To think this is grammatically incorrect or something?

[tinnedpears]

'It's coming home"
What is coming home, exactly? A football? In which case it should be 'The football's coming home'

Or the cup is coming home? In which case it would surely be 'The cup's coming home'

I'm being a pedant, I know, but it doesn't make sense!!

"It" refers to the sport of football as far as I know. It's just a silly song...

I don't know but find it incredibly annoying.

Football is coming home.

I don’t think it’s grammatically incorrect to say ‘it’s’ . The first line is ‘football’s coming home’ - I.e. the sport of football is coming home. The ‘it’s’ in the second line refers back to the first line.

It’s the equivalent of something like ‘she’ by Elvis Costello.

Sorry, I didn't make myself clear, I should've said 'Football's coming home' doesn't make sense. (to me)

It doesn’t make much sense, but there is nothing wrong with the grammar.

But how can football come home?

But the lyrics literally go “It’s coming home/It’s coming home/It’s coming/Football’s coming home”. So they clarify right there in the first verse that ‘it’ = ‘football’. It’s grammatically fine.

Also YABU, because it’s coming home.

It literally goes:

It’s coming home, it’s coming home, it’s coming, football’s coming home.

“It” clearly refers to “football”.

Using it, he, or she rather than repeating the noun is perfectly normal usage.

If you were talking to your DH about your daughter’s report card you would say, “Shanelle did well in Home Ec, but she didn’t do as well in French.” You wouldn’t say, “Shanelle did well on Home Ec, but Shanelle didn’t do as well in French.”

Where has it been to come home from?

The idea is that football was invented in England.

So if England wins a major tournament, football's coming home.

Royal Mail have spoken

The football is coming home.

@tinnedpears

But how can football come home?

The song was written for the 1996(?) Euros which were held in England. Football was coming home to England for the tournament.

It has since been adopted as an anthem.

Anyway, I wouldn't worry about it OP. Football's off to Italy tomorrow so you won't hear the phrase again for a while.

Here are some Danish footballers not taking it entirely seriously

You must be a great laugh at concerts OP

It's a metaphor. They're calling the win of the tournament "football".

The phrase comes from the 3 Lions song. The original meaning being that in 1996, the European Cup tournament was held in England, the supposed 'home' of football/place it was invented.

The phrase now seems to mean England has won a football match/I think they will win their next match or tournament, and I am very excited about that fact. Which is utterly nonsensical and extremely annoying, but people seem to say all sorts of rubbish, without thinking through the meaning of it. Not just limited to football either.

MaskingForIt ahhhh that makes sense.
Do we get to host it if we win? In which case it could come home again.

Is English not your first language?
It makes perfect sense.

A bit like winning eurovison means you get to host it

The poster is clearly just being a pedantic dick to wind people up. Ignore.

Of course you can replace ‘the football’s coming home’ or ‘the cup’s coming home’ with ‘it’s coming home’. Why on Earth would that be grammatically incorrect?

@StarryStarrySocks

Anyway, I wouldn't worry about it OP. Football's off to Italy tomorrow so you won't hear the phrase again for a while.

😂

@MouldyPotato

MaskingForIt ahhhh that makes sense. Do we get to host it if we win? In which case it could come home again.

No. The next one is in Germany in 2024.