Now, could you tell I'm being ever-so-slightly sarcastic there? I couldn't actually care less about Euro 2012, or Euro-any year for that matter, and in fact I'm going to be very unpatriotic and say I hope England get knocked out on Sunday (when we play Italy in the quarter-finals...keep up!)
It isn't football per se. I grew up knowing about football due to the fact that my Dad needed a partner-in-crime to go to matches with, and as I a) don't have any brothers and b) am the oldest, felt it was my responsibility to get involved and learn. So I did. I even convinced myself that I liked it during my mid to late teens. Conveniently, this was during the mid-Nineties and the age of the Ladette, so while I didn't take to all the ostentatious swearing and vomiting up beer in the High Street, I did know all about football. I went to all the Southend matches and I knew the offside rule...a lot of the men I knew didn't have that much in their arsenal (no pun intended)! And even in those days of the Ladette, it was rare to see that many other women at football matches (well, at least it was at Southend!) A man brought his wife along once; they sat near my Dad and me, and at one point my eyes had met the wife's and we exchanged a brief, instantly knowing look similar to the ones I've seen pass between men standing outside female changing rooms.
I also followed Manchester United for a little while - I was one of those annoying glory-hunters (a tiny little crush on Lee Sharpe definitely helped) although I lied to people at the time and said I'd been born in Manchester, so I could 'justify' wearing the strip to college. The truth is out now!
No - it's all the hubristic nationalist crap that accompanies every footballing tournament England get involved in; the media's general assumption that we're intrinsically better than everybody else when in fact England are probably one of the most boring, underachieving international sides you'll ever see actually playing the game. To me none of them look remotely like they even want to be there. Plus I've noticed all our players have got stupid hairstyles. Plus whenever I see Ashley Cole, John Terry and Wayne Rooney gobbing all over the pitch I feel instant, Pavlovian-style levels of revulsion, quickly followed by embarrassment that that lot are out there on the world stage representing the best of English.
The only thing I'm enjoying about Euro 2012 is the 'Match of the Day' highlights programmes; the theme tune reminds me so much of my Dad and our bonding together over all the idiotic punditry that it just feels incredibly comforting to watch, especially with a cup of tea. But I'll be supporting Italy on Sunday, just like any respectable English woman should.
I also followed Manchester United for a little while - I was one of those annoying glory-hunters (a tiny little crush on Lee Sharpe definitely helped) although I lied to people at the time and said I'd been born in Manchester, so I could 'justify' wearing the strip to college. The truth is out now!
No - it's all the hubristic nationalist crap that accompanies every footballing tournament England get involved in; the media's general assumption that we're intrinsically better than everybody else when in fact England are probably one of the most boring, underachieving international sides you'll ever see actually playing the game. To me none of them look remotely like they even want to be there. Plus I've noticed all our players have got stupid hairstyles. Plus whenever I see Ashley Cole, John Terry and Wayne Rooney gobbing all over the pitch I feel instant, Pavlovian-style levels of revulsion, quickly followed by embarrassment that that lot are out there on the world stage representing the best of English.
The only thing I'm enjoying about Euro 2012 is the 'Match of the Day' highlights programmes; the theme tune reminds me so much of my Dad and our bonding together over all the idiotic punditry that it just feels incredibly comforting to watch, especially with a cup of tea. But I'll be supporting Italy on Sunday, just like any respectable English woman should.
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