The beautiful game
I miss football. I hadn’t realised how much, until I started watching the EURO 2020 Championship. It’s been about two years since I last watched my home team AFC Wimbledon playing. Since then we raised enough money as a community and with donors, to build the new stadium on Plough Lane and Wimbledon are finally home. But there were no fans in attendance for the recent League One matches. And we all look forward to being able to go soon.
Sport is important. It unites. We may need it now more than ever, as places around the world become more polarised. Do you remember how Nelson Mandela used rugby to bring South Africans together for the Springboks’ win in 1995? Sport unifies through a common goal. And as we’ve found in many countries, sport can be a means to forging friendships, across the world.
We’ve been watching Euro 2020 on TV and really enjoying many of the matches. And with each one there is the inevitable discussion about who you want to win. It got me thinking about attachments and affiliations with different countries.
Who do we support, when we put patriotism to one side?
I did some simple maths. I left our family home in London and moved away for university, when I was turning 20. In 30 years of my adult life, I’ve spent 20 of those years in other countries; N.Z, Zambia, Japan, U.A.E, South Africa, Kenya, Indonesia, Italy and Norway.
Whether you go to a place for five months or five years, how much do you let that place into your heart?
This can all come to the surface when it comes to sport, any sport. You can find yourself cheering for many teams, for many reasons.
Tonight Italy meet Spain at London’s Wembley Stadium, with up to 60,00 fans in attendance. Quarantine rules in U.K mean that there will be no supporters travelling from Italy or Spain. Tomorrow England will play at home, against Denmark.
So, who are you supporting, in EURO 2020?
© Maggie M / Mother City Time
Hi Maggie,
Yes indeed, it doesn’t seem to matter how long you have been away and whether you ever intend going back (in my case 26 years and no) you still support ‘your’ team. Of course I am rooting for England and really hoping for them to win the tournament, but much more important to me is that my beloved Bolton Wanderers continue to build on the success of last season by challenging for back to back promotions this season. You are probably aware by now that we play your guys in the second game of the season (having started the campaign, somewhat ironically, with a game against MK Dons). Two wins to get the season going will make me a happy bunny!