Euro 2020 Final Day

England v Italy at Wembley in the Euro 2020 final, the possibility of football coming home for the first time since 1966, and I was incredibly fortunate to be able to have the opportunity to take my place in seat 390, row 16, block 539. The chance to watch England, in a major tournament, on home soil, in a final, a dream come true for every football fan.

The dream of seeing England lift the trophy at Wembley filled my thoughts as I prepared to leave Somerset on Sunday morning, but by the time I returned to the county on the early hours, that dream had turned into a nightmare in more than one way.

There was little indication of what lay ahead as we made the relatively drama free, three hour journey to Uxbridge where we parked the car comfortably and enjoyed a quiet drink outside a local bar near the tube station. We commented on how quiet the area was, albeit not central London but a July lunchtime nevertheless but there were very few people around.

As the clock ticked round to 2.30pm we decided to board the tube and head up to Wembley, to sample the atmosphere, take some photos, stock up on memorabilia and ensure we could access the stadium in plenty of time.

Boarding the tube at Uxbridge, the first alarm bell started ringing in my head.

Fortunately it was a quiet train but less than 20% of people on there had face covering and there seemed to be little or no attempt to enforce the mandatory face covering rule. I consoled myself with the thought that with the final being a Covid trial event at least there should be more enforcement of rules around the stadium.

We reached Wembley Park and were greeted initially with a rendition of the Harry Maguire song and then a borderline racist anti Italian song about sticking pasta somewhere inappropriate - I am still not sure which was more concerning, the content of the song or the look on the singers face, akin to the pride a toddler shows when they successfully use a potty for the first time - these people really are that simple. We emerged from the station to see Wembley Way absolutely jam packed with people, probably numbering in excess of 50,000. The air was filled with the remnants of red flares, barely a mask in sight, zero social distancing and it took some serious focus to locate any form of police or steward.

We initially gathered on the concourse outside the stadium, purchasing a souvenir half and half scarf while the crowds of people built up with those descending from the station joining those already in situ by reciting the Don’t Take me Home song adopted by Wales in 2016. The repetition of this song lasted for at least 40 minutes and was another sign that something wasn’t quite right. Regular football fans know that teams and their fans often have a selection of songs and work their way through the repertoire. The fact that one song was repeated over and over indicated to me that there were not too many genuine football fans among the crowd.

As more and more people descended onto Wembley Way, most carrying cans or bottles of beer in carrier bags the journey to the stadium was looking a long one so no we decided to navigate the route in stages.

Our first move took us less than 100 yards as we reached an area where it was still possible to move before we reached the crowd where it would be necessary to push your way through. This was the point that any notion of enjoying the afternoon disappeared as it became obvious this was not a jovial atmosphere where people were mingling and celebrating England getting to the final, there was a far more sinister edge to it.

Whether it was people climbing on top of structures to jump on them and damage them, or people throwing full cans of beer in the air or empty bottles, it became an exercise in reaching the ground safely rather than any chance of enjoying the occasion.

Time after time missiles rained into the air into a crowd containing women and children, and pictures in social media have since show these made contact with some unlucky people who were seriously injured.

Despite the vast number of people, the lack of adherence to Covid protocols and the sinister atmosphere, the number of police officers visible could’ve counted on one hand, while the idea of ticket checkpoints seemed not to have been considered.

As the clock ticked on to 5.30pm a group of England ‘fans’ next to us started setting fire to an Italy flag - the sheer idiocy of these people beggars belief. It was time to move.

As we progressed up Wembley Way, the scenes were embarrassing. There was a dual requirement to check the skies for damaging missiles while scanning the floor to avoid bottles, cans, and canisters. The amount of rubbish was extraordinary, the smell of weed and urine was overpowering but and as we reached and passed Box Park there was still no sign of a police presence.

We also encountered hundreds of people moving in the opposite direction as kick off time drew nearer emphasising how the vast number of people on Wembley Way were not ticket holders. This was proven to be the case when several gates and fences were forced and charged around Wembley to gain access. It was amazing that so many ticketless fans were able to get so close to the stadium with no checkpoints in place to filter out those without tickets, further away from the ground.

The area around the Covid checkpoint was a little calmer but there were still England fans aggressively interrupting Italian supporters who were taking photos and enjoying themselves, and still no police presence.

The Covid checkpoint was a farce, no social distancing in the queues, no scanning of the QR code to show vaccine status, just a quick visual glance at the phone screenshot. Then it was onto the ticket check and while they were checked digitally there were still people mingling around the queues trying to tailgate into the stadium. Again, no social distancing, no queue filters to being some order to proceedings, just a free for all.

There was a sense of relief once we were into the stadium itself, clear of the missiles, broken glass and no longer crammed into a crowd. However we were fortunate to arrive into that area, after the earlier violent disorder that has been occurring as we made our way up Wembley Way.

As we made our way to our seats the repeated songs continued, and you could say there was more of a football vibe that a yob vibe but it was still a case of being on your guard.

The booing of the Italian national anthem and the taking of the knee were predictable when presented by such a crowd.

The game itself was far from a classic but had enough jeopardy to make it enthralling. England eventually missed out on penalties, the sight of a missile heading into the Italian fans from the England followers above signalled that the game was over.

The return journey was a more sombre affair, many people checking their social media rather than talking. It was while on there that all the racist tweets aimed at Saka, Sancho and Rashford became apparent. Again this was not surprising after the mentality of people I had encountered that day.

There is little doubt that the police presence was insufficient, that the security plan was clearly inadequate for an event of that size. The Covid trial status of the event is laughable, when you have so many people in and around the area who are not either double vaccinated or have evidence of a negative test then how can you assess the effectiveness of the trial event.

However the main problem is the mentality of the English yob. They are not football fans, they are yobs who gatecrash football games. Many of them heavily influenced by alcohol and drugs they cause chaos and injury. Football and the police needs to work harder to change the image of these type of events. I will be very reluctant to attend another England game at Wembley after yesterday’s events and many others will feel the same. You should be able take you family to games but there is no way a family would be safe in that environment. There needs to be clampdowns on alcohol sales on match days, sniffer dogs to deter drug use, greater police presence to deal with individuals and set up checkpoints to filter out non ticket holders, and a more robust approach to troublemakers, remove them forcibly when necessary.

I have seen many England failures on the pitch but off the pitch yesterday was a massive failure. An absolute disgrace that was embarrassing for our country.