So, the Spanish are complaining about the way Lionesses celebrated, are they? And what are they basing that on? They point to the way Chloe Kelly, our England hero, ran past their goalkeeper after scoring that fabulous winning penalty. Apparently, they didn’t like that one bit. What claptrap. Kelly, who has cemented her reputation as an all-time England great, ran over to the England fans and towards the side of the pitch where her teammates and coaches could swiftly join her. The fact that little journey took her past the defeated Spanish goalkeeper was to my eyes completely coincidental.
In any case, it’s a bit rich of the Spanish to moan about how the victors celebrate. After last year’s men’s Euros, where Spain beat England in the final, their players, including Rodri, who plays in England, gloated in a packed Madrid square by chanting into a microphone about how Gibraltar “is Spanish”. It’s only because we English are so dignified in defeat that such an outrageous and provocative stunt didn’t turn into a major diplomatic incident. We were sensible enough to just shrug it off.
But the Spaniards, it seems, have no such graciousness either in victory or, now, defeat. What a shame, and something of a stain. After all, it’s not as though Spain hasn’t had plenty of sporting triumphs to savour.
They not only won the men’s Euros last year, but won the men’s World Cup itself not so long ago. Their women are also world champions, having beaten England in the final in 2023.
Their top tennis player, the brilliant Carols Alcaraz, wins Grand Slams for fun, as did Rafa Nadal before him, of course. And both were cheered on by the ever generous Wimbledon crowd. So, they really have no need, as a nation, to lash out with childish petulance when, for just once, the English get the better of them.
Sport isn’t just about winning and losing. Or at least it shouldn’t be. It’s about how you do it. Take the Germans as a good example here.
When the Lionesses beat them in the last Euros final, the Germans had every reason to feel hard done by, having lost their star striker to a freak injury during the warm-up. But they couldn’t have been more generous.
At least Spain isn’t quite in Argentina’s league for all this, not that that’s saying much. England’s men still recall with a sad shake of the head the horrendous gloating from the Argentinian players after they knocked England out of the 1986 World Cup, with a cheat goal, and again in 1998 after one of their players had dived to get David Beckham sent off.
And supporters of my generation recall their violent petulance in defeat against West Germany in the 1990 World Cup final. It all says quite a lot about that country.
As for the English, we have many faults. A minority of our fans have disgraced us with their inexcusable hooliganism for many decades, going way back to the early 1970s.
But our England players, both men and women, know how to win and lose with dignity. And that’s what the Lionesses did on Sunday night. Chloe Kelly told an interviewer afterwards how proud she is to be English.
Well said, Chloe. It’s a shame we don’t hear that kind of sentiment more often. And we can assure you that you made the rest of us proud too.
Content Source: www.express.co.uk