Patriotism, hype and my fave team

I’m sick of seeing England flags, I really am. My neighbourhood is festooned with them, they now even hang across the street - they are seemingly everywhere. I was over at Newark a couple of days ago having a drink with my dad and a pub even had small goal posts in the gents urinals with balls dangling on string, I’m sure you can guess where you had to aim! So, with patriotism sweeping the nation, I have to ask myself, is it the right kind of patriotism?

Personally I have to say no. My reason for this is I find it sad that as a nation we get so excited about football but don’t get worked up about things that matter, take for instance the recently announced 512 Million NHS deficit or the state of public transport. We’d rather go out and support a mass marketing exercise and be sheep, follow the crowd and buy England flags. There are plenty of reasons as a nation we can be patriotic, our multiculturalism, our cities and countryside, our actors and the list could go on but why get sooooo excited about football?

Now for my actual football thoughts;

I do like football, though I’m not fanatical about it, I follow Notts County and do go and watch them occasionally but the team I’m going to look out for and cheer in this world cup is……. France. My reason for this is years ago, back in the 82 and 86 world cups they played fab football against teams like Brazil and Germany – with the gifted Michel Platini et al. I recall as a boy watching the nail biting world cup in Spain 1982 when France lost to Germany on penalties, it was a heartbreaker to watch and from that moment onwards I made a point of looking out for them.

I was to be rewarded in the next world cup – Mexico 86, when France played some more excellent Football, in the first round they beat the much fancied Hungary 3-0, then came the second round when the beat Italy, winners of the previous world cup 2-0. Then to my amazement in quarter finals they went onto beat the mighty Brazil 4-3 on penalties after a 1-1 draw. Alas the semi final was tinged with irony as they met Germany again and lost 2-0.

Despite cruel losses France won the European championships in 1984 with Michel Platini dominating the competition as the leading goal scorer. Platini retired early aged 32 scoring a fantastic 41 goals for France over 72 matches. I’ll never forget the flair and valour of the France squad from that era, characters such as Giresse, Rocheteau, Six, Tigana, Bats, Six and of course the immortal Platini. France did of course go on to win the world cup in 1998 when they beat Brazil 3-0, of course it was a totally different squad then and watching it I found myself thinking about Platini and his squad and wishing they’d have won back in the 80’s.

Of course, I’d like to see England do well, I'm patriotic too despite the total hype, marketing overkill and bogus patriotism. Before anyone reading this thinks I’m not all there for cheering France on, remember this – Football is a world sport where anyone should be able to cheer on any team regardless of colour and country. The world cup should be treated as a celebration of football and not down to narrow minded and sometimes violent bandwagon patriotism.

Platini