Blaise Tapp: Despite the crushing defeat it was good to share the moment
As a child of parents born into working class families in the 1940s, I grew up on stories about the days when television was a novelty.
I expect that you’ve heard a similar yarn – that flash cousin Billy was the only person in the street to have a television set until about 1963, although he only brought it out between 6pm and 9pm on a Saturday. It didn’t matter that great Uncle Joe had to hold the ariel in the air, while standing on one leg, for the duration of the evening, these were special times because friends and loved ones shared in the moment.
The moon landing, Royal occasions and sporting events were all enjoyed together and those memories stayed with our parents and grandparents for decades afterwards.
It has been this feeling of togetherness that I, along with millions of other parents up and down the country tried to capture over the past remarkable week or so. I had to wait until I was 44 years old to watch England play in the final of a major international tournament but, since 2021, we have all watched the men and the women’s teams play in four combined.
I have tried to explain to our two that following the fortunes of our national team hasn’t always been like this, but I’m not sure that they believe me.
Rather than take it for granted, Mrs Tapp and I have made it our mission to ensure that these events will live long in our own family’s history as, who knows when it might happen again?
On Sunday evening, the house was festooned with St George’s flags, the barbecue was fired up and the eight-year-old was allowed to stay up way past his bedtime as nine of us crowded around the telly, just like our parents would’ve done 60 years ago. Not everyone in our front room was a die-hard football fan and I gave up explaining what a high press is five minutes after kick off, but it didn’t really matter, because it felt like a proper occasion.
Even though the evening ended in predictable heartbreak for England’s success deprived fans, it’s nights like these that strengthen the bonds both families and the wider community. Much is made of how the youngest generation no longer consume media and events like their parents and grandparents do but the hope is that, despite crushing defeat, they will look back fondly on the time when we all piled around the television.