Why do some British folks present soccer/football as a road to integration and happiness?
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Football is a symbol of unity, pride and joy in British culture. If children of and/or immigrants themselves could all “play for England” like Joe suggests to Jess in Bend it like Beckham there would be no racism as everyone would just be playing football together. As stated by Ahmed ‘here “whoever” scores will be cheered.’ This would disregard that person’s race or background on the pitch as they have assimilated in British culture perfectly by contributing to this sport that unites people from all around the country. However, this an idealistic lens that has never come to fruition. Take the famously told story of WW2 soldiers who came together to play an England vs Germany game on Christmas day. The narrative is depicted as a temporary togetherness of these men united by their love for the game. What is often omitted from this story is how the next morning they all went back to the trenches and into war. A parallel can be drawn to the 2021 European final where three black players on the England team, who missed their penalties, were faced with racist abuse. As soon as they were not scoring the goals their race did matter similar to the soldiers who off the pitch killed one another for being from different countries. Therefore, though some British folks present soccer/football as a road to integration and happiness it is evident that it is not. It may create temporary happiness and a false feeling of being integrated but just like Jess being called a “P***” on the pitch some football fans will be racist as soon certain players do not do what they wanted them to. This reminder that they are “others” because they don’t look like the white English players goes to show that football as a road to integration only works if nothing goes wrong and perpetual happiness is attained.