UEFA rejects request for Baddiel and Skinner to perform Three Lions before Euros final
UEFA has rejected a request for Frank Skinner and David Baddiel to perform Three Lions (Football’s Coming Home) on the pitch before the Euro 2020 final.
Skinner claimed the tournament’s organisers said performing the song at Wembley before England play Italy on Sunday would be “too partisan and not fair to the Italians”.
The comedian pointed out that Italian opera star Andrea Bocelli sang Nessun Dorma at Rome’s Stadio Olimpico before Italy took on Turkey in the opening game of Euro 2020.
Three Lions (Football’s Coming Home) has become an anthem for England supporters since it was released in 1996
Skinner told Channel 4 show The Last Leg: “There was a suggestion that we sang (Three Lions) on the pitch before the final on Sunday and UEFA said it was too partisan and not fair to the Italians to have that.
“In the opening game, which was Italy versus Turkey, Andrea Bocelli sang Nessun Dorma before the game.”
In a statement to Sky News, UEFA confirmed a request for Baddiel and Skinner to perform Three Lions on the Wembley pitch was received on Friday but the closing ceremony had “already been finalised”.
“No additional elements can be integrated at this stage due to the very tight countdown schedule and operational complexities ahead of the kick-off,” a UEFA spokesperson said.
UEFA said Three Lions had been chosen as “the fan song” by the FA and it will be played during the players’ warm-up with karaoke graphics on giant screens, “as has been the case for England’s previous matches”.
Baddiel and Skinner will now perform the song with the Lightning Seeds at London’s 229 music venue in front of 200 England fans ahead of the Euros final on Sunday.
David Baddiel and Frank Skinner have attended several England games during Euro 2020
Three Lions (Football’s Coming Home) has become an anthem for England supporters since it was first released in 1996.
It is one of the UK’s best-selling singles of all time, according to the Official Charts Company, and has had four spells at number one.
It has zoomed up the charts again this week to number four as the England team seek to win their first major trophy since the famous 1966 World Cup victory.
Explaining the intended meaning of the song, Baddiel said: “It’s about how we mainly lose but still irrationally believe that this time, hope might triumph over experience.
“It’s about yearning and magical thinking. It’s about the condition of being a football fan. Admittedly people have taken (Football’s Coming Home) to mean all sorts of b******s.”
Ahead of the final, government ministers are reportedly being urged not to declare “it’s coming home” while supporting the England football team because it aggravates foreign nations.
A briefing note from the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, seen by PoliticsHome, said the phrase “does not go down well overseas” and might damage a potential UK and Ireland bid to host the 2030 World Cup.
Government sources acknowledged the e-mail and said the song would not be put front and centre of a bid to host the 2030 tournament.
But they added “the song is about us for us, it’s been a long old wait for a final”.
England manager Gareth Southgate has made an appeal to the country’s wartime spirit ahead of their Euro 2020 final, urging supporters to be proud of its achievements both on and off the pitch.
Southgate celebrates England’s win over Denmark on Wednesday. Pic: AP
Southgate said the nation has “so much to be proud of” and urged fans to stop “looking at the negatives of our own country”.
“People have tried to invade us and we’ve had the courage to hold that back,” Southgate told The Daily Telegraph.
“You can’t hide that energy in the stadium against Germany was because of that. I never mentioned that to the players, but I know that’s part of what the story was.”
Irish-language rap group Kneecap have announced a surprise London show, hours after one of their members was charged with a terror offence.
Liam O’Hanna, or Liam Og O Hannaidh, was charged with displaying a flag in support of Hezbollah, a proscribed organisation, at a concert in London last November, the Metropolitan Police said on Wednesday.
Just hours later, Kneecap announced on their Instagram account that “we’re back”, adding that they would perform at the 100 Club on Oxford Street, London, on Thursday night.
The post also included a quote by former Sex Pistols vocalist John Lydon, who told ITV’s Good Morning Britain the rap trio “maybe (…) need a bloody good kneecapping” after footage of the band allegedly calling for the deaths of MPs emerged.
Kneecap performing in Belfast last year. Pic: PA
Kneecap apologised to the families of murdered MPs last month, but said footage of the incident at their concert had been “exploited and weaponised”, adding that they “never supported” Hamas or Hezbollah.
The rappers had gigs cancelled after the footage emerged and politicians pushed for Kneecap to be dropped from the Glastonbury Festival line-up, with Tory leader Kemi Badenoch calling for Kneecap to be banned.
The group from Belfast in Northern Ireland is still set to headline Wide Awake Festival in south London on Friday.
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In response to O’Hanna being charged, Kneecap said that they “deny this ‘offence’ and will vehemently defend ourselves” and branded it “political policing” in a bid to “silence voices of compassion”.
The charge came after counter-terror police assessed a video said to be from a Kneecap concert.
In the footage, O’Hanna is allegedly displaying a flag in support of Hezbollah at the O2 Forum in Kentish Town, London, on 21 November last year.
Officers from the Met’s Counter Terrorism Command were made aware of a video circulating online on 22 April and an investigation led to the Crown Prosecution Service authorising the charge, the force said.
O’Hanna – who performs under the stage name Mo Chara – is due to appear at Westminster Magistrates’ Court on 18 June.
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