Classic Graun commentary on England v Germany in the Euros qualifier yesterday (before the match):
Patriotic hubris and old footballing rivalries are harder to sustain in a world becoming more closely connected
Noting that some of the players play for clubs in the opposing countries, the writer , one Philip Oltermann, who also has a book to plug, thinks this represents some sort of imagined Graun future where sporting rivalries offer
a story of increased international entwinement, at a time when Brexit has spun the two countries in different directions. As vessels for narratives about the nation state, for once, they no longer look fit for purpose. Instead, they look ahead of the curve.
So it is not just a game then?It does have some political and cultural significance? It can be watched by Islington luvvies? He offers them a few guidelines to reinfirce their cultural distance from ordinary fans. The English press offered:
pictures of Paul Gascoigne and Stuart Pearce, Photoshopped to look like second world war soldiers, were published in the Daily Mirror in 1996 [!] alongside the headline “Achtung! Surrender”....Germany’s dominance on the football pitch and the tennis courts (Boris Becker and Steffi Graf won their respective singles tournaments at Wimbledon in 1989[!] )] touched a deeper paranoia about being sidelined by what was now Europe’s largest economy....When Germany knocked England out of the Euro semi-finals in 1996, John Redwood urged Times readers to “think again about the problem of Germany”...Tabloid attempts to frame that encounter in terms of martial conflicts of the past – “Let’s blitz Fritz” wrote the Sun in 1996 – look in hindsight more like desperate diversion tactics, a case of “Don’t mention the economy”
Meanwhile the cosmopolitan and only slightly superior Germans:
have spoken of the clash in more celebratory tones. “To play against England at Wembley, that’s awesome”, said midfielder Leon Goretzka....One reason for this has purely to do with sport: Germany’s real grudge matches are against teams that have inflicted painful defeats, like Italy or the Netherlands. Matches against England, by contrast, tend to produce happy memories: England have won only six out of 24 matches against West and reunified German teams since 1966. Germany won England’s last match at the old Wembley stadium, and the first after it was demolished and rebuilt. “Four World Cups and three European Championships” is the correct response to England’s “Two World Wars and one World Cup” chant.
The cultural critics (with popular history books to write) just cannot move on. It's like all that stuff about the return of Teddy Boys and fears of Napoleon (elsewhere) their parents used to frighten them with.
The Times had a slightly different account from its man in Hamburg, incidentally, describing German fans singing not Ode to Joy but a parody of the UK national anthem based on their goalkeeper as king.
Meanwhile, the Gru report today of the England fans' reactions to the match and the win did not seem too hostile.
[The mood] ranged from quiet confidence to bold optimism...“Germany’s not very good at the moment, and the English team are fit and young,”...“I’m nervous, I can’t lie, it’s risky. But I think the side is balanced and they’ll come through with a masterstroke. I see us going through to the quarter-finals,” said an assured Wasam.[probably not a white racist?]... “This is a new England. The side has good penalty-takers, they’re young, fit, confident – I believe we could win this,” said a vibey Ali as the pair bopped to Mas Que Nada [that old racist chant] ...“I reckon we’ll scrape by.”...“It just proves anything can happen,” said 26-year-old Sarah Asher on her way to the pub to celebrate England’s first knockout win against Germany in 55 years.
No-one mentioned the War.
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