A number of my first memories (other than calling my teacher “mum” and a girl in my class getting upset that their parents didn’t let her have a poppy for Rememberance Day because they thought she was asking for a puppy) revolve around the World Cup in Mexico in 1986.
Me and my dad watched a number of the games on a black and white TV in the back bedroom. The TV has a twist dial so you had to tune the station each time you wanted to change channel. This is something that almost seems preposterous today when technolgy sorts literally everything out for you.
I don’t remember any of the details of the games. I can’t say if I even saw the Hand of God live. However I distinctly remember watching some games. I was already a football mad kid, albeit with not a great concentration span (this actually hasn’t changed too much over the years).
My dad used to take me along to local non-league games most weeks. He was a sports reporter by profession, and was extremely patient with me when I inevitably got bored and repeatedly asked how much longer the game had left as I wanted to go home.
Another thing I vividly remember about the tournament was that I had a little penguin book which told me all about the tournament, the teams and had spaces for me to write in all the results. This may be where my love of admin has stemmed from, and as an adult I’ve made sure that I’ve had a wallchart for every World Cup and Euros in recent times. This normally involves a biennial purchase of Four Four Two magazine where I catch up on what has been going on in the world of football.
I’ve dipped in and out of football over the years – playing, watching live and following along at home. It is a sport that I love, but – now especially with a small child – I struggle to even find the time to watch Match of the Day each week.
I am very aware that football is not for everyone, and for some of those who don’t like it, I appreciate that with some of their complaints – players falling around a lot – are very valid.
No sport is perfect. I’ve tried and struggled to get into rugby, although obviously there are loads of people who love it. I have no idea how scrums are part of the game still, they just seem ridiculous. I have got over my objections to them always throwing the ball backwards, though.
As with anything, the more you get into any sport, the more you understand the techniques, skill and tsctics of it. My partner is a rower and can talk about it for literally hours when to me it is just moving back and forwards on the sea.
My georgraphical knowledge is much better than it would otherwise be because of football. Whenever a random foreign city is on the news, I will know the name of the football team that plays there, what country it is in and what their flag looks like.
Whilst I am unable to keep up much with football on a weekly basis, I go out of my way to watch the Word Cup and the Euros each year, especially the England games.
In my lifetime, the England mens team has been so close to winning something (althpugh there was a period when we came to expect underperformance between the late 90s and the Southgate era). The womens teams success has been great but the men still need to vanquish their demons.
The 1986 was the first I watched, and the 2026 one is the first since my dad passed away. This one feels more important, and that may be why. My dad saw England win the World Cup once in his lifetime.
Jude Bellingham’s performances in this tournament show him to be the sort of player that my dad would love. He’s passionate, skillful and seems like a really lovely chap too.
This World Cup feels more important to me. I was listening to Jo Whiley on the radio last week when she played Hey Jude and it got me right in the feels.
The 86 game against Argentina in the Azteca is so ingrained in my football history, regardless of how much I do or do not remember of watching the game at the time.
The Mexico game last week was an incredible experience. I’d come home from a weekend away, had a nap and then woke up to watch it. I’m so glad I did. It was one of the best England performances I remember seeing. We’ve no won in the Azteca. It feels like we need to beat Argentina tonight for the cicle to feel complete.
Will we win? I don’t know. But I am loving the journey, and it has reminded me of why I first fell in love with football.
