8:34am Tuesday 9th June 2009
By Alan Molineaux
I sat watching the England football match in my local pub and enjoyed listening to the comments of the not-so-regulars consuming the local ale.
By half-time, our national side were two goals ahead of their Eastern European rivals, but that didn’t stop the plethora of opinion.
To my left, I had a group complaining that the victory was hollow due to the manager being foreign. To my right, several customers felt that England continued to under-achieve even though they had scored a couple of goals.
At this point, the TV cameras happened to spot a banner in the crowd emblazoned with the words ‘mission impossible’. I know not to what the banner referred but that seems to me to be the problem.
It is almost impossible to please England supporters. At 2-0 up at half-time, some of us will call for the manager’s head, while others will criticise the players as overpaid prima donnas.
The match ended 4-0 to England and the beer-drinking football fans continued to offer ‘expert’ opinion on everything from team selection to the choice of football strip. It was as if we were all experts in both fashion and the technical aspects of the beautiful game.
The following morning saw the start of polling day as the nation entered the democratic process in order to choose local council members.
At lunchtime, I overheard the people at the next table having a discussion about the day’s proceedings. They commented on the technical failings of the political system along with a detailed analysis of the Prime Minister’s dress sense, false smile, and all-round appearance.
I couldn’t help but smile as I compared the two conversations; one on football, the other on politics.
Both groups talked as if they had so much knowledge of the given subject and both groups had very definite views on the nature of the problem, even if they offered seemingly mutually exclusive opinions in the same breath.
All in all, it seems that – whether in politics or football – the team members spend most of the time under-performing, are overpaid, and are more bothered about their clubs/parties than their country.
Perhaps the biggest area that joined our two groups of commentators was their belief that whatever the results, we should sack the manager.
With so much expertise around, it’s a wonder the country is in so much trouble.
I don’t have much to add to the debate other than to quote the American protest song in asking, ‘I wonder who would lead us if none of us would vote’.
So raise a glass to democracy and freedom of speech, the safest way of running a society. We may not all play football or engage passionately in politics but we can still talk like experts – at least over a pint, that is.
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