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Sports

Whether you're into football, athletics, tennis, golf or cricket, join the dicsussion on our Sport forum.

Original poster

Why did the England players put medals on and then take them off?

420 replies

Opalfeet · 11/07/2021 23:19

I'm intrigued 🤔

OP posts:
thinkingaboutitall · 12/07/2021 00:05

I mean of course they’re going to be “sore losers”, it’s a major game and an immense loss - every single one of them will feel deflated. Frankly the last thing they’d want to do is play up to the media with the medal, presumably they just wanted to get away from the cameras asap to debrief. They did the bare minimum and kept it moving

NotAnotherPushyMum · 12/07/2021 00:06

Disrespectful to who? The players that they went and congratulated? Don’t be so ridiculous. It’s ok to not want to come second. That’s what sport is about. It’s not about being the runner up. Wanting to win and being upset that you didn’t, is part of sport. If they’d refused to shake hands etc. then you might have a point. As it is you just sound like you know fuck all about playing sport.

FlumpyPoodle · 12/07/2021 00:06

@GirlAloud

Because they are perceived as ‘losers’ medals’. Losing players take off their medals after all big finals. It’s just what happens in football, rugby etc etc. Even the NZ cricket team who are regarded as paragons of sportsmanship removed their losers medals after the 2019 World Cup final.

As a sports fan, one of the biggest frustrations of these big occasions is non-sports fans who don’t understand what they are watching!

Sports gatekeepers are also annoying.

Like the muso bloke who tells people he saw Radiohead play to two people and a ferret before anyone else had ever even heard of them.

CaledonianSleeper · 12/07/2021 00:06

I think it's discourteous, bad sportsmanship and disrespectful.
I’m not English, so take this as you will - but if you want your team to do better, if you want to be fans - then maybe actually support them. Other countries don’t talk like this about their teams, it’s a weird english thing, to tear them down - I think the tabloid press have a lot to answer for here. Anyway, it’s just really very strange to see for the rest of us. (Maybe you’re not a fan though.)

Original poster
Opalfeet · 12/07/2021 00:06

@TheDinosaurMum Exactly! Should I say the norm in team sports then?

OP posts:
Timeisavirtue · 12/07/2021 00:07

It happens often, Man City did the same when they lost to Chelsea in champions league, Man U when they lost to Villarreal, its winner mentality, we didn’t win so don’t deserve a medal. Except they did deserve it, they fought hard to get there and made history doing it. Bring on the World Cup.

FlumpyPoodle · 12/07/2021 00:07

If people are irritated by MN users not having enough sporting knowledge why spend this evening of all evenings on Mumsnet. Kind of baffling.

Original poster
Opalfeet · 12/07/2021 00:08

@CaledonianSleeper well I'm sure there's lots of weird English things? Maybe it's just our honesty? We do say it as it is?

OP posts:
Veryverycalmnow · 12/07/2021 00:08

I actually understand why they didn't want to accept the medals. Does anyone think we have hope for next year?

SD1978 · 12/07/2021 00:08

Is this what all teams, every year do? If it's a generalised petulant thing, can't really blame England team for going along with it. If it's juts then, then yes, petty.

Original poster
Opalfeet · 12/07/2021 00:10

@NotAnotherPushyMum charming!

OP posts:
TheDinosaurMum · 12/07/2021 00:10

[quote Opalfeet]@TheDinosaurMum Exactly! Should I say the norm in team sports then?[/quote]

Rugby don't tend to do it. Cricket now and again maybe, but team sports like netball, basketball, ice hockey they seem to accept their medals just fine. 🤷🏻‍♀️

I've no idea why footballers don't . I don't particularly think it's just England football, I'm sure I've seen other teams do it in football. Maybe it's a football tradition 🤷🏻‍♀️

Individual sports I mean, you can't just jump off the podium launch your flowers and medal on the ground and storm off all eyes would be on you 🤣

Hdhdjejdj · 12/07/2021 00:10

They aren’t sore losers. It’s a message to say they want to do better than runner up. These players have to be ultra competitive to be where they are and have a winning mentality. It is part of who they are.

Geamhradh · 12/07/2021 00:12

@GirlAloud

Because they are perceived as ‘losers’ medals’. Losing players take off their medals after all big finals. It’s just what happens in football, rugby etc etc. Even the NZ cricket team who are regarded as paragons of sportsmanship removed their losers medals after the 2019 World Cup final.

As a sports fan, one of the biggest frustrations of these big occasions is non-sports fans who don’t understand what they are watching!

Exactly. @TheDinosaurMum, as others have said, a silver or bronze medal when there are 3 of you is totally different.
Doyoumind · 12/07/2021 00:13

Team sports aren't the same as competing as an individual. Why are people comparing it to something like athletics? It's just the way in football.

It's disrespectful to call them sore losers and childish imho. They've just had the pressure of a huge match that went to ET and penalties in front of millions and millions of English fans, and other English people who aren't fans but watched the match (like some of the people on this thread), all of whom wanted them to win. And they lost. Cut them some fucking slack.

MargaretFraggle · 12/07/2021 00:13

Calling them "sore losers, churlish, disrepectful, discourteous, rude" is not really 'just an observation' OP.

toocold54 · 12/07/2021 00:14

They weren't disrespectful. They did accept the medals. If they'd all have flat out said "no, we don't want those", that would have been rude and that would have been them not accepting the medals.

Them taking it off when it was barely on their heads was rude and disrespectful. They could have waited until they were off the podium to do it.
How are we meant to teach our children about not being sore losers when they won’t accept 2nd place.
We know the statistics of violence from football fans when their team loses so I think the idea of you either come 1st or it’s a complete failure needs to be stopped (even if they feel like it inside) as these kids then grow up thinking it’s the end of the world because they or their team didn’t come first. When actually they did amazing and that needs to be highlighted.

VVKills27 · 12/07/2021 00:14

@SlightlyJaded

I think some people here are missing something.... Yes, the players are paid a lot and yes they want to win for themselve, but most of them want to win for their country. They are playing for their nation and they cannot have failed to feel the weight of expectation on their shoulders. The media and everyone else has focussed the whole of England on this game heralding it as the shining light in our time of shitness. The need for 'good news' has never been greater, and the responsibility of delivering that lay with these young men.

I expect that most of them didn't want to wear their medals as they will (currently) be thinking that they have let everyone down. They will feel a bit of a fraud for wearing medals when they didn't deliver what was asked of them. So yes, it might seem rude/childish, I think that the sentiment behind not wearing the medals probably runs deeper than that.

You’ve worded that absolutely beautifully, no more explanations needed!
TheMarzipanDildo · 12/07/2021 00:15

@CaledonianSleeper

I think it's discourteous, bad sportsmanship and disrespectful. I’m not English, so take this as you will - but if you want your team to do better, if you want to be fans - then maybe actually support them. Other countries don’t talk like this about their teams, it’s a weird english thing, to tear them down - I think the tabloid press have a lot to answer for here. Anyway, it’s just really very strange to see for the rest of us. (Maybe you’re not a fan though.)
Agreed. I don’t know if it’s because some of the England fans edge the opposite way- towards the jingoistic- but other countries don’t seem to have as much baggage tied up with just cheerily supporting their team. A lot of my friends (and a significant proportion of Mumsnet!) seem to actively enjoy slagging them off at every opportunity.
Zeev · 12/07/2021 00:16

It’s not because they are sore losers , it’s to show they won’t accept being second best

LOL that's exactly what being a sore loser is

TheDinosaurMum · 12/07/2021 00:16

I disagree with people saying team sports and individual sports are not the same level at world class level.

Pretty sure Usain Bolt felt the same pressure, competitiveness as a football team going for a world record at the Olympics. With Billions of people watching him.

EverythingWillFallInLine · 12/07/2021 00:16

Lol at the idea of English honesty.

Agree with CaledonianSleeper.

Also, this is about class.

(Awaits barrage of "I grew up on a sink estate" (the only kind of social housing estate there is, on mumsnet) posts.)

Doyoumind · 12/07/2021 00:18

@toocold54

They weren't disrespectful. They did accept the medals. If they'd all have flat out said "no, we don't want those", that would have been rude and that would have been them not accepting the medals.

Them taking it off when it was barely on their heads was rude and disrespectful. They could have waited until they were off the podium to do it.
How are we meant to teach our children about not being sore losers when they won’t accept 2nd place.
We know the statistics of violence from football fans when their team loses so I think the idea of you either come 1st or it’s a complete failure needs to be stopped (even if they feel like it inside) as these kids then grow up thinking it’s the end of the world because they or their team didn’t come first. When actually they did amazing and that needs to be highlighted.

You don't create elite sportspeople by telling them it's OK to come second.
SemperIdem · 12/07/2021 00:19

I wondered about this, too. Not all of the players removed the medals which made the motive for doing so unclear to me.

Yazoop · 12/07/2021 00:19

This is super normal at any major footballing tournament (at club and international level, and not just English players).