Ian Chappell, the flinty Australian captain, has said that after giving cricket to the world the English did nothing further to develop the game. That original gift, it might be argued, was a fairly significant bequest, but Chappell could point to postwar history. In his lifetime, cricket has been shaped by Australians, West Indians, and Indians.
Oh, the ghastliness of English football! The dim players, detached from the world in their grim mansions
It is harder to challenge the view that the English, who codified the laws of Association Football in 1863, have spent the last century resting on their oars. The national team has won the World Cup once, in 1966, when the country served as host, and has never won the European Championship, though that may change this week. Should Gareth Southgate’s players beat the Netherlands on Wednesday they will play either Spain or France in the final, in Berlin on Sunday.
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