‘IT’s Coming Home’ Explained, The origins of English football’s unofficial anthem
Along with being a private tutor and running Sam Tutoring I am also an avid football supporter and have been one since I was a child. This summer sees the delayed European championships take place across the continent with the grand finale at Wembley stadium.
If you’ve been paying any attention to the tournament you will continually hear the same phrase over and over again from England fans and that is ‘It’s coming home’ but what does it mean and why do they keep singing it? I explore this question in this article.
The phrase comes from a 1996 song called Three lions by comedians Frank Skinner and David Baddiel and the band The lightning seeds, the song went to the top of the singles chart where it remained for two non consecutive weeks. It was created to coincide with England being the hosts of the Uefa European championships in the summer of 1996.
The name is derived from the emblem of the England football team (Three lions), which in turn is derived from the Royal Arms of England that originated with King Richard the Lionheart.
The (official) strapline for the tournament was Football coming home, and espouses the fact that that modern football as we know it was [turned into an official game with rules and stuff] by the newly formed Football association in 1863 in London.The very clever marketing of the tournament was playing on this fact and coined the phrase because football was literally coming back to the place of it’s inception, it was coming back home!
However it doesn’t stop there, England’s sole victory to date in an international competition came in 1966 when England hosted the world cup and won the Jules Rimet trophy after beating West Germany 4-2 after extra time at Wembley stadium.
Euro 96
30 years later a major international tournament was happening again on English soil and the song not only gave us the legendary refrain of it’s coming home but also gave a voice to the English fans describing an honest outlook on the ups and downs of being an England fan the song writer says there has been 30 years of hurt Never stopped me dreaming referring to the fact that had not won a major tournament for the 30 years but embattled English fans will still keep hope alive that they can do better. One of songwriters, Frank Skinner said in an interview; ‘it’s important to remember that football’s coming home is a mindset. Whether it does or doesn’t, we still believe and that’s what matters.’
Euro 1996 was largely a success, England equaled the furthest they had gone in an international tournament success they had by reaching the Semi-finals where after 90 minutes the match was 1-1 against their archrivals Germany. The golden goal rule was in effect so the first team to score in extra time would go straight through to the final. England came agonisingly close twice through Darren Anderton hitting the post and Paul Gascoigne coming centimetres away from converting an Alan shearer volley across the six yard box.
The game went to penalties and both England and Germany scored their first five penalties which meant the game entered sudden death if one team missed and the other scored the scoring team would be immediately through. The sixth penalty taker was none other than a 25 year old defender by the name of Gareth Southgate who is now the current England manager. His penalty was saved, setting up the stage for Andreas Moller of Borussia Dortmund to send Germany through to the final and strut like a peacock in front of the English fans in celebration. So for the second time within a decade England had gone out to Germany in the semi final of a major tournament the first being in World cup held in Italy 1990.
So therefore It’s coming home has a multilayered meaning, it means football is coming home to the original place where the rules were formalised and ratified, but it also refers to fact that success, clout, national pride, recognition and a shiny new trophy is returning to the place where modern football started.
World Cup 2018
You may be thinking ok, great but that was 25 years ago what does that have to do with the hear and now?
Good question the reemergence of the term can be traced to the 2018 world cup in Russia, England had their best international tournament since 1996, going out to croatia in the semi final and overcoming their terrible run of not winning a penalty shootout since the quarter final of Euro 96 against spain when they overcame columbia in the round of 16. This had everybody starting to believe that football was coming back home and England were going to win the world cup.
Unfortunately England were knocked out in the semi final by a croatian team that were too strong for them on the day, but the tournament created a new belief and optimism around English football With the song being reintroduced not only to those who sang it over two decades before but also a completely new internet generation that had not heard it before, and turned them into memes and skits.
Present Day
Which brings us to the present day, what relevance does it have today. England have reached the final of a major tournament for the first time in over half a century. It’s the first time we’ve reached a final since 1966. The final will be held at Wembley stadium, the home of English football and the site of our last tournament victory.
The team is being managed by Gareth Southgate, the only player to miss a penalty in the 96 shootout, opening the way for Germany to convert their last effort and send them through to the final where they beat the Czech Republic 2-1 after extra time.
So it’s coming on is a lot more than a popular English refrain or football cliche, it’s the encapsulation of a 158 year story that started in London and has traversed 3 more times through London in 1966, 1996 and now 2021. Leading all weary England fans to muster up courage one more time and genuinely believe that maybe on this occasion half a century after the last time, and 25 years since the kind of but not really last time that Football will come home.
Comments
Comments are closed.