Euro 2020 Final - England vs Italy

[Jacksgranda]

5 hours ago, 101 said:

England sticking a world cup bid in today, is like a divorced Da turning up at court for the custody hearing the night after taking a shit on the kids bouncy castle to get one over on his ex.

[Frankie S]

I was at the match last night with my 12-year old son, and while we enjoyed the game, the rest was utter chaos. My son and I arrived at our entrance point (Entrance 1) in plenty of time, and joined a sea (the shapeless mass couldn’t be described as a queue) of thousands of bodies swarming towards the entry points. Once you were absorbed by the throng there was no way back  - people were crushing in from all sides. I almost went hoarse from shouting at people not to push forward - there were loads of children in the middle of the scrum and I genuinely thought there was a danger of another Hillsborough the way things were going -, but to no avail. I can only hope no-one got hurt.

There were lots of decent England fans amongst the crowd, but the rogue element was high. ‘Fans’ were pushing from all directions with no regard for the safety of those caught in the middle; other ‘fans’ were throwing beer over the crowd, soaking everyone, with cans and bottles flying everywhere. Yet more ‘fans’ were scaling the walls in their dozens to get into the stadium without passing the entrance points. All this behaviour would be imbecilic at the best of times, but as we emerge from a pandemic it was almost beyond belief.

After nearly an hour of being crushed from all sides, we were finally swept through the entrances by the sheer pressure of the crowd, by which time the stewards had more or less given up trying to activate the match tickets (let alone check Covid certification etc.). I got my ticket checked (only by holding my phone out in the general direction of a scanner, not due to any intervention by a steward), but my son was pushed over the mess of bent and fallen barriers by the pressure behind, with no chance to get his ticket scanned.

Once inside, we realised that it was a a two step activation process, with the second step to be triggered at the turnstiles, so if you hadn’t had your ticket activated at the entrance point you couldn’t access the QR code needed to get in at the turnstile. We pushed back against the crowd to get back to the entrance point, but the stewards were unable to help, and we finally discovered helpful UEFA staff who were able to activate my son’s phone, and we were eventually able to join the lengthy queues at gate G. Of course the result of hundreds (perhaps thousands) of people swarming in at the entrance points without getting their tickets activated meant huge delays at the turnstiles.

In the time we queued at Gate G (at least 30 mins) there were no less than FOUR occasions where people within the stadium flung open the fire doors and large numbers of ticketless idiots swarmed towards the open doors. Able-bodied people were also trying to storm the disabled access points. Simply beyond belief. The Times today estimated that 400 fans got into the game without tickets. From what we saw and experienced, I suspect their estimate is on the (very) low side.

The complicated entrance protocols (three-pronged checks on Covid certification, match tickets and ID, none of which actually happened for us as we were swept past the entrance barriers) were always going to cause severe delays and in the context of a 75% crowd might just about have been workable, without the substantial Neanderthal contingent attempting to force their way in.

The police presence was surprisingly low key for a match of this scale (there were no police at all within the stadium perimeter), and the stewards were either incapable, unwilling or simply too overpowered to fix the problem. It took ages to close the doors, and they were soon thrown open again. This looked like co-ordinated criminal behaviour by a determined element of idiots, though The Times is reporting today that stewards were opening fire doors to evict intruders, then being overpowered by a fresh surge of non-ticket holders. 

Once inside the stadium it was almost inevitable that our seats would be occupied by non-ticket holders. Luckily they moved when asked, but it was clear that the section we were in was not 75% full, in line with the overall 75% capacity limit, but was actually close to 100% (or more) with 4 people standing in the 3 seats in front of us and people standing in the back and in the aisles.

Contrary to media reports, the rogue behaviour we witnessed was not committed by a ‘tiny minority.’ It was a minority, but a very significant one. To be fair, there were many England fans who were absolutely disgusted by the behaviour of their compatriots, and there were loud choruses of boos every time a fire door was thrown open, with packs of idiots surging towards it. There were numerous England fans around me who were asking if my son (and other kids) was ok during the crushes.

To be honest, I feel sorry for the majority of England fans whose reputation is constantly trashed by the abject behaviour of the idiotic minority. Those fans are an utter liability, and if I were English I’d have given up supporting the national team by now.

FWIW, I didn’t hear any booing of taking the knee (only applause) or any sign of racist abuse where I was, but the constant booing of every Italian touch was utterly tedious. The England songbook was disappointingly limited - they only seem to have two songs - one about the massive size of Harry Maguire’s head and the other about ‘Scotland getting battered everywhere they go’ (apart from at Wembley presumably).

Quite a contrast between the antiseptic experience of nursing a cup of lukewarm water for 3 hours before the Scotland v Czech Republic game at Hampden and last night’s chaos in London. I generally find that an enjoyable football experience falls somewhere between the two extremes.

As far as the game itself goes, Italy were deserved winners. It was a decent effort from England, but they were outclassed - players of the quality of Insigne are a joy to watch and Italy’s centre back pairing (Chiellini and Bonucci) are a cut above. The first touch of every Italian player was sublime, and they absolutely bossed the match and thoroughly deserved to win.

Edited July 12, 2021 by Frankie S

[DukDukGoose]

5 minutes ago, Frankie S said:

I was at the match last night with my 12-year old son, and while we enjoyed the game, the rest was utter chaos. My son and I arrived at our entrance point (Entrance 1) in plenty of time, and joined a sea (the shapeless mass couldn’t be described as a queue) of thousands of bodies swarming towards the entry points. Once you were absorbed by the throng there was no way back  - people were crushing in from all sides. I almost went hoarse from shouting at people not to push forward - there were loads of children in the middle of the scrum and I genuinely thought there was a danger of another Hillsborough the way things were going -, but to no avail. I can only hope no-one got hurt.

There we’re lots of decent England fans amongst the crowd, but the rogue element was high. ‘Fans’ were pushing from all directions with no regard for the safety of those caught in the middle; other ‘fans’ were throwing beer over the crowd, soaking everyone, with cans and bottles flying everywhere. Yet more ‘fans’ were scaling the walls in their dozens to get into the stadium without passing the entrance points. All this behaviour would be imbecilic at the best of times, but as we emerge from a pandemic it was almost beyond belief.

After nearly an hour of being crushed from all sides, we were finally swept through the entrances by the sheer pressure of the crowd, by which time the stewards had more or less given up trying to activate the match tickets (let alone check Covid certification etc.). I got my ticket checked (only by holding my phone out in the general direction of the scanners, not due to any intervention by a steward), but my son was pushed over the mess of bent and fallen barriers by the pressure behind, with no chance to get his ticket scanned.

Once inside, we realised that it was a a two step activation process, with the second step to be triggered at the turnstiles, so if you hadn’t had your ticket activated at the entrance point you couldn’t access the QR code needed to get in at the turnstile. We pushed back against the crowd to get back to the entrance point, but the stewards were unable to help, and we finally discovered helpful UEFA staff who were able to activate my son’s phone, and we were finally able to join the lengthy queues at gate G. Of course the result of hundreds (perhaps thousands) of people swarming in at the entrance points without getting their tickets activated meant huge delays at the turnstiles.

In the time we queued at Gate G (at least 30 mins) there were no less than FOUR occasions where people within the stadium flung open the fire doors and large numbers of ticketless idiots swarmed towards the open doors. Able-bodied people were also trying to storm the disabled access points. Simply beyond belief. The Times today estimated that 400 fans got into the game without tickets. From what we saw and experienced, I suspect their estimate is on the (very) low side.

The complicated entrance protocols (three-pronged checks on Covid certification, match tickets and and ID, none of which actually happened for us as we were swept past the entrance barriers) were always going to cause severe delays and in the context of a 75% crowd might just about have been workable, without the substantial Neanderthal contingent attempting to force their way in.

The police presence was surprisingly low key for a match of this scale (there were no police at all within the stadium perimeter), and the stewards were either incapable, unwilling or simply too overpowered to fix the problem. It took ages to close the doors, and they were soon thrown open again. This looked like co-ordinated criminal behaviour by an determined element of idiots, though The Times is reporting today that stewards were opening fire doors to evict intruders, then being overpowered by a fresh surge of non-ticket holders. 

Once inside the stadium it was almost inevitable that our seats would be occupied by non-ticket holders. Luckily they moved when asked, but it was clear that the section we were in was not 75% full, in line with the overall 75% capacity limit, but was actually close to 100% (or more) with 4 people standing in the 3 seats in front of us and people standing in the back and in the aisles.

Contrary to media reports, the rogue behaviour we witnessed was not committed by a ‘tiny minority.’ It was a minority, but a very significant one. To be fair, there were many England fans who were absolutely disgusted by the behaviour of their compatriots, and there were loud choruses of boos every time a fire door was thrown open, with packs of idiots surging towards it. There were numerous England fans around me who were asking if my son (and other kids) was ok during the crushes.

To be honest, I feel sorry for the majority of England fans whose reputation is constantly trashed by the abject behaviour of the idiotic minority. Those fans are an utter liability, and if I were English I’d have given up supporting the national team by now.

FWIW, I didn’t hear any booing of taking the knee (only applause) or any sign of racist abuse where I was, but the constant booing of every Italian touch was utterly tedious. The England songbook was disappointingly limited - they only seem to have two songs - one about the massive size of Harry Maguire’s head and the other about ‘Scotland getting battered everywhere they go’ (apart from at Wembley presumably).

Quite a contrast between the antiseptic experience of nursing a cup of lukewarm after for 3 hours before the Scotland v Czech Republic game at Hampden and last night’s chaos in London. I generally find that an enjoyable football experience falls somewhere between the two extremes.

As far as the game itself goes, Italy were deserved winners. It was a decent effort from England, but they were outclassed - players of the quality of Insigne are an joy to watch and Italy’s centre back pairing (Chiellini and Bonucci) are a cut above. The first touch of every Italian player was a sublime, and they absolutely bossed the match and thoroughly deserved to win.

Sounds like a nightmare and terrible that folk like yourself with a child were subjected to that.

[PauloPerth]

1 hour ago, NotThePars said:

 

Fair play to Neville has to couch it like most footballers in muted terms but good to hear him pointing out the hypocrisy of the PM here.

Fair play to Gary Neville there.  Never thought much of him as a pundit but big respect for standing up and speaking out.

[RawB93]

53 minutes ago, Hedgecutter said:

The rest of Europe jumping on the "F*** you England bandwagon" with illustrations of why nobody except the English want them to win:

 

That Celtic fan chucking pints at the Italian fans 

Hope the next time he farts he follows through.

[Aim Here]

57 minutes ago, Jacksgranda said:

I was baffled by England's choice of penalty takers. If Saka had to take one it should have been the second or third.

I think it's a case of Southgate overthinking it.

Remember that given Southgate's previous infamy, he'll likely have been studying the f**k out of Italy's penalty takers and assuming the Italians are doing the same to England. If you're doing a heavy game theoretic analysis of penalty kicks based on statistics and penalty histories and whatnot, what better way to bamboozle the other side's game theorists than to have the most crucial penalty taken by someone about which nothing is known?

Trouble is, you still need to have a player who can actually hit a good penalty under the pressure.

By a similar oversight, Southgate earmarked Sancho and Rashford to come on to take the penalties late in the game, but didn't factor in that they still need to have their legs attuned to the match conditions.

[Jacksgranda]

4 hours ago, WhiteRoseKillie said:

The atmosphere after the first ten minutes was a disgrace. I'm gonna hazard a guess that home fans' attendance last night was, even more than normal, predicated on an ability to pay and a desire to be present at any major event than any passion for or knowledge of the game. 

Oh, and a PTTGOMN - any melt who notices themselves on the big screen and starts gurning like a loon (or, even, notices themselves - because they'te not watching the game, are they?) should be taken round the back of the stand and choked with their own BNWT replica shirt. 

half and half scarf, Shirley?

[ewan14]

3 hours ago, WhiteRoseKillie said:

Similar to my experience. Those who follow football were a lot more restrained during the tournament, and especially in the run-up to last night. Those who don't follow the game, but got swept up in the hysteria, were convinced "it was coming home".* 

Scene 

*Loathsome fucking phrase, imho. Just one more reason for Baddiel to be flayed and dipped in salt.

 

or a legendary hot shot to kick his, or Skinner's ( same difference ) , backside

[GiGi]

Me enjoying the free half day off my English employers gave everyone in anticipation of football coming home 

[well fan for life]

Watching some of the coverage back sober there. Chuckling at the BBC pundits lauding Harry Kane for dropping deep in the first half "like they wanted him to" and yet by the end of it all they're complaining he done nothing in the box. 

 

[Gordon EF]

1 hour ago, Hedgecutter said:

The rest of Europe jumping on the "F*** you England bandwagon" with illustrations of why nobody except the English want them to win:

 

Saw that this morning. Watching those two England fans squaring up to the Italians fucking shrink back into their shirts when Saka missed was fucking delicious.

[PauloPerth]

17 minutes ago, Frankie S said:

I was at the match last night with my 12-year old son, and while we enjoyed the game, the rest was utter chaos. My son and I arrived at our entrance point (Entrance 1) in plenty of time, and joined a sea (the shapeless mass couldn’t be described as a queue) of thousands of bodies swarming towards the entry points. Once you were absorbed by the throng there was no way back  - people were crushing in from all sides. I almost went hoarse from shouting at people not to push forward - there were loads of children in the middle of the scrum and I genuinely thought there was a danger of another Hillsborough the way things were going -, but to no avail. I can only hope no-one got hurt.

There were lots of decent England fans amongst the crowd, but the rogue element was high. ‘Fans’ were pushing from all directions with no regard for the safety of those caught in the middle; other ‘fans’ were throwing beer over the crowd, soaking everyone, with cans and bottles flying everywhere. Yet more ‘fans’ were scaling the walls in their dozens to get into the stadium without passing the entrance points. All this behaviour would be imbecilic at the best of times, but as we emerge from a pandemic it was almost beyond belief.

After nearly an hour of being crushed from all sides, we were finally swept through the entrances by the sheer pressure of the crowd, by which time the stewards had more or less given up trying to activate the match tickets (let alone check Covid certification etc.). I got my ticket checked (only by holding my phone out in the general direction of a scanner, not due to any intervention by a steward), but my son was pushed over the mess of bent and fallen barriers by the pressure behind, with no chance to get his ticket scanned.

Once inside, we realised that it was a a two step activation process, with the second step to be triggered at the turnstiles, so if you hadn’t had your ticket activated at the entrance point you couldn’t access the QR code needed to get in at the turnstile. We pushed back against the crowd to get back to the entrance point, but the stewards were unable to help, and we finally discovered helpful UEFA staff who were able to activate my son’s phone, and we were eventually able to join the lengthy queues at gate G. Of course the result of hundreds (perhaps thousands) of people swarming in at the entrance points without getting their tickets activated meant huge delays at the turnstiles.

In the time we queued at Gate G (at least 30 mins) there were no less than FOUR occasions where people within the stadium flung open the fire doors and large numbers of ticketless idiots swarmed towards the open doors. Able-bodied people were also trying to storm the disabled access points. Simply beyond belief. The Times today estimated that 400 fans got into the game without tickets. From what we saw and experienced, I suspect their estimate is on the (very) low side.

The complicated entrance protocols (three-pronged checks on Covid certification, match tickets and ID, none of which actually happened for us as we were swept past the entrance barriers) were always going to cause severe delays and in the context of a 75% crowd might just about have been workable, without the substantial Neanderthal contingent attempting to force their way in.

The police presence was surprisingly low key for a match of this scale (there were no police at all within the stadium perimeter), and the stewards were either incapable, unwilling or simply too overpowered to fix the problem. It took ages to close the doors, and they were soon thrown open again. This looked like co-ordinated criminal behaviour by an determined element of idiots, though The Times is reporting today that stewards were opening fire doors to evict intruders, then being overpowered by a fresh surge of non-ticket holders. 

Once inside the stadium it was almost inevitable that our seats would be occupied by non-ticket holders. Luckily they moved when asked, but it was clear that the section we were in was not 75% full, in line with the overall 75% capacity limit, but was actually close to 100% (or more) with 4 people standing in the 3 seats in front of us and people standing in the back and in the aisles.

Contrary to media reports, the rogue behaviour we witnessed was not committed by a ‘tiny minority.’ It was a minority, but a very significant one. To be fair, there were many England fans who were absolutely disgusted by the behaviour of their compatriots, and there were loud choruses of boos every time a fire door was thrown open, with packs of idiots surging towards it. There were numerous England fans around me who were asking if my son (and other kids) was ok during the crushes.

To be honest, I feel sorry for the majority of England fans whose reputation is constantly trashed by the abject behaviour of the idiotic minority. Those fans are an utter liability, and if I were English I’d have given up supporting the national team by now.

FWIW, I didn’t hear any booing of taking the knee (only applause) or any sign of racist abuse where I was, but the constant booing of every Italian touch was utterly tedious. The England songbook was disappointingly limited - they only seem to have two songs - one about the massive size of Harry Maguire’s head and the other about ‘Scotland getting battered everywhere they go’ (apart from at Wembley presumably).

Quite a contrast between the antiseptic experience of nursing a cup of lukewarm after for 3 hours before the Scotland v Czech Republic game at Hampden and last night’s chaos in London. I generally find that an enjoyable football experience falls somewhere between the two extremes.

As far as the game itself goes, Italy were deserved winners. It was a decent effort from England, but they were outclassed - players of the quality of Insigne are an joy to watch and Italy’s centre back pairing (Chiellini and Bonucci) are a cut above. The first touch of every Italian player was a sublime, and they absolutely bossed the match and thoroughly deserved to win.

Sounds horrendous mate, hope you and your young lad are okay.

You do wonder if this was coordinated, as in someone put on social media ‘let’s force our way in’ and word spread.  I haven’t heard of big mobs storming turnstiles for many years. I’ve been to Wembley, it’s way out in an industrial estate with not much about as I remember it in terms of pubs or entertainment.  Would big numbers of folk without tickets just happen to be milling about and took their chance.. sounds unlikely.

Folk seem to blame stewards, heard some England fans shouting ‘do your job’ but at the end of the day what can you do? Vastly outnumbered  by folk willing to do anything to get past with barely any powers on your side and no police back up.. all on near to minimum wage rate of pay?!

[PauloPerth]

3 minutes ago, Gordon EF said:

Saw that this morning. Watching those two England fans squaring up to the Italians fucking shrink back into their shirts when Saka missed was fucking delicious.

I didn’t think that video was anything at all. Yes there were a couple of wee shites go over to the Italian lad, but he did similar later on.  Thought the Italians were doing as much goading.

A tense penalty shootout in a  final, a full day in the piss for most and hundreds of fans from the two countries standing right next to each other, it didn’t look too bad all things considered.

[DeeTillEhDeh]

The number of people outing themselves as never having watched an actual game of football when they were claiming Chiellini should have been sent off for his jersey pull on Saka has been superb to see. 

Ironically the same people will defend Rice's equally cynical challenge on Havertz in the Germany game.

Rice's challenge was miles closer to being a red card because he was the last man - only the proximity of Walker saved him.

[Gordon EF]

4 minutes ago, PauloPerth said:

I didn’t think that video was anything at all. Yes there were a couple of wee shites go over to the Italian lad, but he did similar later on.  Thought the Italians were doing as much goading.

A tense penalty shootout in a  final, a full day in the piss for most and hundreds of fans from the two countries standing right next to each other, it didn’t look too bad all things considered.

Certainly wasn't the worst but there were just a right few fannies on the England side. That one Italian guy was certainly giving it back but, at least from what you see there, the original provocation came from the England fans.

Not saying they should get the jail or anything but watching someone act like a c**t then lose a Euro final on penalties is deeply satisfying.

[Jacksgranda]

4 hours ago, welshbairn said:

Reckon that's put England and Ireland's chances of holding the 2030 WC down to close to zero.

 

But apart from that Mike, how did you enjoy the final?

[eez-eh]

48 minutes ago, topcat(The most tip top) said:

After getting England to massively overachieve for years now Southgate is still getting undeserved criticism

The suggestions that he, of all people, hasn't spent enough time thinking about penalty shoot outs is one  of  the  more far fetched examples

Except that’s not what I said and you’re completely misconstruing things.

I’m just surprised to see a manager being so controlling in that situation. I’d have thought it far more common to consult with everyone and largely let the players speak up about who was up to it. But as I said I might be wrong.

[Frankie S]

10 minutes ago, PauloPerth said:

Sounds horrendous mate, hope you and your young lad are okay.

You do wonder if this was coordinated, as in someone put on social media ‘let’s force our way in’ and word spread.  I haven’t heard of big mobs storming turnstiles for many years. I’ve been to Wembley, it’s way out in an industrial estate with not much about as I remember it in terms of pubs or entertainment.  Would big numbers of folk without tickets just happen to be milling about and took their chance.. sounds unlikely.

Folk seem to blame stewards, heard some England fans shouting ‘do your job’ but at the end of the day what can you do? Vastly outnumbered  by folk willing to do anything to get past with barely any powers on your side and no police back up.. all on near to minimum wage rate of pay?!

Yeah, all good thanks. My son got a fright but he’s fine. He enjoyed the match, particularly as Italy won. The storming of the entrance points by ticketless louts definitely  seemed coordinated. 

[DeeTillEhDeh]

Me, too! [emoji38]  No Englishmen in my team, either. (Petty, petty.)

I had one - Sterling.

[Jacksgranda]

3 hours ago, Detournement said:

2018 was the best team they had for over a decade plus during a heatwave and I think it started off as banter and has grown into a mythical challenge. 

So they got heatstroke, and it's affected their ability to see reason?