Timing is a big factor:the dream run has coincided with the end of lockdown,and the fatigued public has embraced the chance to unite behind something other than ridding itself of the pandemic.
“In the last two years we’ve had scaffolding up across the estate and weren’t able to see our neighbours,” Dowse says. “Then we had lockdown. But as the scaffolding came down,and as the lockdown was eased,it has felt like a giant release for so many people.”
England’s manager Gareth Southgate has also emerged as the right man for the times. The mild-mannered 50-year-old is part-coach,part-diversity champion and part-national healer.
Inan essay on patriotism,titled Dear England, Southgate last month eloquently drew a link between football and national identity and laid out the case for why the game is about much more than sporting prowess. He has defended captain Harry Kane’s decision to wear a rainbow armband for Pride month and backed players taking the knee as a sign of solidarity with the black community.
“I have a responsibility to the wider community to use my voice,and so do the players,” Southgate wrote. “It’s their duty to continue to interact with the public on matters such as equality,inclusivity and racial injustice,while using the power of their voices to help put debates on the table,raise awareness and educate.”
Some fans booed the pre-kick off kneel and the Home Secretary Priti Patel spectacularly misread public sentiment by accusing the national team of “gesture politics”.
Boris Johnson,by comparison,knows a trend when he sees one and is riding the Southgate/England wave for all its worth. The Prime Minister even posed with a gigantic St George’s flag on the street outside Downing Street on Saturday.
Southgate draws inspiration from his grandfather,who served during World War II,and professes a strong faith in Queen and country. But he adds this disclaimer:“On this island,we have a desire to protect our values and traditions – as we should – but that shouldn’t come at the expense of introspection and progress.”
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American pollster Frank Luntz,a former Republican Party adviser,holds Southgate up as a model of how to deal with cultural issues.
“He defines leadership,” Luntz said this week. “If a politician comes to me and says,‘What should I say?’ I tell them,‘Be more like Gareth Southgate.’ He endorsed a common approach that people appreciated. That’s the definition of unity.”
Unlike some of his predecessors,Southgate has benefited from avoiding controversy. Sam Allardyce was sacked in 2016 after being caught up in a newspaper sting and the manager before that,Roy Hodgson,was a highly polarising figure. Fabio Capello also resigned in 2012 after an ugly spat with the Football Association.
England are the only team to not concede a goal at this year’s Euro tournament. The whole country seems proud of them – and not just because they are winning.
Southgate describes his men as humble,proud and “liberated in being their true selves”.
The squad also reflects the multiculturally and socially diverse country it represents. Forward Marcus Rashford,a Manchester United striker,has invoked his own experience with child poverty to shame the government into funding meals for students and his star England teammate Raheem Sterling has tackled online racial abuse and criticised some newspapers for fuelling racism. Sterling has been a divisive character in the past but has prevailed to be England’s most important player.
“Of course,my players and I will be judged on winning matches,” Southgate says. “But,the reality is that the result is just a small part of it. When England play,there’s much more at stake than that.
“It’s about how we conduct ourselves on and off the pitch,how we bring people together,how we inspire and unite,how we create memories that last beyond the 90 minutes. That last beyond the summer. That last forever.”
Under the sea of England flags flying over his London council estate,Dowse agrees.
“I feel sorry for people who don’t like football because they don’t know what they are missing. It is the best sport in the world,in my eyes. I grew up with it as a kid and live with it as an adult.
“If you lose you lose,but if you win there’s no better feeling. And that feeling really,really lasts.”