ABSTRACT
A sunny Saturday afternoon, the sort of day when it would be almost impossible to find a seat in the beer gardens of most of England’s pubs – the English public rarely miss the opportunity to take advantage of warm weekend afternoons. However, somewhat curiously, many beer gardens are almost empty, and there’s a strange set of sporadic cheers and jeers coming from inside many pubs. It is, of course, the day of a big international – a qualifier, or even a finals match, in the World Cup or European Nations Championship, with the England team, to use the war metaphor that is so often part of these encounters, battling a foreign foe on overseas soil. The exact details of the match are unimportant and, in fact, it need not be football – rugby is increasingly becoming part of what reformed football hooligan Dougie Brimson calls ‘the culture of pub supporting’.[ 1 ]
