Confessions of a united convert
By Fiona Shaw for Ethos magazine: issue 07 | August 2018
To be honest, this is the third iteration of this column. A couple of days ago, I was writing about intergenerational discord, depressing myself with our supposed differences. But then it moved from gloom to glee, and it’s all down to football. Bear with me…
I’d been watching a rant unfold on social media, moaning about the difficulties of buying a house. “Thanks mum and dad,” it said, “for breaking the property market. Thanks for making sure I’ll never be able to buy a house.”
Sometimes it feels like everything we read is designed to set us against one another. Avocado-eating millennials against their property-mogul baby boomer parents. Us, against them. In the UK right now — and I’m sure in other places — young against old; north against south. Right versus left; barmy Brexiteers v Remoaners.
And while, I’m sure, said ranter’s mum might counter with thoughts on her attitude to money: too many takeaways, holidays and expensive haircuts — not enough saving — it’s these ingrained assumptions from both sides that feel like they’re paralysing us at the moment.
We’ve more access than ever to other peoples’ stories and, supposedly, more platforms to empathise with their experiences. But we’re so quick too to jump to conclusions; to flick the Twitter switch before we’ve really thought.
And that’s when the metaphorical sun came out. The world genuinely felt like a better, more connected place, because the 2018 World Cup has been a revelation in changing perceptions.
A tournament with locals welcoming fans from around the world; dance offs around the ground and football street lights. An estimated 65,000 Colombia fans, who’d travelled more than 7,000 miles — and spent more than a year’s salary — to support their team. Japanese fans — and, in fact, the team — picking up litter in the stadia they played in; Kylian Mbappé high fiving a Pussy Riot pitch invader. England became, for once, not a team of underperforming prima donnas, but a young, humble and hungry team — in the fullest sense of the world — and one with a great social media game.
So London’s Southgate tube station was renamed Gareth Southgate station for two heady days in July 2018. Waistcoat sales at national treasure Marks and Spencer have soared. The sun shone its support for six consecutive weeks.
Knowing what you believe in makes us what we are. Knowing what we’ll fight to protect; what we like and dislike, and where we draw the line. But it feels great when we remember that we’re all more similar than we’re different.
It’s too easy to blame the previous generation for the next’s struggles; but we’ve got the stories around us to think more deeply. Long were the shadows of the class of ’66, and ’90. And England’s penalties hoodoo. But 2018’s beaten semi-finalists have shown us how to rethink things, reframe, and rejoice.
“Let’s keep this unity alive” tweeted Manchester City full back Kyle Walker, in the days after he’d become a self-deprecating yoga meme.
It’s been a long time since I’ve loved players from other English teams as much as I’ve loved my own. And I like it.
Fiona Shaw is a publisher, editor and co-founder of creative agency Wordscape.
