International Football - A very personal view. (Football in General)

Name: jamiewilson_8

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Product:	Football in General
Date:	23/06/02 (27 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Escapism, Helps the summer pass

Disadvantages: Cockneys, Part Time Supporters

International Football.
A very personal view.

I'm sure I reach you at a time of sadness, still disappointed by the result and performance in losing to Brazil this week. However, I urge you all to take a step back, and to reflect upon what is really important in the world of football.

The bread and butter of football is League football. This is a fact. Newcastle United, Sunderland Man Utd or whoever - the international scene is but a romantic diversion. The World Cup keeps us going through the summer until the cut and thrust of proper football resumes for another season of thrills and spills, trials and tribulations.

There are four types of England fan, and I am very happy to include myself in category four. However, I also know, and call my friends, those who fall in the other groups.

A quick look at the St Georges Flags that grace England Internationals reveals my first group of fans – the ‘Nationwide’ supporters. These flags have embedded across them the likes of‘Northampton Town’ or ‘Grimsby’. Their support of England is part of a natural quest to escape the mediocrity of their stadia, volume of support and quality of football that they endure domestically. They know England is their best hope of glory and quality, and so, for them, becomes a welcome alternative from freezing Tuesday night fixtures at Torquay with the rain pissing down on them and the other couple of hundred poor souls who have braved the elements to follow their local team. I have nothing but respect for lower league fans – they are the salt of the earth as far as football support is concerned. I don’t for a second begrudge them the escapism that supporting England provides.

The second group are Cockneys. It’s a sad fact that foreign fans leaving Wembley will take back as their idea of a typical English football fan some sort of floppy hat wearing cockney tosser with a nick
name like ‘Bubble’. This is the inevitable consequence of playing our home internationals in London, and as such it is very hard for someone living in the North of England to find a true infinity with the national side – especially if they support a higher division club side. Thankfully Wembley’s demise has seen the England ‘road show’. Fans at Old Trafford, St James Park and Anfield have shown the capital how to support their country properly.

The third group of England fans are the band-wagoners. Every four years gulfs of ‘ra-ra’ types with no real love of football decide that they are die-hard fans, and attempt to hijack our beautiful game. I don’t want to talk too much about this lot – as quite simply I’ll work myself up into some sort of angry rambling tirade. Suffice it to say that come the start of the new domestic season these parasites will be back to the difficult and thankless job of being a half-arsed supporters of whatever team happens to be riding high in the Premier League. “Oh I support United of course, but I might change to Arsenal – they were frightfully good last season.”

Then there is the fourth group. We are football fans. We support our chosen side through the good times and the bad, and come the World Cup we support England. We re-arrange our lives to watch each game, no-matter what ungodly time it reaches us in good old ‘Blighty’.

But here is the controversial part: deep down we don’t really care. You can indulge in all the self-denial that you like, but it’s true. Given the choice between our club side winning the League or FA Cup, and the national side triumphing in some foreign land – the priority has to be domestic every time. And, deep deep down again, we know that we won’t win. Don’t get me wrong, I was gutted when we lost against Brazil – but I soon realised that w
hether it be the quarter, semi or the final itself – England would have lost. It’s sad, but it’s true. This may be hard to accept, but quite simply, unless ‘football comes home’ and we host the event again, we will not win the World Cup. Period. Honour in defeat is the best we can hope for.

Okay, so you want an analogy, here goes. Club football is a marriage – it may not be a blissful one, but who cares – you are in love. You have your differences, and will fall out from time to time (maybe even frequently) but you know that at the end of the day you wouldn’t swap your side for any other anyone else – you are as one, and cannot be separated. Your mate’s side may be winning stuff right left and centre but you would sooner hold out for the possibility of yours winning something than running off with someone else’s.

Meanwhile, International Football is the holiday romance that you indulge in and enjoy but no has no real substance. It is, if you like the ‘dumb blonde’. Sure we love watching the silky Brazilians, we love seeing the plucky underdogs taking on the world superpowers – and when they win we laugh and cheer! Senegal and South Korea have been wonderful this summer. But can four weeks every four years really rival the dedication of a 10-month domestic campaign? Of course it can’t. Don’t get me wrong, football needs international competition – but for me it will never be more than a distraction from the serious business of supporting my local club – the club whose colours flood through the veins.

England lost on Friday, and on the Saturday morning my Newcastle United Season Ticket arrived. I’m still upset that England failed when they had such a golden chance to go all the way, but, ‘c’est la vie’ as they say. For me Newcastle United is the only team that matters. England just keeps me ti
cking over until the start of another season. Who knows, this year could even be the one….

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