Football
Well how could I let the world cup go by and not mention it. I've been watching a fair few matches and some of them in various bars and there's something very wierd I've noticed, that's actually really nice.
Football means so much more in countries other than England, for example you go to the pub to see an England match and there are two main emotions or vibes running through people Expectation, and nervousness. I went to see a Brazil match in a Brazilian bar and it was an attitude of celebration. Before kickoff a DJ was playing loud non stop Samba everyone was singing and dancing (this was around 3'oClock in the afternoon as well), as kick off approached everyone proudly sang the national anthem waving flags, and for 45 minutes everyone was engrossed in the screens dotted around the bar, the moment the whistle blew for half time the DJ started up again as did the dancing and the singing, now you have to bear in mind that at his point it had been a pretty poor performance by Brazil but no-one seemed to care, the second half Brazil turned on the style and the celebrations got wilder and wilder, until the full time whistle blew and the DJ put the music back on.
Later the same night we were passing another bar which had a huge screen and loads of noise coming from it, we had a look in and guess what football mad nation was going crazy, South Korea not a particularly famous footballing nation but the passion of the crowd even topped the braziliians.
This sense of national pride is odd to me, nationalism is something I don't particularly like and living in a city where I can go down the street and have a bar full of Koreans, a bar full of Brazillians, an Aussie pub, and Italian restaurants all showing different games it's hardly a suprise that I don't feel particularly English, I have more in common with the rest of Europe, I've probably even seen more of Europe than I have Britain. But the way they do have pride in where they are from is something I feel is really missing here, if you see a car going down the street with an Itallian flag flying from the window honking the horn and celebrating it's cool, and funny. You see an English flag in the same situation you think thug or hooligan. I don't know why but the national anthem and flag does seem to have been hijacked, and even if it's untrue the reputation sticks. This isn't something UK based, I was chatting to a French girl from Paris who really hopes the French team loses, and she's not the only one I've heard the same from other Parisians, they find there compatriots too arrogant.
This got me thinking is this a generic City thing, do people that live in big cities with a large group of nationalities completely lose their national identity, or even get to the point where they are ashamed of it?
Football means so much more in countries other than England, for example you go to the pub to see an England match and there are two main emotions or vibes running through people Expectation, and nervousness. I went to see a Brazil match in a Brazilian bar and it was an attitude of celebration. Before kickoff a DJ was playing loud non stop Samba everyone was singing and dancing (this was around 3'oClock in the afternoon as well), as kick off approached everyone proudly sang the national anthem waving flags, and for 45 minutes everyone was engrossed in the screens dotted around the bar, the moment the whistle blew for half time the DJ started up again as did the dancing and the singing, now you have to bear in mind that at his point it had been a pretty poor performance by Brazil but no-one seemed to care, the second half Brazil turned on the style and the celebrations got wilder and wilder, until the full time whistle blew and the DJ put the music back on.
Later the same night we were passing another bar which had a huge screen and loads of noise coming from it, we had a look in and guess what football mad nation was going crazy, South Korea not a particularly famous footballing nation but the passion of the crowd even topped the braziliians.
This sense of national pride is odd to me, nationalism is something I don't particularly like and living in a city where I can go down the street and have a bar full of Koreans, a bar full of Brazillians, an Aussie pub, and Italian restaurants all showing different games it's hardly a suprise that I don't feel particularly English, I have more in common with the rest of Europe, I've probably even seen more of Europe than I have Britain. But the way they do have pride in where they are from is something I feel is really missing here, if you see a car going down the street with an Itallian flag flying from the window honking the horn and celebrating it's cool, and funny. You see an English flag in the same situation you think thug or hooligan. I don't know why but the national anthem and flag does seem to have been hijacked, and even if it's untrue the reputation sticks. This isn't something UK based, I was chatting to a French girl from Paris who really hopes the French team loses, and she's not the only one I've heard the same from other Parisians, they find there compatriots too arrogant.
This got me thinking is this a generic City thing, do people that live in big cities with a large group of nationalities completely lose their national identity, or even get to the point where they are ashamed of it?