No one realized what had occurred--the police had left so rapidly--but once it became apparent, the supporters started chasing after them. They threw bricks and bottles at their backs. But none of them hit their target. The police were gone; they had retreated; they had disappeared._____A chant broke out--the first that afternoon--and it grew louder as more supporters appeared, entering the square from the various side streets that fed it.
England.There were more people.
England.
England.
England.
England.Now that I could take it in, the crowd was larger than I had expected, not the four thousand who had begun the march, but still one of considerable size--more than a thousand. They were appearing from all directions; they had all taken up this chant. They were celebrating; the national side had won [the skirmish with the police].
England.
England.
England.
I remained leaning against the wall, and remember saying aloud: My, my, my.
Many things fell into place. This chant: it was the only one I had heard in a day otherwise characterized by its enforced, sullen silence. And now: this declaration for England. It was such a simple but enormous thought: these fools, despised at home, ridiculed in the press, incapable of being contained by any act of impulsive legislation that the government had devised, wanted an England to defend. They didn't want Europe; they didn't understand Europe and didn't want to. They wanted a war. They wanted a nation to belong to and to fight for, even if the fight was this absurd piece of street theater with the local Italian police.
soccer ... the sport of socialist/communists world wide.
By the way, does every team get a trophy for "trying their best" and "...everyone is a winner ... oh goody".
And its not Nill, its Zero or Nothing as in "The score is 1, Nothing or 1 - Zip".