The BBC’s England v Ukraine coverage was watched by 20.9million people. Games of that magnitude pull in millions who aren’t necessarily football fans, but who have been swept up by the excitement.
And when millions of people who aren’t really into football start paying attention to it, you’re guaranteed some ill-informed takes on the game.
Among those is the idea that Scottish fans should get behind England. With Gareth South- gate’s men taking on Denmark tonight, you’ll no doubt see this line getting trotted out.
Like many, I began Euro 2020 supporting two teams – Scotland, and Whoever’s Playing England.
Some might say “You’re supposed to be a grownmman, but before England v Germany you tweeted in German, before England v Ukraine you tweeted in Ukrainian and before England v Denmark you tweeted in Danish. Is this not all a bit childish and petty?” Of course it is. That’s how football rivalries work.
You get taken to your first match as a child, told that you hate a particular team a few miles down the road and then spend the rest of your life hating them.
Any football fan will tell you that the only feeling up there with your team winning is your rival losing. In the absence of a Scotland win during the Euros, we’ve been reduced to pinning our hopes on English defeat.
Rivalry is fundamental to football, but many who are unfamiliar with the game will misinterpret it and look for some larger significance that simply doesn’t exist.
It’s easy to ascribe political and nationalist sentiment to “Anyone But England”, but for the vast majority of us it’s just about having a laugh and wanting our rivals to lose.
It’s a rivalry between two neighbours. We wouldn’t expect mutual appreciation and respect between fans of Celtic and Rangers or Hearts and Hibs, so why the po-faced attitude towards Scotland and England?
We’ve all got English friends who will be insufferable if they win the tournament, just as we would have been had Scotland beaten them at Wembley last month. Most Scottish football fans I know would consider themselves “Anyone But England”, but the idea that any of them might genuinely hate England is absurd.
Had Scotland gone further than England in this tournament, I would have expected English fans to be “Anyone But Scotland”, and I wouldn’t have had a problem with it. Football isn’t supposed to be some happy clappy environment where we’re all just jolly pleased to take part.
The biggest hindrance to “Anyone But England” right now is the players themselves. Marcus Rashford is known as much for his inspiring activism off the pitch as his talents on it.
Harry Kane sported a rainbow armband against Germany. Jordan Henderson shared a tweet from a non-binary England fan who had attended that game and added: “No-one should be afraid to go and support their club or country, because football is for everyone no matter what”.
Throw in manager Gareth Southgate’s passionate, firm and eloquent explanation of the squad’s decision to take the knee and this is an impossible group to dislike. Believe me, I’ve tried. Whatever happened to the likes of John Terry? Now there was a man it took zero effort to despise.
Denmark, meanwhile, are just as easy to get behind. Since Christian Eriksen’s collapse, the Danes have surfed a wave of emotion all the way to the tournament’s latter stages, becoming every neutral’s favourites in the process.
Who am I supporting tonight? Enhver undtagen England, since you ask.
