Remembering The Day Football Came Home

'Great Grandma Lucy' asked the grandchildren in 2054, 'our teacher has asked us to ask you if you remember when England became a Great nation again, tell us please' .

'Ok little ones, it was during the plague of the 20's' I shall start. 'England was teetering on a knife-edge of survival, and then 11 men and 5 substitutes in white led by a fearless soon to be Prime Minister Gareth Southgate, strode forward to crush Croatia, scatter the Scots, crunch the Czech Republic, grind the Germans, demolish Denmark and all that stood between us and victory was the Italians'.

The children will look at me through the Tesco digital portal, their eyes wide with anticipation for the story.
 
'It was a balmy, July evening in London, 60,000 brave souls defied the virus and crowded into Wembley, hope in their heart and a flag painted onto their faces, such a wondrous sight to behold...'

'Yes, Great Grandmama..go on' the infant holograms will trill, gazing into my ancient, wizened face from the Space Station orbiting the dusty and barren Planet in a desperate attempt to ensure their survival.

'Everyone in England put down their mobile phones, turned off Facebook, Instagram and Twitter for 90 long, long minutes'.

'What are these things Facebook, Instagram and Twitter'? they will ask, confusion on their innocent faces looking up at me in awe.

'Oh never mind' i will sigh, 'Oh but it was a long, dark 90 minutes, we tried to hold a conversation but the ancient art had all been lost and the silence only broken temporarily with the occasional cry of 'just clear the feckin' thing' and the questioning of the managers choice of playing a flat back four over a five at the back with wingback's but otherwise there was silence across the land until the 81st minute'.

'What happened then, Great Grandmama?' they ask in hushed tones.

'There was a … an error' I say. 'In … in the Italian back four. One of them, Giorgio Chiellini i think it was, had a malfunction and forgot to fall over clutching his leg when an Englishman came within 50cm of him, instead he stayed on his feet and Sir Harry Kane ran past him and scored'.

'The entire country held it's breath, 50 million English stopped breathing as one for the VAR check, the referee stood with his finger in his ear, silence and then..and then...'

'Football came home Great Grandma?'

'It did..it came home to it's Mummy and Daddy and we laughed, and cried and hugged each other'.

'Hooray' the little ones will cheer.

'From that day Three Lions on a Shirt became the National Anthem. Obviously, it was also the start of the terrible Covid surge of 2021 which wiped out half the nation but it was a great time, people went to the Respiratory Unit with an awful cough in their throats but a song in their heart, and a smile on their faces'.

'Thank you, Great Grandmama Lucy' they will say. 'That was a very good story. Go to sleep now, you look tired'.

'I shall', i’ll say, drawing my rug across my knees. 'I shall. Goodnight darlings, sleep tight'.