Following England's failure to qualify for the 2008 European Championships many English football fans are now at a loss as to know what to do this summer. Their plan had been to spend their time drinking in pubs across the country, watching their beloved national team hopefully progressing through the successive rounds of the tournament. However after England were knocked out so spectacularly by Croatia in the qualifying rounds such dreams have been dashed, leaving a gaping hole in the English football calendar.
Normally in such circumstances English fans would turn their attention to the other home nations, giving their support to Ireland (as they did during the "94 World Cup) or more reluctantly Scotland (as they did during "78). Unfortunately though, like England, the rest of the British nations have also failed to qualify, resulting in a European Championships completely devoid of British involvement. Given this desperate state of affairs English fans are now looking across Europe for a another country to pledge their allegiance to, in hope that it will give this important football tournament some sort of meaning. There seems to be only one realistic option - Poland.
The most obvious reason why the English should support Poland is simply the sheer number of Polish people living in England. Following Poland's EU membership hundreds of thousands of young poles have flocked to the country - to such an extent that there are now very few people in England that don't know at least one Polish person. This coupled with the Polish passion for football means that this summer English pubs will be filled with exiled Poles supporting their national side.
Another obvious reason for the English to support Poland is the country's colours - red and white - the same as England's. Also the Poles host the next European Championships in 2012 (along with the Ukraine), so any support the English show for Poland now may be reciprocated in four years time. On top of that there are also the ties forged between the two countries during World War II, and of course their mutual dislike of the Germans. As well as this there are also many Polish footballers plying their trade in the English football leagues, including Manchester United's Tomasz Kuszczak, Southampton's Grzegorz Rasiak and Arsenal's promising young goalkeeper Lukasz Fabianski.
The only problem the English may have with supporting Poland is the Polish language. One of the more difficult of the world's languages to learn, just trying to say hello - cześć - can be quite difficult. Also some of the older English football fans may remember Jan Tomaszewski, the Polish goalkeeper whose superb, but bizarre performance in the qualifying stages of the 1974 World Cup resulted in England's departure from the tournament.
All in all, though, it would seem that Poland are undoubtedly England's only choice for adoption at this summers tournament. Not only for the reasons stated above, but also for the reason that Poland is one of the few European countries that the English don't traditionally dislike - it's hard to imagine any self-respecting Englishman ever supporting France, Germany or Italy. So hopefully, in spite of the absence of the English national side from this summers championships, the tournament wont be deprived of the interest and passion of its fans, as they give their vocal backing and support to the thousands of Poles in pubs and bars across the land this summer.
Dziękuję! (Thank You!)
