Why are they singing that ?: “Sweet Caroline” is sweetening England’s European Championship


Why are they singing that?
“Sweet Caroline” is sweetening England’s European Championship

Actually, “Football’s coming home” would be the perfect match for the English championship song, especially since they regularly perform at their home at Wembley Stadium. But instead they sing an old hit by Neil Diamond. But why?

After England’s 2-0 victory over Germany in the quarter-finals of the European Football Championship, tens of thousands of throats at Wembley Stadium rang out: “Sweet Caroline, oh, oh, oh”. How and why the 1969 song by US singer Neil Diamond became the anthem of England fans in 2021 is not entirely clear.

But it already seems to surpass the cult song “Football’s Coming Home”, as even “Three Lions” singer Frank Skinner had to admit after the game against Germany. “It felt like we won against Germany and lost to Neil Diamond in added time,” Skinner said, according to the BBC. The song was a big hit at the home European championships in 1996 and was reissued two years later for the World Cup in France. Now that the English team regularly plays at London’s Wembley Stadium, it would have been a good fit again. The song is still played, but “Sweet Caroline” is now more popular.

Even Diamond got wind of the unexpected popularity of his song and wished the England team good luck. “Hey, what a joy it was to hear everyone sing ‘Sweet Caroline’ at Wembley,” Diamond said in a video message to England fans, adding, “I hope you can do that again.” Could you. Even after the 2-1 win over Denmark on Wednesday, “Sweet Caroline” was heard again at Wembley Stadium.

Striker Harry Kane and England coach Gareth Southgate were delighted with the song: “I’m speechless, I don’t know what to say,” said Kane after the Germany game. Southgate noted, “You can’t beat a little ‘Sweet Caroline’, right?” As the BBC found out, the song first caused a stir at a baseball game in the United States in 2003. The song became a cult and clubs in American football began to play it. He was later heard at football, cricket and rugby matches in England and Australia.

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