The English Disease; Most Countries Can Enjoy a Drink, a Foreign Holiday and Watching a Game of Football Without Having to Round It All Off with an Orgy of Violence. Why Can't the English?
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Summary
The high ceilings and corniced windows should lend the pub, a former theatre in London's east end, a lighter atmosphere. But in the countdown to the crucial match between Switzerland and England the air is laden with testosterone. A very English ritual is about to begin.
On home ground England fans gather round the high altar of the television projector, drinking holy lager, the incense of sambuca chasers in their nostrils. The collective pre-match energy has no release; the singing, the euphoria of scoring, most of the drinking, has still to come. Some of the young men are physically twitching with tension. Arms and legs and necks jolt with kinetic energy that can barely be contained and will find no earthing rod until 23 minutes later.See the full content of this document
Extract
The English Disease; Most Countries Can Enjoy a Drink, a Foreign Holiday and Watching a Game of Football Without Having to Round It All Off with an Orgy of Violence. Why Can't the English?
Until then there is nothing to do except hit each other, swear, push, pint, josh. The behaviour starts with verbal abuse and descends into horseplay that moves on from shoulder-punching to simulated sodomy. Then, hands on heart, voices raised to the high roof beams, they sing God Save The Queen.
It's rough and rowdy but there is no violence and there are no arrests - in this part of tow...See the full content of this document
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