Football World Cup: Why England fans are singing 'It's Coming Home'

  • 09/07/2018

After beating Sweden to reach the Football World Cup semi-finals, England is within touching distance of lifting the trophy for only the second time.

England last made it this far 28 years ago in Italy, where they finished fourth.

As they've built momentum through the Russian tournament, three words have been resonated more and more around the team and their fans.

It's coming home.

You've probably got them rattling around your brain - but what do they mean.

Origins

The words are the chorus from a 1996 song, called 'Three Lions', released by comedians David Baddiel and Frank Skinner, and Liverpool band Lightning Seeds.

It was released 30 years after England's triumph at the 1996 World Cup and months before they hosted the 1996 European championships.

'Three Lions' is the national team's nickname, hence the song title.

Meaning

The iconic chorus line refers to soccer returning to England,where the game was invented.

In effect, if they win the World Cup, the trophy would be back in its mythical birthplace.

But it also refers to England's failures on football's biggest stage, with lines like "England’s gonna throw it away, gonna blow it away" and "30 years of hurt".

While the origins of football can be traced back centuries through a variety of other countries, notably China, England created the first governing body, when the Football Association of England split from rugby in 1863.

Today

Over the years, 'Three Lions' has become an unofficial anthem for the team and fans have sung it during games, almost tongue in cheek.

But over the past couple of weeks, it has come to stand for their belief that England can, indeed, win the World Cup this time.

Charts

It usually makes a comeback in the UK music charts during big tournaments, but due to England's recent success, it has had a resurgence like never before.

It’s currently the number one song on some British music charts - more than 22 years after it first topped the charts on its initial release.

Memes

With England’s success, the phrase has become an internet sensation. It started off with fans joking they could win it, but now England's footballing stars are even getting amongst the fun.

After England's last-16 win against Columbia, forward Jesse Lingard earned more than 300,000 retweets with his post: "No mum, I'm not coming home. Its..." Following the win over Sweden, he posted a video of him hugging his mum at the Samara Stadium.

"Because I said we aint [sic] going home she came here," he tweeted.

England will play Croatia on Wednesday for a place in the World Cup final, and if they get that far, Harry Kane might be lifting the trophy at the end of it all.

Newshub.