Why soccer is life

Soccer is so much more than just a sport — especially in the UK.

That was the central message from playwright James Graham — creator of the hit play and TV drama Dear England about the psychology of the England men's football team — when he joined POLITICO’s Westminster Insider podcast to discuss the powerful relationship between politics and the national game.

For Graham, soccer’s importance runs far deeper than results on the pitch. He recalled the hours after Gareth Southgate missed his penalty in the semifinal against Germany at Euro ‘96: “I remember … not being able to explain in the car home with my parents why I was crying, but the tears were falling out of me.”

“Sport is never just about sport,” he said. “It is about storytelling and national storytelling.”

As the self-styled home of soccer, England has long tied its sense of national confidence to performances in major tournaments. Graham argued that the euphoria, despite eventual defeat to Germany, around Euro ‘96 helped give voters the confidence “to choose a different path” and back a more youthful, confident-seeming leader the following year in Labour’s Tony Blair.

At a time of declining social cohesion, hollowed-out high streets and growing political division, he sees soccer as one of the few institutions still capable of bringing communities together in person, week after week.

And Graham believes politicians could learn from soccer leaders such as Southgate — the man who led England to the World Cup semifinal in 2018 and back-to-back European Championship finals in 2021 and 2024 — who communicated with fans “as adults” in a way that was “very human” and “very emotionally intelligent.”

At its best, Graham argues the beautiful game offers a language of identity, emotion and togetherness that politics often struggles to speak.