Hello football, my old friend, I've come to talk with you again, an introduction to Euro 2020

It is back, a year late but nevertheless here we are, Euro 2020 is about to start in June 2021 and I am sure you are all as excited as I am. It has been three years since the last time we met and a lot has happened in that time. As ever, this first post is as an introduction, to explain the workings and to pass some comment on the goings on. After that we will get down and dirty with group previews and from the knock out stages, match by match previews and reviews.

As ever, this is supposed to be a humorous and not very politically correct view on the tournament, it will also be sprinkled with cultural and literary references and participation via the comments section is welcomed. I will respond to every comment, the more inane the better. 

So without further ado, it is time to "lead on Macduff" to paraphrase the bard.

The format is the same as last time but just in case you are unfamiliar or new to the game I will explain it here, especially for our followers in the US of A, a coming powerhouse in world football. 

The twenty four nations taking part have been divided up into six groups of four. So, in a group of four, each team will face the others once in a mini league format, with three points for a win and one for a draw. 

The top two from each group plus the four third placed teams with the best record will qualify for the last 16. The competition then follows the standard knock out format until we are left with two teams to battle it out for the title.

We don't use fancy titles, such as "Sweet 16" or "Elite 8" or "Final four", so as to avoid any confusion, those are known respectively as the last 16, quarter-finals and semi-finals.

However, there is one big difference in this instance of the Euros, instead of all the games be held in one host nation or even two as in 2012, the games are being played in twelve different locations, some of them not even in mainland Europe, such as Baku, (who can be the first, without cheating, to post in the comments where Baku is.)  not to mention, in this first tournament in a post Brexit Europe, Glasgow and London. The other nine being: Amsterdam, Bucharest, Budapest, Copenhagen, Munich, Rome, Saint Petersburg and Seville.

This, of course, brings up another issue in today’s world which is still in the grip of the pandemic and that is the movement of large groups of fans between countries who are all at different stages of their vaccination programs. It seems so long ago, but two super spreaders of Covid, at the beginning of the outbreak of the virus, were the champions league games between Atalanta (Italy) and Valencia (Spain) and Liverpool (England) and Atletico Madrid (Spain) in February 2020.  It will be interesting to see how this pans out, watch this space.

A paradox, which is even more accentuated, in, as I mentioned earlier, this first post Brexit tournament, is that the three nations which make up the mainland of Britain have all qualified, they being of course EnGerLand, Scotland and Wales.

An event such as the Euros, where national teams battle it out one against another only adds fuel to all the things that are supposedly not welcome in today's world such as nationalism, jingoism, racial stereotypes, etc.  A lot of average football fans who do not necessarily habit the world of social media actually revel in all the above mentioned and cannot wait to paint their faces in the national colours, get out their flags and revile against all foreigners.

The reality is that the tribal divisions, mistrusts and even hatreds that have riven the European continent for over two and a half thousand years are alive and well and simmer below a civilized veneer. We are lucky that today, they are settled by twenty two men kicking a ball around a field being watched from all over by the baying masses, Wembley instead of Waterloo if you like. It is these divisions and differences that we shall focus on as a background to the football. Football is just a means to an end, thankfully a peaceful one.

In my opinion, this only goes to prove that the idea of European unity is a hollow shell. A united trading block?  Perhaps, but not much more than that.

I don't live in Europe so I don't care either way, it is a mere observation.

Another point worth mentioning is that even those across Europe who are anti immigrants, do not seem to mind if they are good at football, then they are welcome to stay.

Take Switzerland for example, not a particularly warm and welcoming country to say the least, they were never that good at football, but that has changed in recent times with the influx of asylum seekers and migrants, their captain, Granit Xhaka is of Albanian heritage for example, in fact his brother still plays for the Albanian national team.  Colonial empires such as France, Holland and Belgium have many players whose antecedents were from their former colonies. 

It has been good for football but ironic nevertheless.

But enough of this serious stuff, that is not what my loyal followers want to read. As stated above this is not going to be very PC, so if you get offended by stereotypes, etc. I bid you Adieu.

Please feel free to spread the blog.

Tomorrow we will start previewing the groups.