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Football’s Coming Home – What Does it Mean?

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England flags in a football stadium

Football’s coming home, a phrase also simply referred to as “it’s coming home” or “Three Lions,” is a song that was written by comedians Dave Baddiel, Frank Skinner, and Ian Broudie back in 1996. When the song was recorded, Baddiel and Skinner were backed by rock band The Lightning Seeds, for whom Broudie was the frontman.

At the time the song was penned, it was to celebrate England hosting the Euro 96 competition – the first time England had hosted a major football competition for 30 years. It became the only song (recorded by the one artist) to top the British charts on three occasions – 1996, again in 1998, and in 2018. The lyrics are as follows:

Lyrics to Football’s Coming Home

It’s coming home – it’s coming home, it’s coming – football’s coming home (x3)

Everyone seems to know the score
They’ve seen it all before
They just know
They’re so sure

That England’s gonna throw it away
Gonna blow it away
But I know they can play
‘Cause I remember

Three Lions on a shirt
Jules Rimet still gleaming
Thirty years of hurt
Never stopped me dreaming

So many jokes, so many sneers
But all those oh-so-nears
Wear you down
Through the years

But I still see that tackle by Moore
And when Linekar scored
Bobby belting the ball
And Nobby Dancing

Three Lions on a shirt
Jules Rimet still gleaming
Thirty years of hurt
Never stopped me dreamin

It’s coming home – it’s coming home,  – football’s coming home

It’s coming home – it’s coming home, it’s coming – football’s coming home (x3)

Three Lions on a shirt (it’s coming home, it’s coming)
Jules Rimet still gleaming (football’s coming home, it’s coming home)
Thirty years of hurt (it’s coming home, it’s coming)
Never stopped me dreaming (football’s coming home)

(x3)

The introduction has snippets of commentary – “It really is bad news for the English game, we’re not creative enough, and we’re not positive enough.” Yes, the song was about the men’s England football team’s failures to make it to the last stages of competitions– the missed chances and penalty screw-ups.

If you haven’t yet heard the song (is that even possible?), you can listen to it here.

An illustration of an England flag with It's Coming Home in text

Another Thought of the Meaning of Football’s Coming Home

But there’s another potential meaning to the song, too – this time more historic. It’s us Brits who invented modern football – also known as soccer, the other name given to the sport to differentiate it from other games like rugby and American football.

Football is easily the most popular sport on the planet. It gets played in all sorts of places around the world, from backcountry villages that don’t even have a proper ball to play with to the largest and grandest sports stadiums globally. It’s played by both sexes and people of all ages.

The origins of football spread back over 2,000 years. Various games of similarity were played in the ancient world.

The Chinese Game of Tsu’Chu (Cuju)

One of the first examples comes from ancient China, which played a game called Tsu’Chu, or Cuju, which is Chinese for “kicking the ball.”

Instead of kicking the ball towards a wide-open goalmouth, the aim of the ancient game of Tsu’Chu involved getting the ball into a position where it could be kicked through an opening into a net. The opening was believed to have been approximately 30 to 40 cm in diameter.

The game was played between two teams on a rectangular field, and the ball was made from leather stuffed with feathers. Players weren’t allowed to use their hands. The Chinese army developed a competitive version of Tsu’Chu, which they used as part of their training regime.

The game was huge in China for centuries. However, its popularity began to decline over the years, but today a few teams still play it in order to try and preserve the traditional game.

According to the historyofsoccer.info website, FIFA recognises the game of Tsu’Chu as the oldest form of soccer. Sepp Blatter, the now-disgraced, once President of FFA,stated in 2004, to the world that soccer originated in Zibo, in the Shandong province of China.

Other countries, including ancient Greece, Japan and South America, also had their own versions of a similar game.

The Modern Game

However, there can be no doubt that the modern game of soccer was invented in England, in London, in December 1863 when football’s first governing body, the Football Association, was created. They formulated standard, universally accepted rules for football that all teams had to follow.

An England footballer in a stadium

England’s Historic World Cup Win in 1966

As well as “Football Coming Home” referring to Euro 96, the meaning of the song can also be related to the England team’s World Cup victory in 1966. Indeed, there are several lines like the “tackle by Moore” and “Nobby dancing” that relate directly to that event. So, the song can also be seen as a hopeful punt that the World Cup trophy is coming home again.

Resurrected for the 2018 World Cup and Euro 2020

“Football’s Coming Home” was resurrected 2018 World Cup when England progressed through the tournament as third place winners. It was also on everybody’s lips in Euro 2020 when England lost in the final to Italy by 3 goals to 2.

The score at the end of normal time was level at one apiece, and it stayed that way until the end of extra time when penalties came into play. Once again, England failed – something to which lyrics of the song refer – not the actual match but our poor record with penalties – “throw it away, blow it away.”

Will the Song Be Rereleased for the 2022 World Cup?

With the men’s English football team now having qualified in no uncertain manner for the 2022 World Cup finals in Qatar, “Football’s Coming Home” is likely to be aired again if there is a chance of England winning the trophy. If it is, it will relate to the hope that the trophy itself is coming home.

England reached the 2022 World Cup finals by finishing top of their group, having played 10 matches comprising eight wins and two draws. The team amassed 26 points, scored 39 goals, and conceded three.

The five top favourites to win the trophy at the time of writing are:

  1. Brazil
  2. France
  3. Spain
  4. England
  5. Argentina

If we do win the trophy, it won’t be coming home strictly speaking because the Jules Rimet Trophy, having been stolen before the 1966 finals and then found by a dog called “Pickles,” is now permanently in the possession of Brazil, who won the trophy three times.

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