Italy v England | Euro 2020 Final

[Uffa]

Listening to that, and what Schmeichel said before the semi-final, I really wish our media would stop with all this "it's coming home" stuff. It makes us look entitled, disrespectful and arrogant. The truth is England are the biggest underachievers in international football, considering the history, players we've had, popularity of the sport and the Premier League, and money invested in the game. Yet despite all of that, one trophy to show for it all, 55 years ago!

I mean, the most baffling thing for us Italians fans is just the assured, pumped up view of shouting from the rooftops that you're gonna win before the match even starts, but to us it's the same kind of "baffling" as a man who shoots his own foot. The reason is that we are very superstitious in football, so for example if you'd read through some Italian fan pages before the match all the messages were "Congrats to England for winning the Euros!" and stuff like that. We call it "gufare" in Italian (lit. "to owl", because owls are bad luck birds), which simply means to jinx the other team by assuredly announcing that they'll win. Because of that, seeing you guys jinx yourselves with the innocent carelessness of children is culturally incomprehensible to us. We are glad you keep doing it though.

It's banter! The song is about misery and disappointment but retaining hope. If they think it is arrogance then they don't understand English culture and that's their problem. It doesn't stop us performing.

It’s a song for goodness sake, it doesn’t mean we are going to win as Frank Skinner said it is “hope over experience”. The misunderstanding from around the world is annoying, if they want to rip us about losing then fine, it comes with the territory, but don’t accuse us of being arrogant when we simply are understandably desperate to finally win on the international stage, it is our national sport and we founded it.

I know the song was originally ironic and lighthearted but let's not kid ourselves, when your fans shout "It's coming home!" they don't use it in a self-deprecating way at all. They use it with those exact connotations that we "ignorant foreigners" perceived. So yeah Skinner & co. created it with a certain meaning in mind, but the phrase itself has been adopted by fans as a standalone which they use at face value.

 

[KS55]

More than the USA? I don’t watch a lot of tennis but it is a sport that seems to produce dominating champions that sweep up most of the open titles and these champions seem to come from various nations, so I would imagine there are many countries who only get a winner once in a blue moon. But I do agree it is a sport that we throw a lot of money at with little success and a lot of that is down to its middle class nature.

A british athletics coach, Ron Pickering, went round knocking on doors in working class areas a generation ago to recruit kids for the sport. Linford Christie was one of his recruits. Made a huge difference. Does tennis do similar?

 

[Keeper!]

I find it so bizarre about people being so surprised about the behaviour of the fans. It's probably because the people who are most outraged are people who aren't actually football fans. I can remember at Maine Road when kids used to jump in behind you in the turnstiles, that sort of thing has always happened. Booing national anthems... Pft, when has that been a problem? It isn't Wimbledon.

I'm not sure where you can find it but watch the film 'One Night in Turin', our supporters have always been an absolute disgrace. I don't know if people are just snowflakes nowadays but what happened last week was very tame in comparison.... Think of events like Heysel where English fan behaviour used to kill people.

It's easy to forget that at one point in the 80's/90's we were banned from European competitions because of our fans.

The racism thing is obviously not on at all and thankfully that is only down to a minority on social media, that's completely different but for everything else I'm really not surprised.

Some of the behaviour on Sunday was not bizarre thinking, it was appalling.

It was not a good advert for the country in any way, fans, police , FA, Uefa, is was a sh1t show.

A major event , with the host Nation in the final, it was not rocket science to think there would be a lot of likely lads hanging about, looking for a chance to get in.

 

[Tommy_Catons_Perm]

I mean, the most baffling thing for us Italians fans is just the assured, pumped up view of shouting from the rooftops that you're gonna win before the match even starts, but to us it's the same kind of "baffling" as a man who shoots his own foot. The reason is that we are very superstitious in football, so for example if you'd read through some Italian fan pages before the match all the messages were "Congrats to England for winning the Euros!" and stuff like that. We call it "gufare" in Italian (lit. "to owl", because owls are bad luck birds), which simply means to jinx the other team by assuredly announcing that they'll win. Because of that, seeing you guys jinx yourselves with the innocent carelessness of children is culturally incomprehensible to us. We are glad you keep doing it though.





I know the song was originally ironic and lighthearted but let's not kid ourselves, when your fans shout "It's coming home!" they don't use it in a self-deprecating way at all. They use it with those exact connotations that we "ignorant foreigners" perceived. So yeah Skinner & co. created it with a certain meaning in mind, but the phrase itself has been adopted by fans as a standalone which they use at face value.

Plenty of Football songs are not self deprecating. They are not supposed to be. It's traditional for fans to sing that their teams are brilliant. Fans of loads of different clubs sing about being by far the greatest team the world has ever seen or being Super FC from the North. Or their favourite player walking on water. Maybe the ignorant foreigners never knew that?

So What.

 

[mexico1970]

Plenty of Football songs are not self deprecating. They are not supposed to be. It's traditional for fans to sing that their teams are brilliant. Fans of loads of different clubs sing about being by far the greatest team the world has ever seen or being Super FC from the North. Or their favourite player walking on water. Maybe the ignorant foreigners never knew that?

So What.

Point in case.

Fratelli d'Italia,
l'Italia s'è desta,
dell'elmo di Scipio
s'è cinta la testa.
Dov'è la Vittoria?
Le porga la chioma,
ché schiava di Roma
Iddio la creò.

[Chorus]: Stringiamci a coorte,
siam pronti alla morte.
Siam pronti alla morte,
l'Italia chiamò.
Stringiamci a coorte,
siam pronti alla morte.
Siam pronti alla morte,
l'Italia chiamò!

Noi fummo da secoli
calpesti, derisi,
perché non siam popolo,
perché siam divisi.
Raccolgaci un'unica
bandiera, una speme:
di fonderci insieme
già l'ora suonò.
(Chorus)

Uniamoci, amiamoci,
l'unione e l'amore
rivelano ai popoli
le vie del Signore.
Giuriamo far libero
il suolo natio:
uniti, per Dio,
chi vincer ci può?
(Chorus)

Dall'Alpi a Sicilia
dovunque è Legnano,
ogn'uom di Ferruccio
ha il core, ha la mano,
i bimbi d'Italia
si chiaman Balilla,
il suon d'ogni squilla
i Vespri suonò.
(Chorus)

Son giunchi che piegano
le spade vendute:
già l'Aquila d'Austria
le penne ha perdute.
Il sangue d'Italia,
il sangue Polacco,
bevé, col cosacco,
ma il cor le bruciò.
(Chorus)


English translation:
Brothers of Italy,
Italy has woken,
Bound Scipio's helmet
Upon her head.
Where is Victory?
Let her bow down,
For God created her
Slave of Rome.

Let us join in a cohort,
We are ready to die.
We are ready to die,
Italy has called.
Let us join in a cohort,
We are ready to die.
We are ready to die,
Italy has called, yes!

We were for centuries
downtrodden, derided,
because we are not one people,
because we are divided.
Let one flag, one hope
gather us all.
The hour has struck
for us to unite.
(Chorus)

Let us unite, let us love one another,
For union and love
Reveal to the people
The ways of the Lord.
Let us swear to set free
The land of our birth:
United, for God,
Who can overcome us?
(Chorus)

From the Alps to Sicily,
Legnano is everywhere;
Every man has the heart
and hand of Ferruccio
The children of Italy
Are all called Balilla;
Every trumpet blast
sounds the Vespers.
(Chorus)

Mercenary swords,
they're feeble reeds.
The Austrian eagle
Has already lost its plumes.
The blood of Italy
and the Polish blood
It drank, along with the Cossack,
But it burned its heart.
(Chorus)

 

[supercity88]

I mean, the most baffling thing for us Italians fans is just the assured, pumped up view of shouting from the rooftops that you're gonna win before the match even starts, but to us it's the same kind of "baffling" as a man who shoots his own foot. The reason is that we are very superstitious in football, so for example if you'd read through some Italian fan pages before the match all the messages were "Congrats to England for winning the Euros!" and stuff like that. We call it "gufare" in Italian (lit. "to owl", because owls are bad luck birds), which simply means to jinx the other team by assuredly announcing that they'll win. Because of that, seeing you guys jinx yourselves with the innocent carelessness of children is culturally incomprehensible to us. We are glad you keep doing it though.





I know the song was originally ironic and lighthearted but let's not kid ourselves, when your fans shout "It's coming home!" they don't use it in a self-deprecating way at all. They use it with those exact connotations that we "ignorant foreigners" perceived. So yeah Skinner & co. created it with a certain meaning in mind, but the phrase itself has been adopted by fans as a standalone which they use at face value.

You don't understand it at all. You don't get English football culture. Even as City fans we share that. The typical City phrase which is only recently being used less frequently. The expectation that it will all go tits up even when things look promising. It's in every English football fan.

The song is banter. It always has been and it always will be. If we win the World Cup one day then you will see some arrogance. If you think you've seen it already then my god you are in for a shock when you see it.

What you have seen is pissed up English fans enjoying every moment of this ride. Songing a song which sums up the misery and despair we have felt but that has this little ray of hope that football might come home as it did in 66 but also to where it was invented.

No one truly expected it to or believed it would but it is one hell of a song to sing and the fact all other nations don't get it makes it even better.

 

[Mr Kobayashi]

Ron Pickering

Who?

 

[bluemoon32]

Who?

"Ron Pickering"

 

[Mr Kobayashi]

"Ron Pickering"

Some kind of celebrity, a big man?

 

[Pell]

It’s a song for goodness sake, it doesn’t mean we are going to win as Frank Skinner said it is “hope over experience”. The misunderstanding from around the world is annoying, if they want to rip us about losing then fine, it comes with the territory, but don’t accuse us of being arrogant when we simply are understandably desperate to finally win on the international stage, it is our national sport and we founded it.

I'm not talking about the actual song or the fans singing it, but the journalists like Henry Winter putting it to other players. It comes across badly, as was seen by Schmeichel's reaction. Liverpool fans have created the slogan "this means more". Imagine if Pep, or one of the City players was asked before we played Liverpool, 'how are you going to stop this team, when it clearly means more to them'? The press needs to be more professional than that.