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When I committed to writing this piece about the Euros final, I was quite obviously hoping for a story of redemption, of demons banished, and a glorious end to all those years of hurt. Alas, it was another oh-so-near instead.
I wondered briefly whether ‘rejoice with those who rejoice, weep with those who weep’ might be a more appropriate biblical message, before deciding that might be slightly too big an ask for England fans this week.
Instead, I found myself reflecting on how fickle we are as football fans – even as human beings – and how short our memories often are for the good things.
In the depths of defeat, we’re quick to forget the goodness of what went before. The incredulity of Ollie Watkins’ last-gasp goal in the semi-final and the wonder of Jude Bellingham’s overhead kick were lost in the disappointment of Sunday night. By Tuesday lunchtime, the chorus of grumblers had their way and Gareth Southgate had stepped down as manager.
As a people, we love grumbling, whether it’s over our football team, our political leaders, or something closer to home in our workplace or on our street. Of course, expressing our displeasure at injustice or brokenness is important. But sometimes, this moaning can become counterproductive or self-destructive because it allows us to notice nothing else except the cause of pain.
In Exodus 16 the Israelites are similarly, chastised for how quickly they forget God’s goodness, and how quickly they skip to grumbling.
Returning to football, the last eight years of Gareth Southgate’s leadership led to three tournament semi-finals and two finals. Whilst he’s no saviour and the ending’s not (yet) glorious, much like the Israelites we would do well to reflect on how far he brought us.
More importantly, if we can step back from grumbling about office politics or friendship dramas and see goodness and beauty at play – not neglecting the negative but choosing to remember the positive – we’ll be better able to notice where God is at work in the people and places around us.
In the grand scheme of things, He has been nothing but good. It doesn’t come naturally to English football fans, or our nation more widely, but if we can orient the gaze of those around us towards seeing the good and dwelling in it, then they too might begin to glimpse the goodness of the One at the helm.
Hannah Rich
Hannah Rich is the Director of Christians on the Left and a Senior Researcher at Theos. @hannahmerich
I am English, but I struggle with the implied English nationalism in this piece! I watched a lot of the Euros and I enjoyed watching the Spanish team and they were so much better than any other team. Watching England was frankly not much fun. I ended up hoping Spain would win and was glad when they did. I think as Christians who are concerned about the whole of God’s world, we should see Spain’s victory as a joyous and just thing. It seems a bit narrow to always want ‘our England’ to win when there’s such a diverse and fascinating world out there! I’ll be rooting for countries like st Lucia and Mozambique in the Olympics!!
Well said- though I’m not sure the grumblers drove Gareth out- eight years in a high profile job like that is probably enough for anyone!