Finally, I got some sensible comment from Englishmen.
Russ Coleman, a Chelsea fan living in Seattle explained
that “In the past the German rivalry was pretty intense
with all the war stuff. Now we have more of a rivalry
with Argentina (based on dirty play, a cast of
characters, controversial incidents eg Maradona’s hand
of God and Beckham’s red card) or even Portugal with
Cristiano Ronaldo winking after Rooney was sent off. The
Germany rivalry isn’t based on the old good and evil
stuff as the games tend to be sportingly conducted. The
only German character I can remember is Effenberg
shooting the crowd the bird. Rivalries such as
England/Scotland are more of an elder sibling variety
like US/Mexico type where one nation is far more
powerful than the other.”
I’m not sure Albrecht would agree that there has been no
injustice in these fixtures; after all everyone outside
England except Comrade Bakhramov accepts that the ball
never crossed the line for that goal in the 1966 World
Cup Final. It is also a little known fact that five
months earlier in a friendly at Wembley, Alfred ‘Fredy’
Heiss scored a German goal which had hit the stanchion
at the back of the English goal only to be ruled out by
yet another linesman for not having crossed the line.
Have no doubt; people of Albrecht’s generation have a
real sense of being treated unfairly against England, a
perception not diminished by the dubiety surrounding
both of England’s goals yesterday. “It looked like our
goalkeeper was impeded trying to jump for the ball at
the first goal” he said at half time, before adding
after the match, “Terry looked slightly offside for the
second but it was less of an obvious free kick than
England’s first. However I’m glad it happened in a
friendly this time and not in the World Cup.”
Facts back parts of
Coleman's argument up, despite a history of bad calls
mostly favouring England, the Germans haven’t
overreacted to these slights and the games have been
played sportingly. As proof I cite the fact that no
player has ever been sent off in a match between England
and Germany. This sporting sentiment was echoed by John
Bayliss, co-owner of Seattle’s George and Dragon pub,
who speaks German and has lived there.
For him, like
Grove and Coleman, it’s all about the football:
“As for England v Germany I've been twice
to see them play each other and always thought it was
never a bitter or hateful rivalry, but more like meeting
up with an old foe who’s now your friend. It’s generally
quite an ‘even-stevens’ game but I always look forward
for the chance to get one over on them.”
It’s of course not impossible that being distant from
England unclutters the mind, so to get the perspective
of someone still resident in England, I spoke to Spurs
fan and Londoner, Andy Cooper, who works in the football
industry “Coming from somebody who grew up in the
backdrop of Italia 90’ and the World Cup, I would
consider England vs Germany to be THE rivalry when it
comes to international matches involving England.
Comparing it with other rivalries, from an English
perspective the Scottish rivalry has diminished somewhat
mainly because we have not played each other in such a
long time. As I am sure you would testify, it means more
to the Scottish fans than to the English, simply because
Scotland always enter is as the underdog – England are
expected to win so in many ways we are in a no win
situation!
We’ll leave the last word on England v Germany for now
to a broadcaster from each side, both of who have a
unique and interesting perspective. Uli Hesse-Lichtenberger,
German sports journalist debunks the whole war thing
coolly when he says, “The English think they have a
special relationship with the Germans as if they are in
a very special situation with the Germans. That’s just
patently not true because there’s quite a lot of
countries we did wrong during the War.”
But Rod Liddle brings up perhaps the love that dare not
speak its name, “There isn’t a single country in Europe
with whom we have a greater affinity. We both have
appalling cuisines. We both eschew visible displays of
emotion.”
And there you perhaps have it. The Germans and the
English are natural cousins, siblings even. Take out the
first half of the twentieth century and they have been
on the same side of the continent’s great conflicts more
often than not. There languages are closer than they
would like to admit, they can both be slightly
hedonistic in their pleasure seeking and they both have
a tendency to fail to recognize this trait in themselves
while poking fun at it in the other.
One thing that can be said about England v Germany games
is that they happen fairly often, 29 in all; 15 against
West Germany, four against East Germany and ten against
a united Germany. Argentina is a totally different
matter. Only 14 meetings have been recorded in total,
only four of them competitive. Ask any Argentinean who
his rivals are and Brazil will be followed by Uruguay;
and even Germany and Italy will top the list of their
European rivalries. So why are the English even talking
about a country to whom they are a minor irrelevance – a
country with whom they have played just four competitive
fixtures.
Cooper: The only rivalry which comes close to Germany is
Argentina, mainly dating back to the 1986 ‘Hand of God’
match. Having lost to that game, then again in 1998,
knocking them out of the 2002 World Cup was a very sweet
moment for English fans.”
Sadly, where one could mention the English fascination
with war while talking about their obsession with the
Germans as an ancillary issue, it is difficult to write
about England v Argentina without reference to the
Falkland’s conflict. Nothing else would explain why the
intensity of this rivalry sweeps away repeated defeats
to Portugal or centuries of cultural, imperialistic,
political, linguistic and cultural competitiveness with
the French. There was a fairly tempestuous meeting in
1966 when the England manager called the Argentineans
‘animals’. But many of their and Uruguay’s opponents end
up doing that. Scotland said the same about Uruguay in
1986. The same year as that, Argentina beat England with
Diego Maradona palming the ball illegally into the net –
an incident still known as the ‘Hand of God’. In 1998
and 2002, England got double revenge when Michael Owen
theatrically tumbled in both games to con match winning
penalties out of the referee. Well, dubious decisions
litter many rivalries. Is this once more a case of
England seeking par with a real world power by equating
themselves or something more sinister?
I asked Daryl Grove again and he was once more measured
and realistic, “With Argentina it's just a lot of bad
tempered meetings and incidents (the '66 quarterfinal,
the '86 handball, the '98 Beckham sending off.) It's
enjoyable to beat them, but the mileage between the two
countries makes it hard to argue Argentina is a bigger
rival than Germany or Scotland.
So where does it come from? Grove is in no doubt who is
responsible. “I blame the English press, because anytime
we play Germany, we have The Sun, The Mirror and The
Daily Mail (like Bild, but worse) covered in xenophobic
headlines like The Daily Mirror's "Achtung! Surrender!
For You Fritz, ze Euro 96 Championship is over". It's
all based on stirring up the ugly side of patriotism and
I wish the English press could be a bit more measured.
And it saddens me that the rivalry isn't reciprocated in
Germany. I wish we had a rivarly like Argentina vs
Brazil where it's historic and evenly matched and felt
on both sides.”
But Scotland, Germany and Argentina were the nominees
and the result was a cliffhanger with the Germans ahead
at 44%, followed by Argentina on 42% and Scotland
trailing on 13%.
Whether it’s returned or not is debatable.
For part I of Steve's article go
here
