Euro 2020 – Success for England is not success for the Government

In recent weeks the football or rather Euro 2020 has been on everyone’s mind and lips. Like most English people I have been wrapped up in the drama and excitement of it all; especially as the weeks have gone on and England have managed to reach the final [the first time they have done so in any major tournament since 1966]. England’s success in the tournament, be it they win or lose, has provided a significant amount of light in the darkness of Covid. It has brought such relief and joy and the tournament has just gone to show how big sporting events can become personal and how they so clearly mean a lot to people. To people’s happiness and perhaps even their prosperity; which I think has been so important and positive after the unpredictability of the past year. However, like most things I have managed to find a problem somewhere in all of this.

Like most of my problems they are routed in the complete disgrace of the Conservative party, which has only been further fuelled by the way they have dealt with Covid in this country. I suppose some background is required in order to set the scene for my argument. During the NFL in 2016 the player Colin Kaepernick began taking the knee during the national anthem in order to comment on the racial injustices in the country as well as in sport. There was a significant amount of argument about this statement from Kaepernick at the time, however the movement gained more momentum during the growth of the Black Lives Matter movement in recent years [particularly after the murder of George Floyd] and the growing awareness of continued racial injustices.

As a result of this growth in momentum many different athletes began to follow the action in a show of solidarity and support to the racial injustices in sport and society. This undoubtedly reached European Football matches and many players have taken the knee since, particularly noticeable during this Euro 2020 tournament, especially from England who have taken it during every match. There has of course been people complaining but I am quite proud to say that the England team decided to continue taking the knee, despite the polarisation it caused, in order to demonstrate their support and understanding. The most polarisation, or rather misunderstanding about the action, has occurred as a result of people believing that it is strongly affiliated with the Black Lives Matter movement. However, this is very much far from the truth. Although some players might support the Black Lives Matter movement, [like most other sane human beings] taking the knee has never been a part of the movement, it is simply a way to comment on racial injustices – particularly in sport – and that players are publicly demonstrating not necessarily support but understanding and awareness. It is not a way to show support for a political movement. If so it is unlikely that the FA would allow it to occur.

This polarisation is where the Conservatives come into play. For whatever nonsensical reason a large number of the Conservative MPs have publicly disregarded the movement and quite clearly demonstrated their unfounded anger. Not only does this highlight to me that lack of ability of the Conservative MPS to be willing to adapt to modern times and show any sort of humanity, but it also demonstrates their idiocy. With some MPs calling it a way for the players to show their support for defunding the police, destroying the nuclear family and crushing capitalism. Not only are these statements outrageous they are also beyond any logic. The emphasis on the nuclear family not only demonstrates the Conservatives being stuck in the past but also their innate racism, the idea of ‘crushing capitalism’ is so unbelievably outlandish it doesn’t even warrant a response and I am pretty sure it is the Conservatives that are willing to significantly cut public spending.

Priti Patel, perhaps one of the most hateful women in UK politics today, has unsurprisingly shown her lack of support for this movement. Demonstrating no sense of empathy by stating that players were involving themselves in gesture politics and not making any attempt to disregard the booing fans, something any other sane human would clearly show absolute disgust at. Not only does this seem so unbelievably stupid but it also shows me that numerous members of the Conservative party are unwilling to show any sort of solidarity to a large percentage of the population they are elected to protect and serve.

What is ironic about this situation is that in a bid to show that the Conservative party aligns with the feelings of the general public is the number of MPs that have now come out in supporting England’s possible win in the final. It is frankly sickening that Tories have done this and exploited this situation in order to gain some popularity and support, of course their being in power is demonstration enough for their popularity but the idea is that the MPs are attempting to seem like they are a part of the bandwagon. This is also exploitative in regard to how the hopefulness that England’s success has been able to bring to the country can be used by them as if it is their victory as well. This is evidently seen in Boris Johnson’s previous claims that he was considering a bank holiday on the Monday if there was a win and also allowing the pubs to stay open if the game went to penalties.

This is in no way a victory for the Conservative party. Of course I am not making that claim that political parties can’t show patriotism or support for their country. But I am making the claim that a party that has so obviously disregarded England’s show of support for members of the BAME minority should not be reflecting the England football team’s victory as their own. The irony is so evident. The Conservative party is so unbelievably out of touch and embarrassingly exploitative.