Why football may still be coming home鈥o France
This article, written by , Senior Lecturer at the School of Modern Languages and Cultures, was originally published on . Read the .
When England hosted the 1996 European Championships, a song by Frank Skinner, David Baddiel and the Lightning Seeds inspired the popular chant: 鈥溾��. Ahead of
England鈥檚 World Cup semi-final defeat by Croatia, many fans were again talking about football coming home. But were they right to do so.
After all, there is a chance that football will still be coming home 鈥� despite England鈥檚 elimination.
Given their team鈥檚 recent performances and their country鈥檚 role in the history of football, the French also have reason to feel that football may soon be 鈥渃oming home鈥�. This idea may be hard to swallow for some English fans, not least those who are getting the lyrics .
Jules Rimet 鈥� the World Cup founder mentioned in the chorus of Football鈥檚 coming home 鈥� was French. So was Henri Delaunay, who is generally seen as the brains behind the European Championships. So was Gabriel Hanot, the L'Equipe journalist credited with founding the European Cup (now Champions League). Indeed, football鈥檚 world governing body the F茅d茅ration Internationale de Football Association, better known as FIFA, was founded in Paris in 1904 and its first president was another French journalist, Robert Gu茅rin.
France has had a long history of establishing international sports tournaments and organisations. This in part stems from influential Frenchmen in the late 19th century such as Philippe Tissi茅, Paschal Grousset, and Pierre de Coubertin who became convinced of the educational and physical benefits of sport.
De Coubertin is best-known as the founder of the modern Olympics and he initially wanted the first games to take place in Paris, to coincide with the city鈥檚 1900 . For De Coubertin and others, the development of international sport provided France with an instrument of soft power.
England were at this time somewhat suspicious of international sporting organisations, as the football sociologist has mentioned. It didn鈥檛 send a team to the World Cup until 1950, fully 20 years after the first tournament in Uruguay.
Nonetheless, England is often perceived as the home of football due to its role in the early development of the game. Sheffield FC (founded 1857) is heralded as the world鈥檚 first football team. The Football Association (FA), established in 1863, is the oldest national football association in the world and it is the FA that helped create the basis for the rules of football that exist today.
France鈥檚 oldest football team Le Havre were in fact created in 1872 by Englishmen working in the city鈥檚 port. Their sky blue and navy halved shirts represent the alma mater of the club鈥檚 founders, namely the universities of Cambridge and Oxford. even adopts the same tune as 鈥淕od Save the Queen鈥�.
However, Williams was right that it is not easy to define where is to be found. The line 鈥渇ootball鈥檚 coming home鈥� appears to hint at a sense of entitlement and ownership when it comes to England鈥檚 relationship with football.
Yet football is a global game. Its governing body FIFA may have been founded in Paris, but its headquarters are now located in Zurich, Switzerland. England is no longer home to the International Football Association Board (IFAB) that is responsible for the laws of football. Its headquarters are now also in Zurich.
鈥楴ever understood anything about football鈥�
Given the role that France has played in football becoming a major international sport, are many French people talking about football potentially 鈥渃oming home鈥� this summer? In short, they鈥檙e not. This is largely due to football occupying a very different place in French as opposed to English culture.
France has a larger population than England, but less than half as many professional football teams. Prior to the launch of cable channel Canal Plus in 1984, relatively little domestic football was shown on French television. Nevertheless, hosting and winning the 1998 World Cup led to increased interest in football.
Since then, high-profile failures in several major tournaments have led to France鈥檚 leading footballers facing lots of over their bad attitudes. In 2012, French football magazine So Foot hit back and claimed that France was a 鈥渃ountry that has never understood anything about football鈥�. These comments appeared in a special issue on 鈥溾��. France was also described in the title of a book that year by the journalist Joachim Barbier as 鈥淭his country that doesn鈥檛 like football鈥�, or , subtitled 鈥渨hy France misunderstands football and its culture鈥�.
At a time when France has faced economic challenges and an increased threat from terrorism, football has the potential to . This year鈥檚 World Cup Final will take place the day after a national holiday that marks Bastille Day. A victory by Les Bleus would give France good reason to claim le football revient chez lui two decades after its iconic 1998 World Cup victory.
Publication date: 13 July 2018