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Two weeks before Euro 2024 began, it came to me like a vision: it was time for a work sweepstake. So I clicked send all and hoped that more than one person would be interested. I needn’t have worried. I’ve never had so many responses to a group email.
歐洲盃開幕前兩週，我靈光一現：是時候進行一次工作抽獎了。於是，我點擊了「全部發送」，希望不止一個人感興趣。我不必擔心。我從來沒有收到過這麼多對羣發郵件的回覆。
The enthusiastic reception means I’ve ended up running two sweepstakes — one with allocated countries and one more complicated: involving goal predictions and a feverishly updated spreadsheet. It has triggered another side in me (did I mention the spreadsheet?) and in my colleagues too. One even brought in a Euro wall chart for the office while another ungenerously hailed me as a ladette, which I hope will be quietly retired as a nickname.
熱烈的反響意味著我最終參與了兩場抽獎活動——一個是分配國家的，另一個更復雜：涉及進球預測和頻繁更新的電子表格。這激發了我和我的同事們的另一面。其中一位同事甚至爲辦公室帶來了一張歐洲盃牆圖，而另一位則不太友好地稱我爲「女漢子」(ladette)，我希望這個暱稱能悄悄地被淘汰。
The office this year has been a microcosm of what the Euros initiate. Even my colleagues who don’t like football have been invoking it as bonus snark: Oh, is something happening today?, one intoned on a recent England match day. The tournament encourages a different energy in both its followers and dissenters. The inevitable starting points for conversation — “How are you” or “how was your weekend”: questions doomed for mundane answers or hedged responses — have turned to new and knowing half phrases. “Presumably you saw . . .?” It is not that anybody has changed, but that a dynamic has opened up.
今年的辦公室成爲了歐洲盃的一個縮影。即使是不喜歡足球的同事們也開始拿它開涮：哦，今天發生了什麼嗎？最近一次英格蘭比賽日，有人這樣說道。這個比賽鼓勵著追隨者和反對者們展現出不同的能量。對話的必然起點——「你好嗎」或者「你週末過得怎麼樣」：註定會得到平凡答案或者含糊回應的問題——已經變成了新的、明白其中意味的半句話。「你應該看到了吧……？」並不是說有人改變了，而是一種動態被打開了。
When Bellingham’s bicycle kick landed the ball firmly in the back of the net, I felt myself as one of many exclaiming at the TV
當貝林厄姆的倒鉤球穩穩地打進球網時，我感覺自己也像許多人一樣在電視前驚呼
With the Euros, there’s an inevitable mutuality. It’s more wholesome than club football, where my Nottingham Forest scarf will prompt unpredictable reactions when I’m out and about. Instead, the days bring flashes of acknowledgment that we live amid many who care and fixate on the same thing. Sometimes that’s just a nod from a passer-by when I’m carrying a four-pack before a game, or small talk with a delivery driver. Sometimes it isn’t even about acknowledging but supposing — it acts as a reminder of our connections: that our evenings might have looked similar, and that the emotions packed within were likely shared. It was a recognition, strangely, that I repeatedly had during the pandemic — suddenly grouped together by a shared experience and knowing whoever I passed on the street was caught up in the same foreign world.
在歐洲盃期間，我們之間存在一種不可避免的相互性。這比俱樂部足球更有益，因爲我的諾丁漢森林(Nottingham Forest)圍巾在外出時可能引起不可預測的反應。然而，在這些日子裏，我們會意識到我們生活在許多關心和專注於同一件事的人中間。有時，這只是我在比賽前拿著四包啤酒時路人的點頭，或與送貨司機的閒聊。有時，這甚至不是關於承認，而是關於假設——它提醒我們之間的聯繫：我們的晚上可能看起來很相似，情感可能是共享的。這是一種奇怪的認識，我在疫情期間反覆有過——突然因爲共同的經歷而聚在一起，知道我在街上遇到的每個人都陷入了同樣的異國世界。
The Euros is a cheerier equivalent. When Jude Bellingham’s bicycle kick landed the ball firmly in the back of the net last weekend, I felt myself as one of many exclaiming at the TV, shown the impossible that I had been willing the team to commit. I could see it like a kaleidoscope: one of millions on their sofa, at the pub or driving with the radio on, urging something to happen — followed by the thrilling shock when, beyond all probability, the call was heard.
歐洲盃是一個更加令人歡欣鼓舞的賽事。當裘德•貝林厄姆(Jude Bellingham)上週末的倒掛金鉤將球穩穩地射進球門時，我感覺自己就像衆多觀衆之一，在電視前驚歎不已，見證了我一直希望球隊能夠完成的不可能之舉。我彷彿看到了一個萬花筒：無數人坐在沙發上、在酒吧裏或者開車時聽著收音機，期待著某種事情的發生——隨後是那激動人心的震驚，當超乎所有可能的呼聲被應和時。
These moments become markers of understanding, later to be repeated: poor old Scotland . . . did you see the look on Modrić’s face? . . . how many times will Ronaldo fail to score before he finally retires? They become hints of a larger question — were you there? — that hits more significantly than the fact of whether you simply watched a game of football. As shared sightings they act like pen strokes, drawing a collective map of what a country, together and apart, has witnessed. It only amplifies when you begin to think of the fans in other countries, making some of the same marks alongside their own.
這些時刻成爲理解的標誌，以後還會重複出現：可憐的蘇格蘭……你看到莫德里奇的表情了嗎？C羅在最終退役前會有多少次浪射？這些都暗示了一個更大的問題——你在那裏嗎？這比你是否只是觀看了一場足球比賽更有意義。作爲共同的見證，它們像筆觸一樣，描繪出一個國家的集體地圖，無論是團結還是分離，都見證了什麼。當你開始思考其他國家的球迷，他們也在自己的國家留下了同樣的印記時，這種感覺就會更加強烈。
International football tournaments provoke in me a feeling that is usually unfamiliar — one of collectivity and representation. For a month, every few years, I taste what it is to be patriotic. More than that, it gives me an idea of what a purer patriotism could be. I recognise the irony — English football fans hardly have a reputation for healthy patriotism. But it’s what supporting England does for me.
國際足球錦標賽在我心中激起了一種通常不熟悉的感覺——一種集體性和代表性的感覺。每隔幾年，我就會用一個月的時間來體會愛國的滋味。更重要的是，它讓我瞭解了什麼是純粹的愛國主義。我知道這很諷刺——英格蘭足球迷幾乎沒有健康愛國主義的名聲。但這就是支援英格蘭對我的意義。
England is a complicated place, with lurking racism and tired ideas of nationality. We are a rich country yet I can barely get a train, or a doctor’s appointment, let alone a home to call my own. All these and more make Englishness and a sense of collective identity fraught. But for a time, while our players are in the base camp, something in the air agitates and resettles. I can feel it. It makes me aspire to an Englishness I’m comfortable with. It’s a long-term game, one that far outlasts the buzz of a tournament. But it’s a welcome side effect.
英格蘭是一個複雜的地方，潛伏著種族主義和陳舊的國籍觀念。我們是一個富裕的國家，但我幾乎無法乘坐火車、預約看醫生，更別提擁有自己的住房了。所有這些都使英格蘭人的身份和集體認同感變得脆弱。但是在我們的球員們在基地訓練的時候，空氣中有一種不安和重新安定的感覺。我能感覺到。它讓我渴望擁有一種我感到舒適的英格蘭人的身份。這是一個長期的遊戲，遠遠超過了比賽的喧囂。但這是一個受歡迎的副作用。
Rebecca Watson’s new novel, ‘I Will Crash’, is published by Faber
麗貝卡•沃森(Rebecca Watson)的新小說《我將墜毀》由Faber出版社發行