TWO WORLD WARS AND ONE WORLD CUP
As the lift opened to admit father and son, who would you expect to be in the lift already? Germans! The lift was almost full of hefty Germans also fully dressed in their German Football Supporters’ Club, complete with Deutschland scarves. Oblivious of the danger at hand, the young lad opened his mouth to start […]
As the lift opened to admit father and son, who would you expect to be in the lift already? Germans! The lift was almost full of hefty Germans also fully dressed in their German Football Supporters’ Club, complete with Deutschland scarves. Oblivious of the danger at hand, the young lad opened his mouth to start singing “Two World Wars…” again. The father, very wisely, shut the mouth of his son, physically.
According to Wikipedia: “‘Two World Wars and One World Cup’ is a football song sung by supporters of the English National Team, especially directed at the German fans, making reference to the world wars – the First and Second – that were fought in the 20th century, and how England defeated West Germany to win the 1966 FIFA World Cup. It is considered particularly inflammatory to Germany. In 2006 the Government of the UK cautioned fans travelling to Germany for the World Cup to refrain from taunting the locals with this tune.”
There is an uncanny resemblance between the 1966 World Cup final and the 4-1 whacking the Germans gave England this week in South Africa. Writes Graham Lister (on www.goal.com): “At the 1966 World Cup final, England won 4-2, and lifted the trophy. But the triumph was secured with the help of a controversial goal in extra-time. England had fired a shot that crashed down off the underside of the bar onto the line, before being cleared by a German player. The England players started celebrating, certain it had crossed the line. But the referee was less certain, but after consulting his linesman awarded the goal to England. To this day, the Germans remain unconvinced that the ball had crossed the line.”
Fast forward to 2010. In what a section of the English press had dubbed ‘The Final Before The Final’ between England and Germany last Sunday, many observers have admitted that that England attempt was indeed a goal, as it had crossed the line, and it should have been allowed. Therefore, technically, the match should have ended 4-2, a clear revenge of the 4-2 drubbing the English gave the Germans back in 1966, complete with a similar controversial goal!
Never to keep quiet, some England sports commentators had given a scenario much different from the realities on the pitch, but it is a scenario worth considering. It is that: had that goal been allowed, and had the score then been 2-2, England players would have had less of the psychological trauma they went through for a disallowed goal, and they would have fought more gallantly to hold the Germans to a draw in full time, and the game would have gone on into extra time, and into penalties, for which England Coach Fabio Capello had intensely prepared…and England could have won…! Scenario!
Writes Paul Joyce in ‘Why Learn German?’ (www.userweb.port.ac.uk): “Maybe that is one reason why England fans have been happy to include non-footballing victories when goading their German counterparts. When Germany were leading England 1-0 in a 2002 World Cup qualifier in October 2000 – the last match played at the old Wembley Stadium in London – a section of the home crowd responded to their team’s inadequacies by singing ‘Stand up if you won the War’; Germany won the game 1-0, and England Manager Kevin Keegan resigned.”
The paradox of the England vs. Germany rivalry is all the more ironic if one considers that the British ruling house is partly German for, in 1714, George I, a German-speaking Hanoverian prince of mixed British and German descent, ascended to the British throne, founding the House of Hanover. Every British monarch from George I until Edward VII in the twentieth century had taken a Royal German spouse. This led to close blood ties between British and German royalty. The British Royal family retained a German surname until 1917, when, in response to the anti-German feelings of World War I, it was legally changed to the more ‘British’ Windsor.”
The English tabloid press has been the most jingoistic when it comes to an England vs. German clash. The most notorious example was during Euro ‘96 when The Daily Mirror went way over the top with a headline that screamed: “Achtung! Surrender! For You Fritz, ze Euro 96 Championship is over”. Germany won that game too, albeit in a penalty shoot-out, just as they had ended England’s World Cup dream at the semi-final stage at Italia ‘90. England striker Gary Lineker put it succinctly after 1990 match: “Football’s a simple game. You run around for 90 minutes and in the end, the Germans win.” Violence erupted in London’s Trafalgar Square after that defeat.
It was World War One that provided the most poignant episode in the rivalry between the two countries. An unofficial ceasefire was announced on Christmas Day 1914, when British (Allied) and German troops left their trenches and played football with each other, begging the question why the Great War was fought at all, when there was little apparent animosity between the two nations.
There is a similar rivalry in cricket; this time not between England and Germany, but between England and India. Though there is much competition and healthy rivalry between all the cricketing nations (West Indies, South Africa, Fiji, Australia, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, New Zealand, etc), the one between England and India is accentuated by the presence of millions of persons of Indian descent in England. The going joke in London is that, were a person of Indian descent to apply for permanent residence in Britain, his test of allegiance to the British Crown would be to take him to an England vs. Indian Cricket Test. If he cheers the English Team, he would be eligible. But more often than not, the joke concludes, his subconscious would take the better of the potential Indian-Briton and cheer the Indian Team instead!
Such is the rivalry between the English (read British) and the Germans even in other aspects of life that, when I was working with the BBC in London in the 1990s, news came that the Germans had started digital editing of audio programmes at their Radio Deutschewelle (Voice of Germany). But because it was the Germans that pioneered that particular technology (as in many other innovations too), we at the BBC continued using analogue editing techniques, using razor blades, until the French started using a version of the German digital mode. So we the ‘British’ went over to France and adapted the technology. At least we didn’t copy from the Germans!
Despite all that, whenever someone wants to sell you a product in England, and you are hesitant in concluding the deal, the seller may look right and left and then stoop closely to whisper into your ear: “It is German-made. It is the best!” As if you don’t know that a German product is the best in the world.
The English know very well, and the Germans too, and every other person too: the English are no match for the Germans in a fair match. Let us finally consider this anecdote about a British filmmaker who wanted to make a documentary on the average British factory worker. Not finding appropriate footage to use, it is said that the documentarist got hold of a film on German factory workers, and hit the slow-motion button!