Supporting Ingerlund

[B. Oddie]

I was 9 years old in 1966, and I have just one memory of that tournament: My dad, falling to his knees with his head in his hands when Germany equalized in the dying moments. I think I was more into Crackerjack at that stage of life, laughing at Peter Glaze's inability to get out of the way of a squirty flower.

How old are you now then?

[jimmyscoular]

To be honest though, it was absolutely boring stuff was it not? Unfortunately the only TV channel we could get back in the early 60's was BBC so it was Hobson's choice.

Well, of course, when you're 9 years old there's nothing boring about being allowed to stay up past midnight, with your aunts and uncles and cousins over. And, to be honest, I've always thought there's something romantic about the Scottish Highlands. I'll tell what did prove boring, though, in later years — all those drunken corporate New Year's Eve parties with the silly hats and the noisemakers.

I suppose this is all coloured by the fact that my lovely aunts have all moved on now, and I have a little hiraeth, shall we say, for those long-ago gatherings.

[William Treseder]

How old are you now then?

63 ??

[cardiff55]

Eh? We're ranked 18th in the world and poised to enter our second consecutive Euros, things aren't going to get much better for Wales

I do accept we are 18th in the World at the moment and it's not going to get better. 2016 was exceptional, and we have qualified for the Euros, which is about as good as it gets for us. Bale, Ramsey and Allen will soon all be gone and the new crop of talent is nowhere near as good. We'll probably come 3rd in the World Cup Group too. We are the International equivalent of Cardiff City - plucky triers. Apart of course from that wonderful 2016 tournament.

However what is more enjoyable is knowing England will fail, every time. There is something that teams like Wales have and England don't. Successive England managers haven't been able to produce it either- whatever it is. The difference in commitment , desire etc when we cross the white lines far superior to our English counterparts. As soon as they pull on an England shirt the huge talent they have as individuals seems to evaporate when they get on the pitch. Superb in qualifying against the likes of Luxembourg and Andorra and San Marino, but crap when they meet anyone good. They did well in the last World Cup though, but were not very good in reaching a Semi Final.

I think the main difference these days is the press coverage, and expectation. Half an hour on TV of who will the manager select for tomorrow's England game, and thirty seconds of the fact Wales have a game too. And they can't understand why other nations laugh

Italy, France and Spain are similar sized countries, and West Germany was too before unification , and look at the success they have had, so England should do much better.

Perhaps they should play in red and white again!

[RonnieBird]

I find this fascinating. I'd read before about how many in Wales were supporting England in that game. I was a 6 year old living in Germany at the time, but we were back visiting my parent's friends in London. All I remember was the stick we took after the game driving across London in a car with German plates. All good natured though (at least through the eyes of a 6 year old).

Something changed not so long after that, and the whole thing got nastier.

Everyone I knew supported England. There were very few Welsh nationalists in those days and they were regarded as nutters.
One thing you’ll notice is that there were mainly union jacks at England games in those days whilst now they’re St George’s Cross Flags. That was before the big divide and conquer brainwashing programme which seeks to divide our previously great and unified British nation.

[Hilts]

I support the England cricket team.

Normally dont care or quite enjoying see them lose at football.

Did want them to beat Germany in 1990.

[the other bob wilson]

Everyone I knew supported England. There were very few Welsh nationalists in those days and they were regarded as nutters.
One thing you’ll notice is that there were mainly union jacks at England games in those days whilst now they’re St George’s Cross Flags. That was before the big divide and conquer brainwashing programme which seeks to divide our previously great and unified British nation.

Well, for a start, there’s the true story about Dennis Law deliberately playing golf during the 66 World Cup Final and being not best pleased, to put it mildly, when he heard the result when he got back to the club house. That’s one example, and I’ve heard many more of people not as famous as Mr Law who didn’t want England to win.

That said, I agree that the UK was more “British” in 1966. Although my father in particular had that attitude so many of his generation did towards Germany and German people, he’d supported England all the way through the tournament, as had my mum. Therefore, their three children did as well and I can remember bursting into tears and running out into our back garden in a strop when West Germany scored their late equaliser.

We were still an England supporting family in 1970 for the Mexico World Cup, but something happened between then and the night in 1973 when Poland drew at Wembley to deny England a place in the following year’s competition - the whole family, particularly my mum I remember, were really pleased about England’s failure.

I’ve tended to put the change in attitude down to the arrogance of English pundits like Brian Clough and Malcolm Allison in the lead up to the match, but there was more to it than that because it wasn’t just with sport that we became anti English, yet neither of my parents ever had any interest in Welsh nationalism, so it wasn’t anything like that in our family at least.

For myself now, I filled in the fifth Census form of my life a couple of weeks ago and I classed myself as Welsh just like I had done with the previous four and I’ve never been closer to supporting the idea of an independent Wales than I am now, yet I wouldn’t be surprised at all if my parents had classed themselves as British in the 1971 census, but I think my dad said he was Welsh ten years later and I know for a fact that my mum did.