Jonola14

ENGLAND DEFEAT IN EURO 2004

Now that I have calmed down a bit after my seething fury last night, I would like to express my feelings about football, luck, hooliganism and the media.

Alongside several hundred other people, I was in Watford’s Walkabout for yesterday’s Portugal v England Euro 2004 Quarter Final. Football fever really has swept the nation. Fans were draped in the flag of St George, faces were painted and England shirts went back as far as the eye could see. In the pre-match build-up, people cheered whenever the big screen showed England fans or our beloved St George and booed at the sights of anything Portugese, as well as jeering whenever the detested Ronaldo appeared. The BBC showed England fans and flags, interspersed with Portugese, causing cheers and jeers in quick succession from the Walkabout crowd. Soon enough the cameras focused on a Luton Town St George which aroused the largest boo of the evening which was amusing.

But I’m not here, this time, to recount amusing incidents. This time it’s serious. England won that game fair and square, only to be robbed by an extremely poor and amateur decision. The referee was awful, not just for that controversial incident, but throughout the game. He gave a freekick to Portugal when Rooney was chasing that ball moments before he lost his boot and broke his metatarsal, but there was no contact at all with an opposing player and absolutely no way he should have been penalised.

Another incident that sticks in the memory is one of a Portugal player climbing all over the back of Darius Vassell who couldn’t jump because of him, but clearly that was a foul by the England forward and the Portugese should have another free kick.

And then there’s the Campbell/Terry “foul” in the dying seconds which is one of the worst decisions I have ever seen. Only one person in the stadium thought it was a foul and it happened to be the one man that matters. Even his assistant had begun running back to the halfway line for a restart. Was it bitterness at England beating his nation 3-0 days earlier? Was he influenced by the fact that Portugal were the home nation? Or was he just plain inept?

But it always happens to England doesn’t it. Remember Maradona in Mexico, 1986, with his infamous Hand of God that cheated England out of a semi-final place? Remember the other Sol Campbell “goal” in France ‘98 against Argentina? And now this, which brings me nicely onto a point I would like to make.

When the hell are FIFA going to get their heads out of their arses and introduce television replays for key football moments. If it had been the final ball in a cricket World Cup game and there had been a close run-out, the umpire would have consulted the television replay for the correct decision; if it had been a last minute try in the corner during the Six Nations Rugby tournament, the referee would have used a television replay for the correct decision. So why oh why do they not introduce it into football for crucial moments such as the Campbell goal? Most of the stadia have large screens that swiftly show replays anyway so why can’t they be used to make the correct decision?

Some might say that the fluidity of the game would be jeopardised by a stop-start football match, but if the television replay was only used in key moments like professional fouls, handballs in the area and disputable ‘goals’ then there would be hardly any change in the pace and motion of the game. Why doesn’t FIFA make use of modern technology and provide a fair decision instead of ruining the reputations of referees and the careers of footballers? Referees make mistakes, they are only human, but the severity of these mistakes and the consequent feeling of injustice can have hugely detrimental effects on the game and on the people involved in the game.

I’ve read articles in the media in response to the result and it angers me that they are picking on David Beckham as a scapegoat. It’s not his fault that we lost. He had a below average tournament admittedly, but you cannot heap responsibility on Beckham for the defeat. And besides, if the media hadn’t hyped up everything to the point of explosion, perhaps the players would be a bit more relaxed and be able to concentrate a bit more on playing football, rather than wondering about the sex-life of the captain, or who’s going to be the next big money signing at Chelsea.

I strongly believe that the media plays a huge role in England’s persistent disappointment. Tabloid newspapers hype-up player transfers and personal lives, not to mention huge expectation before games, in order to sell papers, to hell with the psychological effect it has on the player involved, to hell with the fact that that player will not then be 100% focused on playing football for his country because he’s incessantly pounded with questions regarding his future or personal life, and to hell with the fact that raving about one player in particular puts so much pressure on that individual that sooner or later they are going to crack (eg Beckham’s red card against the Argies in 1998). To say that the players do not read the papers is twaddle, they’ve always got reporters in their face asking them about issues outside of what is the most important thing at the time - the tournament they are playing in.

I really could rant all day, but I’m knackered from too much beer last night and I really need to go to bed. But I will say this: hooliganism is an immature, neanderthalic act carried out by thick morons whose animal instincts are too strong for the capacity of their tiny brains. It is an inability to control anger, combined with the strength in numbers mentality and a gut full of beer, but it leads to a bad reputation for the country and bad press. Bad press will lead to even worse press overseas and our nation becomes more and more disliked on the continent as a result, with countries even keener to beat us in the match which adds even more pressure to the squad, the captain and the manager.

I am devastated, along with the majority of the rest of the nation, but probably with a completely different outlook on the problems. It wasn’t just the imbecillic ref, it was the hooligans, the hype and the media that killed off our chances and once again we have to wait another two years before we can even hope to win an international trophy.

Let’s get FIFA to introduce television replays; let’s boycott tabloid media shite to dissuade them from hyping player personal lives; let’s acknowledge that we lost the match and stop looking for scapegoats; and let’s lock up hooligans for a period of time that ensures they do NOT do it again.

Thirty eight years of hurt, and counting.