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This is England


CurtainRaiser

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"This is England.

 

This is England: Raheem Sterling, whose big sister would go with him to training and back every day, three buses each way, and never once complained. Raheem Sterling, who called the day he bought his mum a house ‘the best day of my life.’

 

This is England: Jordan Henderson, who spent most of the first lockdown last year organising the other 19 Premiership captains to help raise money for the NHS.

 

This is England: Marcus Rashford, who secured free school meals for vulnerable kids during school holidays after the government had refused to extend the programme. Marcus Rashford, who lives by the words of his mother Melanie: ‘take pride in knowing that your struggle will play the biggest role in your purpose.’

 

This is England: Mason Mount, who gave the shirt he’d worn in the semi-final victory over Denmark to a 10-year-old girl called Belle in the crowd, and in doing her made her smile a smile so incandescent it could melt the Siberian permafrost.

 

This is England: Tyrone Mings, who spent part of his childhood in a homeless shelter, who played non-league football while working as a barman and mortgage advisor, and who tells kids at the coaching camps he runs that the game is nothing unless they enjoy it. Tyrone Mings, who was taunted with monkey chants on his England debut against Bulgaria and didn’t pretend he hadn’t heard, who turned to the assistant referee and said, firmly but without aggression, ‘did you hear that?’ As in: we’ve got a problem here, you’re part of the officiating team, so this is your problem too and I’m not going to let you duck it, because though this was the most important match of his life there were some things which were more important still than that.

 

This is England: Luke Shaw, who when playing for Southampton watched Liverpool players file unseeingly past two small boys waiting for their autographs, and who went over and said ‘I know I don’t play for your team, but will I do?’ and posed for a photo with them which they will never forget.

 

This is England: Declan Rice, who would play cage football in New Malden every day after school and all day on Saturdays, not because he was the best but because he wasn’t.

 

This is England: Bukayo Saka, who got As and A*s in his GCSEs because his parents insisted that he work as hard inside the classroom as he did on the pitch. Bukayo Saka, whose Christian name in Yoruba means ‘adds to happiness.’

 

This is England: Kieran Trippier, who still speaks regularly to his old teachers at Woodhey High School in Bury because they looked out for him and his brothers. Kieran Trippier, who every day has cause to reflect on the truth of the inscription by the school gates: ‘where dreams may grow.’

 

This is England: Kalvin Phillips, whose mum worked two jobs while his dad was in and out of prison. One of those jobs was at Harpo’s Pizzas, where you can now order the Kalvin’s Special.

 

This is England: Gareth Southgate, who until recently was most famous for missing a penalty he had the balls to volunteer for even though he’d never taken one before, because he knew what Teddy Roosevelt meant when he talked about the man in the arena.

 

These, too, are England: an incompetent government and an ineffectual opposition; a system which rewards the venal, the vainglorious and the mendacious; tribes which assume the worst of each other and snipe over Brexit, lockdown and masks; public services creaking under the strain of decades of underfunding; kids getting stabbed and women getting attacked; morons who boo the opponents’ national anthems and shine laser pens at their goalkeepers; and so very, very much more. These too are England, and they will still be so next week, next month and next year.

 

But if only for today, there is an England of Raheem Sterling and Jordan Henderson, of Marcus Rashford, of Mason Mount, of Tyrone Mings and of Luke Shaw, of Declan Rice and Bukayo Saka, of Kieran Trippier and Kalvin Phillips, of Gareth Southgate.

 

If only for today, this is my England. You choose yours. "

 

@nayright12 on Twitter

 

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CurtainRaiser - 2021-07-13 7:31 PM

 

Boris Johnson's had to cancel the Downing Street reception for the England team because none of the players wanted to meet him.

 

Chuckle away

 

Chuckle ... You say it like I give a fudge about millionaire footie players not wanting to meet Boris at a reception for losers ... Sure Boris will be devastated ... Lordy my boss

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CurtainRaiser - 2021-07-13 7:31 PM

 

Boris Johnson's had to cancel the Downing Street reception for the England team because none of the players wanted to meet him.

 

Chuckle away

Indeed......and here is a selection of more brilliant tweets on that subject.

 

Another bad day for Johnsons Tory clowns and the Chuckle brothers. :-D

 

https://www.thepoke.co.uk/2021/07/13/downing-street-has-cancelled-a-reception-for-englands-footballers-13-favourite-reactions/

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CurtainRaiser - 2021-07-13 7:31 PM

 

Boris Johnson's had to cancel the Downing Street reception for the England team because none of the players wanted to meet him.

 

Chuckle away

 

Rather like President Biden who bypassed BoJo and made a beeline for Angela Merkel at the G7

Despite the amount of our money BoJo had lavished on them,

Including a special new runway at Newquay Airport for their jets,

at a time when hardly anyone else is travelling by air,

and the local foodbank forced to close for a fortnight to make way for him.

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Guest pelmetman
John52 - 2021-07-14 7:58 AM

 

and the local foodbank forced to close for a fortnight to make way for him.

 

Oh dear........did that mean you had to buy your own grub? ;-) ............

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The fact they are millionaires and in the public means he will give be devastated...in a massive way as he's extremely shallow. If it was likes of you he was meeting and you said no thanks, then he wouldn't give a toss. Time for a reality check about what sort of creep he actually is.

 

There was a great description of him on the radio the other day, the guy said Johnson doesn't live for the past or the future, just the present - in other words he forgets what he said and can't think forward so just says what he feels he needs to say today, totally spineless. Except, while this description fits the blond scruffy fat idiot 100% they where talking about the other blond idiot...Trump. But the description fits both totally.

 

Incidentally, you use the 'millionaires' tag in a disparaging way about football players - your beloved Johnson is also a millionaire and that's just from sitting on his fat arse writing things so he no better in terms of contribution to society. As I say, time you took a reality check.

 

...and before you say it, I'm not suggesting Labour is any better - just saying how bad Johnson is.

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