Tuesday, July 04, 2006

History Trumps Football

A fascinating article in the Guardian yesterday about how a poll conducted in Britain demonstrated how football is not as important as history. In a Mori poll instigated in conjunction with a campaign in the UK entitled, "History Matters, Pass it On", in association with the National Trust, the Civic Trust, the National Heritage Lottery Fund and English Heritage, a surprising result was obtained. Only 48% of those surveyed showed interest in football, whilst 73% expressed an interest in history.

And no, it was not a poll taken after the England-Portugal match (or debacle, as you prefer).

It may also speak to why there were lingering doubts in Britain about the tournament being held in Germany, and why John Cleese was commissioned to come up with a comic song called, "Don't Mention the War". I shall close today with its lyrics:
Don’t Mention The War
Don’t mention the war
That’s what football is for!
In 1966 we were the winning team
We’d rather not discuss what happened in-between
Don’t mention the war
Just get out there and score
At the glorious moment
When the lions roar
Don’t mention the war
Don’t mention the war
That’s what football is for!
They might have bombed our chipshop 60 years ago
But a billion pints of lager later, here we go (come on then!)
Don’t call them rude names
It’s such a beautiful game
At the glorious moment
When the lions roar
Don’t mention the war
Don’t mention the war
Bend that ball round the wall Instead of saving
Poland we are scoring goals
After 40 years of extra time and bacon rolls (bacon rolls!)

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