EURO 2021 - A Reflection

 

Last night the English football team lost to the Italians in the final of the Euro 2021 match. They had played well, and many had commented on the good example they were setting; yet, as a consequence, they have been abused and insulted. The appalling behaviour of some fans is the subject of criticism by government ministers and comments on this morning’s ‘Today’ programme on Radio 4. Yet it was the BBC who decided to schedule ‘The Darkest Hour’, a film about Churchill and plans for the evacuation of Dunkirk, on the eve of the match; a cynical piece of programme planning that left no room for doubting that this was another way of supporting ‘our boys’ and reminding the country that we beat the Nazis (and their Axis partner, Italy) in the end. The final against Italy was, therefore, to be  played out in the context of World War 2.

The media have been clearly involved in hyping the English team to a point of hysteria and must bear a large part of the blame for creating the climate where violence would break out. The BBC, whom I have supported and seen as a bulwark against popularism, is meant to be the ‘British’ Broadcasting Corporation but have acted as if England = Britain: no wonder many Scots (or Welsh) feel ignored and their place in the Union forgotten. For some days more than half the 'national' news broadcasts were dovoted to football ignoring the fact this is mean to be about all the news and not just a particular sport. The popularist excitement and expectation created by the media should be of concern and I had expected more of that broadcaster created by Lord Reith to set an example to the whole nation, one which would uphold certain standards in broadcasting. Yet, in the past decade or so, its quality has diminished as it has sought to ‘reflect the nation’ and has now shown just how ignorant are some of its present producers and executives. I hope the BBC will help us reflect on the place of football in national life and remind people that it is just another sporting game – and consider how they need to regain their own integrity if they are to fulfil their responsibility.