I Was That Rabble

England 2 v Germany 0 

EURO 2020, Group D 

Tuesday 29 June 2021 

Played at Wembley 

Paula Badosa beat 

Aliona Bolsova 

by 2 Sets to 1 

6-5 5-7 6-2 

Ladies' Singles, First Round 

Wimbledon Court 8 

Novak Djokovic beat 

Kevin Anderson 

in Straight Sets 

6-3 6-3 6-3 

Gentlemen's Singles, Second Round 

Wimbledon Centre Court 

Aryna Sabalenka beat 

Katie Boulter 

by 2 Sets to 1 

4-6 6-3 6-3 

Ladies' Singles, Second Round 

Wimbledon Centre Court 

Andy Murray beat 

Oscar Otte 

by 3 Sets to 2 

6-3 4-6 4-6 6-4 6-2 

Gentlemen's Singles, Second Round 

Wimbledon Centre Court 

All Wednesday 30 June 2021 

So, two full on days of live sport. England beat Germany. Andy Murray beat a German (Oscar Otte). One of the key components of the Carrier Bag Firm has a keen interest in Tennis. Over the years, we've combined football & cricket tours with French & Australian Open Tennis, and warm up events in the Netherlands & Germany. Whisper it. But, the Covid restrictions have made it easy for us to bag Wimbledon tickets this year. No ticket ballot, every man for himself, fastest finger first once the Website opens. The CBF were made for that. The only previous time Wimbledon tickets were "easy if you knew how" was in 2008. Renovations on Centre Court meant that they never seemed to know exactly how many tickets they had, and were always releasing more at the last minute. We were at the epic, 4hrs 48 minutes Nadal vs Federer Final. Nadal won in 5 Sets, including 9-7 in the fifth. I swear, our tickets came available because they realised they could move a ladder out that they no longer needed!!!

Slightly odd arrangement if I'm honest. Alleged reduced capacity. But, rather than seat, 2 spaces, seat, space. It was rows A thru Y full. Rows Y thru MM empty. Emphasising - the top half of the stadium completely empty. The bottom half, no social distancing, cheek by jowl - full.

I was cheek by jowl with a lady from Surbiton (she knew all about The Antelope) & her friend. Very belatedly celebrating her 40th Birthday. I saw, with my own jeepers peepers, them down three bottles of Champagne at their seats. Under gentle - what the fuck's happening - questioning, she revealed they'd also been at the Pimm's before getting to their seats. Heroes. (I prefer the masculine variant in a gender neutral way). Heroes.

I went….

Thornbridge Brewery, DDH Jaipur from a tin at 5.9%

Northern Monk, Transient from a tin at 7%

Both Double Dry Hopped in their own way. Both glorious. Maybe Thornbridge are playing on the Brand a bit. I mean, it was superb. But, very little of the complexity of Jaipur survives. Just great, powerful dry hopping. Similar for the Northern Monk. That was narrowly the best of the two. Thick & luxurious. Hopped to Hell. But, coming as juice rather than harsh, throat grabbing bitterness.

I'm not going to lie, the highlight was Murray coming back from 2-1 down. In front of a baying, partisan crowd. (I don't subscribe to this - ooohhh, he's anti-English, British when it suits him, Scottish when it suits him - narrative. That's how it plays). The baying, partisan crowd was mainly of his own making. Fist pumping, rabble rousing, "come on, let's GO" as he hobbled to the chair. Singling people out in the crowd, pointing, staring - "Come On…..".

And. Link. I noticed Declan Rice exhorting the crowd down in my little corner of Wembley on Tuesday. Rousing the Rabble in his own way. Tuesday. Mate. I was that fucking rabble. I'll say again - Southgate couldn't pick Mount because of snot on a cotton bud, Wembley was less than half full. It ain't proper football. And it ain't the proper EUROs. But, from when Raheem scored on 75, until the Final Whistle. Well, you're going to lose it & lose yourself aren't you. England, like the Carrier Bag Firm are honed in now.

Pre-Match in The Southampton Arms. Post-Match celebration in The Three Johns. Clean sheets. What we have. We hold. Patience.

Patience was NOT one of the attributes displayed by the Carrier Bagger who joined us in the Southampton after a severely delayed National Express journey from up North. He table service ordered two pints of Red Willow, Smokeless, Smoked Chipotle Porter on cask at 5.7%. The barman naturally plonked one down in front of me, one in front of him. Only to see both reclaimed by my CBF compadre. I actually think we've now started earning Brownie Points in our new, Southampton Arms, local. The explanation of….

"It's going to be one of those days. I'm going to drink that one with my right hand & that one with my left"

drew guffaws & admiring glances.

I didn't fancy that one anyway. I fancied:

Howling Hops, Tropical Deluxe on Keg at 3.8%

Grey Trees Brewery, Afghan Pale Ale on Cask at 5.4%

Kent Brewery, Brewers Reserve on Cask at 5%

Burnt Mill Brewery, Pintle Pale Ale Citra & Cascade on Keg at 4.3%

Neptune Brewery, Mosaic on Keg at 4.5%

Double-Barrelled Brewery, Back To Reality on Keg at 6.3%

Magic Rock, Saucery on Keg at 3.9%

And finally. In honour of our gallant, but defeated opponents.

Schneider Bayrisch Hell Lager at 4.9%

You'll all have seen the England game. Either live or on the TV. You don't need much tactical analysis from me. I've said in previous Blogs, we can rant against it, but we know how it'll unfold. Cautious. Ponderous. Patient. With the odd bit of panic - because we're not in complete control, we don't dominate. It's not defensive in the park the bus sense. But it's certainly not attacking either. Very disappointing at the Half Time meet up. Different story at Full Time mind.

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