The Nation’s Scapegoats
I have, and this is confession time, been a fan of the England Football Team since I was a small child* which has meant that I have seen them win absolutely nothing for 50 years. Recently, been a bit close of course. But for most of that period the team were rubbish with the odd game where something brilliant happened. Anyway, we were rubbish. And after each early tournament exit the media would immediately set out at determining exactly who was to blame for this embarrassment to the nation. It usually took a few weeks after trying to blame individual players and manager; the clubs; the FA; the coaches and even the wives of the players before everyone settled on exactly to blame for the debacle – schools. It was the fault of schools. It always is. Everyone decided that it was the fault of schools for not teaching the proper skills required to win football tournaments. And the focus on football is far far from being the only...