Another international break but English football fans don't care about the national team

How many international breaks (interlull™) have there been this season already?

The game against Ukraine on Saturday – which I didn’t watch, incidentally – sounds like it was one of the more unconvincing England displays we have seen for a while. To be fair to Capello and the team however, it wouldn’t be the first time football sides have turned out sub-standard performances having previously completed the job at hand. Stupid defensive errors are concerning, but we shouldn’t whip ourselves up into a frenzy.

To be honest though, I rarely get into any kind of frenzy watching England these days. Yes, a major international tournament is among the more exciting events the game throws up, but these days watching the national side pales almost into insignificance in comparison with my club allegiance.

International breaks are infuriating, breaking up the rhythm of an otherwise exciting league (or your best player’s cruciate ligaments, as in the case of Essien last year). More than that, I find it hard to rationalise hurling abuse at Wayne Rooney or Steven Gerrard in a red shirt one week while cheering them on when they play in white the next, in that I refuse to do the latter. Sad it may be, but watching England has often become merely an extended exercise in supporting Lampard, Terry and the Coles, and this from a not unpatriotic person.

But I’m not on my own.

An interesting piece of research called ‘Football Passions’ was conducted last year by The Social Issues Research Centre, commissioned by Canon. The report, which looked into a range of football-related sociological issues across Europe, claims that football fans almost universally favour their club side over the international team. It varies from nation to nation but, perhaps surprisingly, the British are among those who comparatively care the least about the fortunes of the national sides.

Over 80% of British football fans said they ‘feel a stronger sense of allegiance to the team that I support than I do for the national side’ - a fairly huge majority. That’s over the European average, and bested only by the Norwegians and the Swedish (around 92 and 87% respectively). Interestingly, those nationalities caring most about their national sides were the French (not at all surprising bearing in mind their domestic league may as well be the Conference and ships its best players abroad), Polish and Portuguese. But those three countries were out on their own.

In light of that, I’ll feel better about myself if long working hours means I don’t manage to tune in for tomorrow’s meaningless game against Belarus. It also means I feel much calmer about the disgraceful decision to allow Saturday’s game to only be shown on the internet. It’s just England – I’ll get over it. Until South Africa, that is…

What do you think? Club, or country – which is it for you?

Comments

[Michael Hepp]

I could not agree more. I hold my breath during international breaks. Every time one of Chelsea's players is involved in a tackle I begin to pray that they get up without injury. Getting needlessly hurt in an international game makes my blood boil.

I also think even the games in the summer drain the players for the next year. Henry is a perfect example, it seems after a long World Cup he went non-existant in the next club season. Same for Michael Ballack after the Euros.

I am certainly not saying that International games are not important or have less significance, because winning the World Cup or the European Championship is a nice feather in the cap of most players, but from a club perspective they are a disaster.

[Elliot]

Think there is a more subtle point at work here - international games simply mean less to clubs who feature in regular European competition.

Look at the hundreds of banners on display at England games home and abroad and you'll see no European stalwarts; no Chelsea,no Arsenal and no Manchester United.

It's the Macclesfields, Nottingham Forests and Grimsbys who care. They might still prefer domestic honours over international - those Monday bragging rights in the office remain all important - but you wouldn't see a post like this on a provincial club blog.

Far from "rationalising abuse at Gerrard one week and supporting him the next", international games provide a glamour otherwise unattainable for the fan of the smaller club - and the rare chance to cheer on the elite as their own : Beckham, Terry, and very, very begrudgingly, Ashley Cole.... ;D