Three Lions – the football anthem that united a nation

Three Lions – the football anthem that united a nationThree Lions co-writer David Baddiel remembers when 80,000 England fans sang the song at Euro '96

"It doesn't bother me that even though I've done many other things in my career, when I'm dead they'll say 'best known for co-creating the England football anthem Three Lions'."

Thirty years after the song's release, David Baddiel remains proud of it and fondly recalls a time when football so nearly came home.

"I think it's a fantastic example of something that wasn't designed to be a really popular thing," Baddiel says.

"There was no top-down element of it. It was just three blokes trying to write about football and it caught fire."

You can say that again. People of a certain age will remember it as the soundtrack to the English summer in 1996 – a time of Britpop, Cool Britannia and England coming close to winning a major tournament.

And for new generations of football fans it's become the England song everyone knows and sings at major events.

Liam Edwards, born in 1997, from the England Supporters Travel Club, says: "Even as a kid I remember just being enlightened by this song.

"I think it's kind of embedded in England football history. It means community, togetherness and unity over one thing – that we're desperate to see England win!

"I think it's a song that follows the journey and wherever the England national team sends us we'll sing it. I've been in some weird places – like Kaliningrad in Russia – where all you could hear was 'it's coming home'. We also sang it at the Qatar World Cup and at Euro 2020."

So how did Three Lions come about? Back in 1996, Baddiel and fellow comedian Frank Skinner were established stars. Their football comedy show Fantasy Football League was a big hit and pulled in six million viewers.

When The Lightning Seeds frontman Ian Broudie was asked by the Football Association to write the music for an England song for Euro '96, he felt Baddiel and Skinner were the natural choice to write some words.

"Ian Broudie – bless him – felt that me and Frank represented, in a kind of grassroots way, the nation's football fans," says Baddiel.

"We thought, how can we actually authentically represent what it's like being an England fan? And the way we did that was to talk about England losing."

The World Cup win in 1966 felt like a long time ago. On the pitch England were under pressure.

There was the disappointment of Italia '90 – where Bobby Robson's team were knocked out on penalties in the semi-finals. Then there was the failure to qualify for the 1994 World Cup.

The words '30 years of hurt' just felt appropriate.

Euro '96 – on home soil – was the chance for England to prove a point though – and maybe, just maybe, win a major tournament.

What did the England players think of Three Lions? Initially not very much. It's fair to say the FA weren't massive fans either.

For the likes of Alan Shearer, Gareth Southgate and David Seaman though it soon began to grow on them.

"Paul Gascoigne used to wake us all up every morning at England's team hotel by opening his bedroom window and playing it on his CD player at full blast," recalls Shearer for a 2016 BBC documentary.

By now the song was everywhere – and England were about to play some of their best football in years.

Shearer was in the form of his life and had just scored 31 Premier League goals for Blackburn Rovers. He hadn't scored an international goal for nearly two years – but that was all about to change.

The England number nine finally found the back of the net in the opener against Switzerland – a 1-1 draw.

Next up for England were Scotland at Wembley in front of 80,000 fans. Baddiel and Skinner were among them.

"Paul Gascoigne scores one of the greatest goals in England football history," recalls Baddiel. "We win that game. They come off and the DJ – against the wishes of the FA – puts the song on.

"I owe that man an enormous debt! The whole crowd joined in and this was the experience of it 'going viral'.

"People say the best day of your life is when your kids are born… this was the best day of my life! It was totally incredible."

England, of course, didn't bring it home. A painful semi-final penalty shootout defeat by Germany still hurts – the Southgate miss, Terry Venables with his head in his hands and the Three Lions players pondering what might have been.

Paul Gascoigne celebrates after scoring for England against Scotland at Euro '96

"When we were at the Euros and the fans were singing it, it definitely gets everyone going," says England midfielder Adam Wharton. "It's almost like an anthem for England."

Dr Mike McGreary, senior lecturer in sport and exercise psychology at Keele University and a chartered psychologist, says: "Of course a football anthem on its own doesn't win football matches, but it can certainly change how a match feels.

"Sometimes we see a shift during games if a crowd starts to sing a song – we can see an emotional response and a reaction from the players.

"An anthem contributes to marginal psychological gains. In elite sport those small psychological edges matter, especially in knockout tournaments where you get to the stage where if you don't win you're out.

David Baddiel and Frank Skinner speaking to Alan Shearer about Three Lions for a 2016 BBC documentary

There have of course been many other England football songs over the years.

"I think Vindaloo [by Fat Les] is probably my favourite England song, followed by World in Motion [by New Order]," says Liam.

"I would compare Three Lions to Oasis' Wonderwall – everyone knows it. But I think if you ask most Oasis fans, they wouldn't say that's their favourite Oasis song. I think that's a little bit like Three Lions."

What about the man who co-wrote it?

"I'm just gonna own it – it is the best football song, but music critics and hip people won't say that," says Baddiel.

"They'll say that World in Motion or Vindaloo is. Both of those are really good I think, but they're not Three Lions, which is the only song that's ever been taken to the heart of the terraces with actual football fans singing it as a crowd."

As 30 years of hurt became 60 years of hurt, you can bet money it will be sung for many years to come – regardless of what England achieve on the pitch.

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