At least England’s defeat in the European Cup final has spared us the sight of Boris Johnson, who can scent a photo opportunity at 4,000 yards over the horizon, indulging in any more embarrassing antics in a No. 10 football shirt.
Not that he is the only prime minister to have sought to ingratiate himself with football-followers. As BBC political editor in Tony Blair’s time, I learned that the government was thinking of supporting a World Cup bid and fixed an interview with sports minister Tony Banks. Later, to gauge just how much government commitment there was, I spoke to Alastair Campbell in Downing Street. That night Banks called me: ‘What the hell have you done? We’ve both been summoned to No. 10 tomorrow morning.’ On arrival we were ushered to the Downing Street garden where Banks was joined by two Football Association bigwigs and a prime minister as pumped up as the two footballs that were bouncing on the flagstones with his supposed enthusiasm for the project.
That bid came to nothing and we can be sure that after the riotous behaviour at Wembley and the racist taunts on social media against England’s unsuccessful penalty takers no world footballing authority is going to consider England as a potential future venue for a good few years to come.
Racing folk though should not be too sanctimonious about the social media filth endured by footballers. Like England’s penalty takers, jockeys have to make split-second judgments under massive pressure. They have to decide in an instant when to make a maximum effort, which leading horse to shadow or avoid. While travelling at speed and contesting space they have to decide whether to stick on the rail to save distance and risk being pocketed or whether to go for a gap which fleetingly opens up and which may close again like a rat-trap.
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