Three Lions Song Should Be Retired Following England's Euro 2022 Win, Says David Baddiel
The song's co-writer reckons the women have 'reset the clock'
David Baddiel has said he’s happy for the song Three Lions to be ‘put to bed’ now that the Lionesses have actually brought football home.
Assuming you haven’t been under a rock for the past 24-hours, you’ll probably be aware that the England Lionesses secured a historic 2-1 victory against Germany in the Euro 2022 final last night.
Following their success, Three Lions co-writer and comedian Baddiel has suggested that the win has ‘reset the clock’, bringing to an end more than five decades of England failing to win a trophy.
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Appearing on BBC Radio 4’s Today programme, he was asked if he thought now was the time to retire the track to which he replied: “You know, I’m very happy to think that the song would be, in a way, put to bed.”
However, he also pointed out ‘the men still exist, the men have not reset the clock. There’s still 56 years of hurt for the men’s game’ and that as ‘football carries on with its ups and downs’ fans might not be willing to ditch the song next time England play - or more specifically when England lose.
He added that in the future, when fans see the team lose, they will think: “No, no, what’s happened to England? We need to sing it again, we need to get back to a position of winning.”
Speaking about watching last night and hearing Three Lions, which he wrote with fellow comic Frank Skinner and The Lightning Seeds, he said: “It was beautiful to hear it sung out of Wembley yesterday, as we finally clinched a final, I really did think that would never happen.
“It’s so amazing to actually think, ‘Oh, we’ve won, this doesn’t happen, it’s actually happened’.”
Not only was it sang during the match, but the Lionesses burst into coach Sarina Wiegman’s press conference singing the song and marching up and down in front of the amused reporters, before hopping onto the table to show a little victory dance - something Baddiel said was ‘joyful and unbridled and brilliant’.
Last night, Baddiel shared a stream of three tweets reading: “It’s... Coming... Home” before finally adding: “In fact it’s come home. A sentence I thought I’d never write. I’ve gone. Thank you Lionesses.”
He also stressed that the women’s win is a win for the whole country, explaining: "It's the same game, played by women or played by men. What's totally brilliant in the last few weeks is a sense that the country can get behind it in entirely the same way.
"We've won, not the women have won. We've won."
Claire Reid