I also love feeling patriotic. I love England; I love being English. I like being British too, but that's a concept slightly too abstract to feel as passionately about. I do prefer the Union Flag to the St George's Flag, but that's for colour and aesthetic reasons more than anything else. I researched my family tree a few years ago, along several branches and there wasn't a single a relative that wasn't born and lived in England for their whole lives. I love the rain, I much prefer winter to summer because I am just not good in the heat, plus I really like hats and scarfs. I drink an inordinate amount of tea and I always say sorry to someone who clearly bumps into me (although the frequency of this has lessened ever since I moved to London). If you follow my Dad on twitter @thesockmine you'll see from his many retweets he is a British manufacturer who isn't afraid of being a passionate advocate for bring manufacturing back to Britain. (Incidentally, if you need socks, you'll find the best ones ever made here: www.thesockmine.co.uk. They're like wearing a pair of dreams.)
I'm not trying to be all EDL, I'm just trying to illustrate that how proud I am of being English and that my switch to support Chile is therefore surprising to say the least.
Probably not that surprising, as co-habitant Nicholas is half Chilean (despite the surname Wilkinson, since it's his mum who is Chilean), so at the beginning of the World Cup I'd decided that Chile would be my second team for two reasons: to be in support of Nick and also so that I could enjoy watching and be involved when watching the matches with him.
I was watching Chile vs Spain alone in my flat, as Nicholas was out. I found myself really enjoying the match, especially how Chile were playing – together as a team, so passionately for their country. You got the sense that if you asked any one of the Chilean players to lay down his life for a member of his team or his country, they'd do it, without a thought and with a smile on their face. The fans are the same, the image of the Chilean fan weeping the crowd as he sang the national anthem; a national anthem that's a love song from a people to their country.
It was watching this match, that I so enjoyed that I realised that you could watching a team you support during a World Cup match without feeling insane amounts of stress, feeling sick and also bitter disappointment. Up until that moment, I thought that is what watching your country at the World Cup was like and I was wrong. All these years of hating those 90 minutes watching a match; this was not how it was for everyone. Well, it was a revelation . . . amongst the guilt I was feeling about enjoying another country's victory more than an England one. Even when I watched Chile lose to the Netherlands, I enjoyed that because you knew that they enjoyed playing for their country and they tried.
Even the commentators during the match against Spain fell in love with the Chilean team. I've never heard English commentators get so passionate about an entire team before. "Oh, they're such a hardworking team." "Every pass they make is for the team; each thought they have is so generous." Up to the point where, towards the end of the match, one of them actually said: "Oh, that's a great foul Chile. Tactical." A team that is commended for how awesome their fouls are and how they showed great teamwork is definitely something I've never hear before.
So that's why I'm supporting Chile for the World Cup. Who can't fall in love with a country who has this advert on their TV in support of their football team. It's just superbly ridiculous. If Westeros had adverts, these are the adverts they'd have:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4ZHwdI3bh9Q&utm_content=buffera17e3&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter.com&utm_campaign=buffer
