New Review, pages 12-15

take place in the next few months. An FA spokesperson said that all travel club members would, as for all tournaments, be police checked and there were measures in place for fans to report antisocial or discriminatory behaviour.

It is also expected that the most hardcore troublemakers on banning orders – about 1,300 people – will be told to hand their passports into police before the tournament, as they were before last year’s World Cup in Qatar.

England fan Kirsty Payne, who has travelled the world supporting the team for more than 20 years, said that chants about “Two World Wars and One World Cup” made her heart sink, but were increasingly rare. “I think it’s dying out,” she said. Her husband, Andy, who has supported England at every World Cup bar one for the past 40 years, said the tournament was a moment to show European solidarity. “In terms of the Dambuster lot, this Euros gives the whole of Europe the chance to support our Ukrainian friends,” he said. “Sport can send a very big message of unity against evil.”

Other fans said the “outdated” chants in Naples this week were not taken up by the majority of England fans, many of whom had discovered during the 2006 World Cup that they had a lot in common with the fans of their traditional rivals, including a love of beer and obsession with the beautiful game.

England follower Billy Grant, co-presenter of Brentford FC’s Beesotted podcast, recalled deciding to go to Germany in 2006 at the last minute, having initially been put off, in part, by the nations’ rivalry. “I had the best time and the Germans were absolutely brilliant,” he said. “So there are a lot of people, like me, saying that they’re looking forward to going back.”