Stop toadying to FIFA over our role in beautiful game
YOU know the genius of Three Lions? It’s got two choruses. That’s why it’s such an ear worm. Kids who weren’t born in 1996 can belt it out, word perfect, almost after the first time of hearing. Chorus one: ‘It’s coming home, it’s coming home . . . ’ The second chorus gives the song its title: ‘Three lions on a shirt, Jules Rimet still gleaming . . . ’ By the end it’s all chorus, no filler, as the strands intertwine. It’s irresistible. Beyonce’s Single Ladies is the same. ‘All the single ladies, oh, oh, oh . . . ’ and ‘If you liked it then you should have put a ring on it . . . ’ Two choruses. It’s not easy being clever with music but, as a country, we are. So as we now appear to have to apologise for everything else we do well, let’s not start apologising for having good tunes, too. The FA are now the English FA because the precious mandarins of FIFA cannot tolerate any reminder of where the game originated. And heaven forbid that any excited speculation follows England’s appearance in a first World Cup semi-final in 28 years. That, as we all know, is arrogant. Unlike Dejan Lovren declaring himself among the best defenders in the world before becoming part of the first back line to concede four in a World Cup final in 48 years; or the newspaper
Vecernji List announcing before the match: ‘Croatia and France will now decide who plays the best football on the planet. It’s Croatia, don’t even doubt that!’ Because that wasn’t arrogant at all. Graeme Souness was among those who claimed Three
Lions’ sense of entitlement acted as inspiration for foreign opponents, but he misses the point. Three Lions must be the only nationally adopted football song that embraces failure as much as success. It’s about hope, not expectation. Hope after years of disappointment. It speaks of football coming home because it coincided with a home tournament; and because England was the original home of football, not because it is a triumphalist anthem. And, no, football does not have a single home now. It is a global game, as readily associated with Brazil, Germany or France, as its founding nation. Yet few countries have acknowledged this development more than England, often to the detriment of its own players, within the cosmopolitan Premier League. So while the FA feel they must toady to FIFA and play down their role in football’s history, at least leave the rest of us free to sing its pop songs without censure. Danny Baker, still a world-class broadcaster, said that on Wednesday night he watched the match with his friend Danny Kelly. When it was over, they were disappointed, but because they have a love greater than football, put on some records and decided it was going to be all right. That’s the spirit. We’re English. We’re good at music; we don’t need FIFA’s permission for that.