on Saturdays) people were free to explore hobbies including the various codes of the embryonic sport of football. As more sports clubs sprang up (mainly in the industrial north and midlands) so did the participation from local people. By the 1870's association football was a popular and growing spectator sport. Saturday afternoons would never be the same again...
The Spanish only ever hum or la la their anthem. There are no words to it as great rivalry between the regions has made it impossible to come up with words that don't please one Spaniard and antagonise another.
