Rogers: The irony of 'Brexit' occurring during the European Championships
PARIS – The bombshell news the world woke up to on Friday that Britain had fled the European Union could hardly have come at a time of greater irony for the soccer world.
As countless global leaders, bankers and regular Joes considered the sweeping political and financial ramifications of "Brexit," it was easy to forget that the whole thing began as effectively a referendum on immigration. Who to allow in? And how many?
Simultaneously, albeit of less societal significance, the ongoing European Championships in France is facing the exact same dilemma, a result of having expanded its format to accept 24 nations for its current staging.
Unsurprisingly, it too has attracted criticism.
'Brexit' produces winners, losers on world stage
It has been claimed from many quarters that the extra allocation has diluted the quality of the tournament, which carried 16 teams from 1996 all the way through to 2012.
This time, 16 teams reached the knockout stage, some of them having finished third in their group of four with only three points out of a possible nine.
The scenario where four out of six third-place finishers still progressed created a few logistical headaches too, with fans of several countries forced to wait around in France for several days before knowing if, where and when their next game might come.
Albania’s wait went unrewarded, its team was one of the unlucky ones to miss out. A last minute goal for Iceland meant Portugal went from being scheduled to meet England in Nice on Tuesday, to Croatia in Lens on Saturday – a difference of 48 hours and 750 miles. Yet given that crashing out of the tournament altogether had been a real possibility before Cristiano Ronaldo sparked a revival half an hour earlier, they are probably not complaining too much.
Fans of European soccer have long loved to sneer at American sports and their policies of perceived over-inclusiveness. No major European domestic league has a playoff system, with the league champion determined by whoever has the most points once each team has played each other twice, both at home and on the road.
Scenarios such as the NBA and the NHL playoffs, where 16 of the 30 participants remain alive heading into the postseason, are widely scorned in Europe, when they can be bothered to pay attention that is.
These Euros are quite a break from normality in these parts and, for some, a strain on their sensibilities.
Yet here were are at the business end of the event and things seem to be going remarkably well. The age-old criticism of the European Union – that big nations are punished and smaller ones are propped up – does seem to hold true here as well. One side of the bracket is stacked with Germany, France, Italy, Spain and England, while Wales, Northern Ireland, Hungary and Poland eye potential glory on the other.
The best thing about it: the big shots have largely brought it on themselves. Spain lured itself into a brutal round of 16 encounter with Italy by losing to Croatia in the group stage. England could have avoid the trap of a potential quarterfinal with France had it not slipped and stumbled to draws against Russia and Slovakia.
And Iceland, little Iceland, with far less people than Wichita, Ks., and seemingly most of them in France cheering on their brave boys, is still alive.
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After the hooliganism idiocy of the opening week, heart-warming scenes have emerged. Like Irish fans singing lullabies to babies on trains, or Hungarians sharing food with their Portuguese “rivals”. Or an Albanian who emigrated to Switzerland wearing a sewn-together shirt comprised of both nations’ colors and shaking hands with fans of each country. Several of those teams would likely not have qualified without a 24-team field, let alone be alive and dreaming two weeks into the event.
If you are tempted to question the wisdom of an expanded field, if it doesn’t seem neatly symmetrical or even in keeping with common sense, let your mind rest a moment. Then take time to consider what it must be like to be a rejoicing son or daughter of Iceland just now, with every sporting dream you ever had coming to fruition. Or a visitor from Northern Ireland, having never before reached the Euros and now having the time of their life. Or supporters of Latvia, or Finland, or Bosnia-Herzegovina, or Scotland, who didn’t make it this time but now have the license to dream.
You no doubt have your own thoughts on political inclusion, immigration, tolerance and the like. Everyone does these days, and no one can poach them from you.
But sports is free from the shackles of such conformity because it is our entertainment, not our livelihood, that is at stake. Inclusiveness here is a sweet blessing, a reminder that opportunity should not be the preserve of a cloistered few, however imperfect the system, however unusual the outcome.
You can follow Martin Rogers on Twitter @mrogersUSAT.
