The England squad is built on immigration - yet our xenophobic government dares to cheer it on

[Soph0571]

But the wider irony is that the England team of 2021 is one that simply would not exist if Patel had been in charge of the Home Office a generation ago. After England’s historic 2-0 win over Germany at Wembley in the last-16 on 29 June, a viral social media post from the Migration Museum in London, accompanied by a poster campaign, sought to underline the impact of immigration on English football. It depicted England’s starting XI from the game, but with the names of all the players of foreign ancestry – with either a parent or grandparent born abroad – crossed out. Just three remained: the defenders Luke Shaw and John Stones, and the goalkeeper Jordan Pickford. All have had superb tournaments. Still, you suspect the three of them might have struggled to keep Germany at bay on their own.
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And yet at this juncture, with the country uniting around the success of Gareth Southgate’s side, with immigration returning to the political agenda, with the Windrush scandal still fresh in the mind, it feels right to expose the noxious double standard of populist demagogues like Patel as the shameless opportunism it is. On 6 July, the day before England’s semi-final against Denmark, the Home Secretary unveiled the Nationality and Borders Bill in parliament – the latest front in the government’s attempt to correlate migration with criminality, even as it embraces this immigrant England team with its polyvalent identity and abhorrence of racist dog-whistling.
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At a moment of surging ethno-nationalism, rampant nativism and widening cultural division, it feels more vital than ever to get across that message: to point out the incongruity of wrapping yourself in England team colours while spurning the values they represent.

https://www.newstatesman.com/politics/sport/2021/07/england-squad-built-immigration-yet-our-xenophobic-government-dares-cheer-it]
Emphasis mine

I heard a really good analysis on this on the Bunker podcast today - about the powerful agency of this team - which will only get more powerful if they progress further in the competition and how the government wants to win that victory, but at the same time do not want to give this intelligent and compassionate group of young men any real voice. Heh. And that the government right now risks being told to sit down by the team, not in my name etc. We shall see.

Take the knee - Marxist
Rule Britannia - Patriotic
Footballs coming home - Keep quiet and stick to the game
Right wing racists trying to own the success of the team
All so very Brexit Britain. Hugely depressing and annoying in equal measure.