Cup or Crown -what's it to be?
Over the next four weeks, something very un-British will happen to the collective psyche of the UK. Families will be united and reunited. Communities will gather and cheer as one. There will be festivities and celebrations in the street; flag-waving and a coming-together of strangers. A feeling of common purpose will grow, along with a rise in national loyalty. As unlikely as it sounds, patriotism will become fashionable again.
And why will this happen? What will cause this uncharacteristic metamorphosis? The Queen's Jubilee, perhaps? No, of course not. In case you hadn't noticed, the World Cup is upon us.
The finals of the premier competition of the world's most popular sport are about to be played in Korea and Japan, and the UK - if not the whole of the televisual civilised planet - will be gripped. Even if you are not interested in football, World Cup coverage is everywhere.
What's interesting about this, particularly in the UK, is that the World Cup has captured the imagination of the people much more than the Queen's Jubilee. Most pubs and bars will be hooked up to some kind of special football promotion, but only a handful have made a splash about the Jubilee. Despite the Silver dress rehearsal of 1977 and the country's tradition for pageantry, surprisingly few hospitality operators are pushing the boat out in celebration of the Royal Family this weekend.
The reasons for this are multifarious and complex. For a start, in the early days of Jubilee preparation, Buckingham Palace indicated that the Queen wanted a low-key celebration, and this rather dampened enthusiasm for a summer-long national party. At the same time, when planning for the Jubilee should have been taking place last autumn, the country was suffering from a collective post-New York, post-foot-and-mouth depression. No one really felt like organising a party. And finally, so much legal bureaucracy, local-authority red tape and health and safety regulations have been introduced to the fabric of our world that it is virtually impossible to organise a spontaneous community party in the way it was 25 years ago.
The net result is that people have found it much easier to warm to the media-fuelled World Cup as the focus of their summer, instead of celebrating the more traditional, homely, but rather unfashionable institution that is the monarchy.
The irony is, however, that this apparent apathy belies a deep-rooted sense of affection that most British people still feel for the Royal Family (witness the seven-mile queues of citizens paying homage to the Queen Mother last month) and, should the English football team do well in the World Cup, don't be surprised if the Queen's Jubilee celebrations get a belated fillip. David, Victoria and Brooklyn Beckham may have been dubbed the new royal family by the tabloids, but there's no substitute for the real thing when it comes to celebrating national identity.
There may be more public interest - and, therefore, more commercial opportunity for hospitality - in the World Cup at the moment. But this may yet spill over into something bigger, better and longer-lasting. In football there is always a special attraction about "doing the double". What better double could there be for the UK than a celebration of Cup and Crown. Be prepared.
FORBES MUTCH
Editor,
Caterer & Hotelkeeper
