What Price Patriotism?

By JOHN MORRIS, National Organiser

Grounds for battle . . . but luckily football is just a game

What price patriotism? Samuel Johnson said ‘Patriotism is the last refuge of a scoundrel.’ And Oscar Wilde ‘Patriotism is the last resort of a rogue.’

Football is a game played by two teams of eleven people. The idea is to kick or head the ball into the opposing goal and if one team manages that more times than the other, then that team has won. Like all other sport, it is a game. 

Today, young people are encouraged to look on successful footballers as ‘heroes’ and teams are followed religiously often showing hostility to any other team. Team colours matter and T-shirts are sold at inflated prices as though to support that team shows some sort of patriotism connected to that team. All this, of course, is promoted by the boards, with promotional material being turned into apparent icons to be worshipped by the gullible. Where international teams are concerned, once a team wins then that country is obviously far stronger than its opponent in every way and a power to be reckoned with. But – all this is simply a game.

The propaganda and drama built up during world cups can sometimes lead to violence and even racist incidents with flag waving the central element in all this nonsense. However, when it comes to that kind of patriotism extended to countries and not to a game of football, it can lead in exactly the same way not only to violence and racism but to war on a global scale.

What is ‘patriotism’? It is supporting the piece of the planet we are born on against all other pieces of the planet. It is not so long ago that Britain was an empire. Not because of its greatness in keeping the world peaceful, but because it stole other areas of the planet for itself using the nebulous excuse of commercial necessity. This, erroneously, is assumed to have put the ‘great’ in Great Britain, when all that is meant is that Britain became England plus Scotland, Wales and Ireland. This meant the waving of the Union flag was justified and showed our strength over and above all other countries. By the beginning of the 20th century war was the obvious answer to all ills and, so long as the British flag was flying high, was going to bring peace at last to the world.

But injustice breeds anger and anger breeds revolt and revolt ends up in – war. And so the 20th century went on, patriotism and flag waving creating the most carnage-filled century the world has ever seen. The ‘flower of our youth’ destroyed, maiming and destruction the norm and anger and hatred so rife that we now stand at a crossroads where the use of nuclear power is once again being discussed.

Like the flower power song of the 1960s,‘When will they ever learn, when will they ever learn?’ Pro patria mori? Which country, and why?