Football and the state of the nation
The Story
The Times
3.9 • 1.6K Ratings
🗓️ 16 July 2021
⏱️ 34 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
The online racial abuse of some England players following Sunday's Euro 2020 final defeat by Italy has caused outrage across the country. What does the reaction to Sunday's result reveal about the state of our nation?
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Guests:
-Henry Zeffman, chief political correspondent for The Times.
-Henry Winter, chief football writer for The Times.
Host: Manveen Rana.
Clips: BBC, The Sun, GB News, Sky News, Sky Sports.
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Transcript
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| 0:39.5 | It was always going to be a historic night. The hopes of a nation hung in the balance. |
| 0:46.7 | It was the most important football match for England in 55 years, |
| 0:51.2 | but even before kickoff, things weren't going to plan. |
| 0:59.3 | With tensions already rising, by the time three Black England players missed their penalties |
| 1:09.1 | and England lost the match, the crowd had turned. In the stadium and online, |
| 1:15.6 | it unleashed a torrent of racist abuse. |
| 1:18.8 | Players have had an incredible togetherness and spirit which I think has brought |
| 1:25.0 | so many parts of our country together, so they should be and I think they are incredibly |
| 1:30.5 | proud of what they've done. First, some of them to be abused is unforgivable really. |
| 1:37.1 | What does it tell us about who we are as a country? |
| 1:40.8 | Because I spend a lot of time with fans because I travel around the country. |
| 1:44.4 | You do get a window on this society and I think we're the best of countries and we're the worst of |
| 1:49.6 | countries. You're listening to stories of our times from the times and the Sunday times. |
| 1:56.5 | I'm Manvina Rana, today football and the state of the nation. |
| 2:08.0 | It's not often that football and politics collide so spectacularly, |
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