Don’t mention the War

When I was a student, I worked with a man who fought in the War.  When it came to football, he never supported West Germany.  This was the era of Rummenigge and Matthaus, two of the finest players in the world, whom I watched, marvelled at and fantasised about seeing in green and white one day.

“But Germans today are different”, I would say, “Most of them were born after the War and feel the same way about it as we do.”  He was not open to discussion.  Easy for me to say, of course, experiences of war, of that war in particular, are powerful influencers.

So it is a bit disingenuous for me to harbour resentments for events on and off a football field 37 years ago.  Rapid Vienna occupy a dark room in my mind, alongside Atletico Madrid and Oldco Rangers; I know I’m not alone.

Younger Celtic fans must look at us with a shake of the head when we talk of Rapid and Atletico, the latter are celebrated across Europe for their achievements, if not for their style of play.  Those younger-still have little of no knowledge of Oldco and their pre-1989 ways.

I’m going to stop embarrassing myself with old grudges, some of them, anyway.  In the words of Elsa, Let it go.  Enjoy the game against Rapid.