Early memories
Written by JR Wednesday, 03 June 2009 09:58
I will be honest with you when it comes to writing a piece about the England national team I initially had no idea what to put down. You see, my favourite footballing memories and romances do not involve England. Its not that I am unpatriotic, but more to do with family, education, politics of the day etc. First of all my family (well mainly my Dad as it was him who I lived with) had a no interest in sport and a particular dislike for football in particular. There is also the fact that my school, family, location didn’t seem to be all that patriotic. As a young boy I can never remember being told “You are English”. Maybe occasionally I would hear the word British but what use is that to a young boy of the age of eight? Simply there was nothing there to make me feel a bond or be drawn towards the England football team. If anything being English was frowned upon by the media and education system – oh how so little has changed in the last thirty years! Anyway I am going off the subject area here which should be the England national football team (even if they do only play the role of a ‘fringe’ player in this article). In a way, this is most appropriate considering my earliest memories of international football.
When I go all the way back to my childhood, my first memories of any kind of football were the 1981 & 1982 FA Cup Finals. As an eight year old I remember being vaguely interested but not with the sort of intensity that would consume me later on in life. It was as if these cup finals were on in the background but the teams playing were not speaking out to me, not holding my attention or saying “this is the beautiful game”.Needless to say I never went on to become a Spurs fan.
It was the 1982 World Cup that really turned me on to football. The first team that spoke out to me were the 1982 Brazil side. What a team! Socrates, Eder, Falcao and Zico. Maybe it was all the colours on the TV that drew me in; the commentary from a far away land ( Spain!) or maybe it was just because this was a very special team. But whatever it was I was hooked. The flowing moves, the supreme confidence, the joy and the beautiful football had awakened something in me which would never leave (although money, greed and lack of home based talent in the modern game are testing my love for it). They made it look fun. I didn’t understand that I already had a team I should be following simply decided by the country of birth. To me it was simple, I was Brazilian.
In the end the Brazil fixation ended in heart break. It wouldn’t be the last time I would be made to feel this way simply because of the result of a football match. To me though there have only really been three international sides that are worth remembering since I started following football back in 1982. They are, Brazil 82, Argentina 86 and Holland 88. Feel free to offer up your own teams, I imagine the France 98 side may well be on your list.
Sadly I cannot recall a great England side. I suppose the closest would have to be the England side which beat Holland 4-1 in the Euro 96, although I also feel the 86 side were unlucky to run into Maradona at his peak. With the rise of club football I feel the standard of the international game has declined but this could offer England hope for the future. I don’t know what it is though; they so rarely seem to play with any natural flair or ability and often make me feel awkward watching them so who knows what is going through their minds – probably the next EPL or CL match. Maybe the next generation of young England players will create the same excitement I felt all when watching Brazil in the 1982 World Cup. I hope so for my son’s sake who unlike his Dad all those years ago will know what team to support – England.
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Dave
said:
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... I was always a big fan of Enland from a young age. This might have been because we had Scottish next door neighbours and I enjoyed their patriotism. I had to wait until I was 14 to see England in a World Cup and saw the bitter disappointment of them failing to beat Spain and failing to qualify for the next stage. In 86 when we came close, I was doing my A levels but what I remember was that it was not a big national thing..there was no going out to the pub to watch games...it was pre-middle class times...in fact I remember watching Liverpool v Juventus in the European Cup Final in 1985 with three people in a pub in Liverpool! |
Kris
said:
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early menories Good article, mate. First World Cup I have any recollection of is Italia '90 when although I remember being a very sad 7-year old when England lost on penalties in the semis (if only I'd known then that that would be the story of being an England supporter for the next 16 years) I could appreciate the great attacking team of West Geramny led by Klinsmann, and also the brilliance of a young Roberto Baggio in an Italy team that also included the goal scoring machine, Toto Schillaci. I fell in love with the World Cup then and remember watching the Goals and Highlights video almost every single weekend for about the next two years, always following it up by going in the garden to kick the ball around. As for a great World Cup team, I always think back to 1998, but not the French team, rather the Croatians, playing in their first World Cup as an independent nation. They had a solid group showing, followed by a 2nd win win over Romania and then they absolutely thumped the Germans in the quarter finals 3-0. They played beautiful attacking football and had the magic of Prosinecki and the eye for goal in Davor Suker. Sadly they went out in the semi finals to the host nation, 2-1, but were the better side on the night and just didn't have the luck. They then finished their first ever showing by beating the much-fancied Dutch in the third place play-off where davor Suker scored again to claim the tournament's Golden Boot. They really were a great side and one that I loved watching as a 15-year old boy. |
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