Would you sign?
Last week, as England beat Denmark in the Semi-finals, a petition began circulating that called for a rematch. Naturally, England fans rebuked the petition, slandered it online, and called for Danish fans to be good sports. Ironically, there is now another petition calling for a rematch between England and Italy. Perhaps England fans should be taking their own advice.
5 yellow cards in one game? Complete cheats if you ask me. England deserved to win. But still proud and grateful. Made it to the Euros final for the first time and more importantly, the tournament has brought us all together after a horrible 18 months🏴❤️ #Euros2021
— hs (@haayl3y) July 11, 2021
The petition, which has garnered 125,000 signatures, reads:
“The match on 11/07/2021 was not fair at all. After Italy only receiving a yellow card for dragging England players like they were slaves. All the pushes, pulls and kicks and Italy was still allowed to win? Definitely biased. Italy should have been given a red card for their gameplay and the rematch should happen with a non-biased referee. This was not fair at all.”
Again, the author of the petition seems to have missed the blatant irony of this post. Dutch referee Bjorn Kuipers actually issued Italy four yellow cards and gave England only one. So, where’s the bias in that?
Fans heavily criticised England’s match against Denmark because England was deliberately aggressive, wilfully arrogant, and were diving on the ground as Tom Daley will in the Olympics later this month. Kasper Schmeichel had a laser pointer in his eyes during the penalty that secured England as the winner, yet most English fans chose to turn a blind eye.
Though the defeat was beyond disappointing, we have to be able to look at the Euros with an objective eye. You can’t point the finger without it being reciprocated, and by the look of the abhorrent racial abuse circulating on social media, England fans are definitely not innocent.
If England are going to branded as cheats, it's just as well they're playing Italy in the final! pic.twitter.com/dfrEgZXDHl
— Scooter Buoy (@fleecemeister) July 8, 2021
The comments beneath the petition are a gold mine:
“Im just singing it to say that then every bloody match of england hast to bei replayed because your Fans behaved disgusting in every match. Like booing at the oponents hymn or even trying to distract a goalkeeper with a laserpointer,” writes the undercover petition signee.
“Haha. So salty!!! Better luck in another 55 years guys. VIVA L’ITALIA!!!!”
