I was ecstatic as a 13 year old that England won the World Cup. But why? My rationale 60 years later is that I was perhaps swept along with the nationalistic comments of all around me. My father who had been in WW2 hated the Germans with some justification (his photo of those he joined up with was punctuated with the words dead. Flags were waved and I was proud to be English. However my favorite football shirt was Scotland! I guess I knew the players of England better than those of Germany.
However on my travels abroad I never felt the need to extol my Englishness of Britishness – indeed I was often ashamed of our historic thuggery and pillaging, So I will be unable to block my support for unknown personal/players at the next World Cup. Messi and Ronaldo will be gone or nearly, Yamal will weave his genius, Bellingham will star for England along with Harry Kane, Mbappe will also star along with others. I like football more than my country! No Englishman gets in the GOAT list – Pele, Maradona, Cruyff, Beckinbaurer and Bobby Moore would be a shout, George Best, Drogba. Who cares what nationality they are? Usain Bolt was amazing but not English – who fucking cares?
So nationalism and patriotism are pathetic excuses for the need to replace self-confidence with the need to belong. I guess most people do it – the need to belong, to join a club or even a political party. Everyone I know will not support every aspect of the person they vote for. Is party politics an anachronism based on party loyalty? I am not going to march under the banner/flag of anyone who has fundamental differences to me. I have been there and done that with Blair.
I realise a fundamental flaw in my argument – if asked about hanging – I would guess that a majority would vote for it to be irestarted, despite the possibility of an innocent person being murdered. But why are we voting for parties based on ?