England fails again (Source: here)
The England men's football team last won a major international football tournament in 1966. This is closer to the outbreak of World War I than today.
There is huge frustration with the team’s performances in international tournaments. the ongoing Euros is no exception. They play badly. They punch far below their weight.
It is all a bit of a mystery, because everyone agrees - including undersigned - that most of the players on the England team are world class.
Just look at how Harry Kane, Phil Foden, and Bukayo Saka perform at club level.
England's poor performances are all the more puzzling, because the English Premiership – breeding ground for English talent – is the strongest national league on the planet.
English club teams regularly take home the Champions League trophy.
So why does it all fall apart when the players don an England shirt?
England's poor performances actually have nothing to do with the players. Instead, it has everything to do with the English supporters, the English media, and English history.
In short, it is about English culture.
In all other countries, the national football team benefits from the nation’s unconditional support. Like in England, there is great hope in the run-up to tournaments that the national team will win, but also a realistic expectations that it may not.
And losing, should it happen, while sad, is no ground for recrimination. The press, supporters, and pundits close ranks with the players, sharing their ups and downs and enjoying the ride wherever takes them.
Not so in England.
When it comes to the England men's football team, the backing of fans, the press, pundits, and the country as a whole cannot be taken as a given. When the team does well, the whole country goes mad with excitement, but when it does badly the nation comes down on the players like a ton of bricks.
Support is for the England men's team is patently not unconditional.
There is no better illustration of England's fickle support for its footballers than the treatment metered out to David Beckham, one of the greatest football talents England has ever produced. During a match against Argentina in the 1998 World Cup, David Beckham was sent off after, while on the ground, petulantly kicking out at Diego Simeone.
It wasn't even that bad. Beckham's fateful error (Source: here)
England went on to lose in a penalty shoot-out. The nation’s fury knew no bounds. Beckham was labelled a disgrace. He had let down the country. For the entire 1998-99 football season, he was booed every time he touched the ball. He got spat on and abused when he walked down the street. He was 23 years old. The abuse left him clinically depressed (see here)
Beckham kicks his way to forgiveness (Source: here)
Then, suddenly, England U-turned on Beckham. In October 2001, Beckham scored a brilliant free kick against Greece to secure the all-important point that guaranteed English qualification to the 2002 World Cup. Beckham scored in the third minute of stoppage time. The pressure on the young man must have been immense. But Beckham delivered. He had been immense all game, as, indeed, he was throughout his career. The Guardian wrote after the match,
“At times the captain (Beckham) was almost playing Greece on his own, and no one worked harder in twice bringing England back from a goal down.”
Beckham was forgiven.
Why does England subject its brilliant young talents to this kind of treatment?
The answer is that when the English players put on the England shirt, they become England. And when they fail, they don’t just lose a game, they fail the country. They become traitors.
To understand, we have to go back to the days of Empire. The British Empire was the largest empire the world has ever known, reaching its zenith in 1919 with the acquisition of Germany’s East and West African colonies and Samoa at the Treaty of Versailles.
The British Empire then underwent the fastest collapse in world history. In 1922, Britain lost Ireland and Egypt. In 1948, India left. By the late 1960s, most of the other colonies were gone and in 1975 Britain had to go begging bowl in hand to the IMF for help.
The English psyche has not been able to keep up with this pace of decline. The English still feel entitled to the greatness that came with Empire. They feel they deserve to win. Deep down they still believe they are better than other people.
This is why the English sing about football coming home. They believe football belongs to England. So when others countries win, to the English it feels like England’s prize is taken from them.
It is a tad arrogant to think the home of football is England, no? (Source: Youtube)
England's unique sense of entitlement puts enormous pressure on the country's young football players. Very few can handle it. The young players get intimidated and scared, so they perform less well than their true abilities. Sometimes, like with Beckham, they go through hell. Either way, the pressure is not conducive to good performance on the park.
Moreover, it is likely that the England men’s football team will continue to underperform until England ditches its twisted sense of entitlement to victory, until England starts to support its young players unconditionally.
The performance problem is far more pronounced in football than in other sports. Why? Because men’s football is the English national sport. It is hugely popular. Many people play it, even more watch it.
Football also has strong working-class roots and many people the working class still buy into the idea of English greatness.
Women’s football in England does not (yet) have the status of men’s football, so unreasonable performance pressures are less of a problem in the women’s game. Maybe that's why the England women’s team plays with greater freedom and flair. The women also perform better in tournaments than the men, winning the 2022 Euros as well as the 2023 Finalissima tournament.
The problem of unrealistic performance expectations is also less pronounced in other sports, such as cricket and rugby, because these sports cannot claim to be as representative of the country as football. Besides, cricket and rugby were traditionally played by the middle and upper classes, which have always found clever ways to forgive themselves.
Still, due to its roots in the British Empire, the entitlement issue also afflicts other aspects of English society. For example, frustrations stemming from the failure to come to terms with the decline of empire played a pivotal role in Britain’s decision to leave the European Union, with huge numbers of English people voting for Brexit in the mistaken belief that Britannia would once again rule the waves, as long as it was free from the shackles of Europe.
England's mounting troubles since leaving the EU have illustrated the error of this belief.
Which is why, today, the English are angry. Like Beckham, they have failed the country.
The End