“Thirty years of hurt” is a lyric in a song I co-wrote in 1996 – specifically, a line that came out of my, and Frank Skinner’s, realisation that the word “pain” wasn’t going to rhyme with the word “shirt”. Now, in a blink of an eye, those years have doubled in number and I’ve made a radio series/podcast called – come on, you can work this out – Sixty Years of Hurt.
Because, as regards national identity and football, like the Facebook box people used to tick next to Relationship Status, it’s complicated.
Let’s – as they say on social media – say the quiet bit out loud. English people feel, with this game, that essentially: it’s our ball. Football is ours. We codified it. We gave it to the world. We won one big victory in 1966, which has sat on our consciousness ever since, somewhere between an heirloom, a comforter and a curse.
Somewhere inside is an imagination of an Arthurian idyll of England, where we always win, while hardly even trying. And then, at some level we feel that the results that don’t bring us to that place are just wrong.
Which is why Scotland fans – as now, despite their own 28 Years of Hurt – arrive in tournaments intent on having a good time, rather than going out frustrated, disappointed and smashing up bars.
Stay on top of the biggest World Cup ever and catch all the moments that matter with the Radio Times wall chart
Download your FREE World Cup 2026 wall chart and have every fixture at your fingertips.In episode two, I look at how often England managers have turned against various maverick genius players, from Rodney Marsh to Matthew Le Tissier, and wonder if this represents two opposite poles of Englishness: one ordered, controlled, authoritarian; the other anarchic, shambolic and mainly interested in having a laugh.
Try the Radio Times football predictor and put your knowledge to the test this summer
In England, the player who might eternally embody Englishness is less clear. For a long time, with his combination of humility, grace, skill and combover at 23, it was Bobby Charlton.
But by the 90s, the most famous England footballer wore a sarong, exuded sex appeal and earned more money than Charlton could have imagined. Which tells us, perhaps, that Englishness is more complex than some other national identities, and football only holds up a mirror to its many changes.
We didn’t win anything, of course, but the final episode, looking forward to this World Cup, is about hope, perhaps for once without the dance with despair.
Sixty Years of Hurt is on Saturdays at 10am on Radio 4 and is available on BBC Sounds.
The latest issue of Radio Times is out on Tuesday – subscribe here.
Check out more of our Sport coverage or visit our TV Guide and Streaming Guide to find out what's on. For more TV recommendations and reviews, listen to The Radio Times Podcast.
Hence then, the article about david baddiel english people feel with football that essentially it s our ball was published today ( ) and is available on Radio Times ( Middle East ) The editorial team at PressBee has edited and verified it, and it may have been modified, fully republished, or quoted. You can read and follow the updates of this news or article from its original source.
Read More Details
Finally We wish PressBee provided you with enough information of ( David Baddiel: 'English people feel, with football, that essentially it's our ball' )
Also on site :