A few hours before the Euro final between England and Italy, football is everywhere in London, the underground corridors are singing and the pubs are full.
Hyde Park, in the heart of London, on the morning of a historic Euro Final Sunday. Sleepers on the lawns. Families on a picnic. A child with welcoming shoulders: dozens of pigeons take refuge there. There is the peaceful and usual softness of the place. A sweet Sunday. But football has the power to catch up with everything. He sparks normalcy. Before England v Italy at 9 p.m. at Wembley, another crucial meeting takes place on the grass of the Old Football Pitches in Hyde Park. A match that chronicles time, friendship. England haven’t won a trophy in fifty-five years, but Imran and his friends haven’t all been together for more than two decades. A company of fourteen former Birmingham University students, a football game to bring them all together. Why now ? Imran, a gray beard in his late forties and squeaky knees, admits that the opportunity was too good. That events like this finale create a temporal rift. That it is a beautiful moment and that it takes “to mark the hit”.
Some wear a T-shirt with the flag of Palestine, “Because we must support the oppressed in all circumstances”, others the red jersey of Liverpool. They take a picture of themselves as when handing over a cup: stretched out, their mouths distorted with joy. Imran remembers this journey on a motorbike, carried out together at the end of their studies. London, then Calais, Paris, Lyon, Nice, Spain and Africa. “It was a good time.” A troop like a team, and that’s kind of what can help England win tonight, believes the man. “The spirit that coach Gareth Southgate has built with the players, that’s something. They stick together, they are united. It will pass.”
Ambient unit
Outside of Hyde Park, London is busy. Cars were dressed in English flags. The corridors of the metro are singing. Bus stop screens roll out encouragement for Southgate and its lads. In Leicester Square, the venue for supporters’ meetings in the center of the city, hundreds of people have already gathered. The local pubs are full, and sell out for the evening. “I booked this as soon as I qualified”, assures Chris, in his swimsuit circa 1996, when England failed in the semi-finals of their Euro. On the terrace of a chic Italian restaurant, a waiter persuades a table of well-dressed old people that the Three Lions have “99.99% chance” to win the match, it hurts him to say it but that’s how he feels. Bad heads approve.
In the neighborhood trendy from Bermondsey, near the Thames and its docks, the country’s most patriotic housing estate is buzzing. The Kirby Estate is the jewel of TV: easy pictures. Red brick walls, balconies like passageways and 400 banners of the Cross of Saint George, the English flag, which fly on the windows and on ropes connecting the buildings. To challenge the ambient unity, a flag from Brazil, one from Portugal and two from Scotland. We hear, from the groups of residents, that “Football is coming home tonight” – we hear that everywhere. From the second floor, a woman throws peanuts at a kid. He tries to swallow them but they bounce off his head. “What’s wrong ? Your mouth is usually so big! ” A resident says that everyone here forms a tight-knit community. The fashion for flags appeared in 2012, though it “Remember well” and this evening is its peak. He doesn’t like football, but he will watch the game, “To not be too dumped”. Children are playing football. A kid is screaming «Sterling !» Another «Kane !» Raheem Sterling, Harry Kane, the spearheads of the selection. In front of them, signs warn: «No ball games.»
But the health authorities are worried …
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