Opinion: Hungary Beats England 4:0 in Wolverhampton
- 16 Jun 2022 6:20 AM
- BudaPost
Following Hungary’s successive impressive defeats of England, home and away in the UEFA Nations’ League, commentators praise the national team and decry the behaviour of English fans who booed the Hungarian national anthem.
The Hungarian football team, the clear underdogs, scored two surprise victories against favourite England, winning 1:0 in Budapest’s Puskás Stadium and 4:0 in the return match in Wolverhampton.
While the Hungarian anthem was being played before the kick-off, thousands of England supporters whistled, booed and chanted: ‘You racist bastards, we know what you are…’.
When England beat Hungary 4:0 last September, a group of Hungarian fans made racist gestures and following a complaint by the England side, Hungary was punished by UEFA. Before the first-leg match on June 4, young Hungarian fans jeered the English team when players were taking the knee.
In Népszava, veteran football analyst Iván Hegyi compares Tuesday’s victory to England’s historic defeat at the hands (or rather feet) of the ‘Magic Magyar team’ in 1953. The last country Hungary beat four nil was San Marino, he remarks.
Magyar Nemzet’s Dávid Koczó condemns the English fans who booed and whistled while the Hungarian anthem was being played, and recalls that the young Hungarian fans remained respectfully silent during the playing of the British national anthem in Budapest.
Origo quotes Foreign Minister Péter Szíjjártó (an amateur footsall player himself), sarcastically wondering if England will file a complaint with UEFA against their own public for their unsportsmanlike behaviour.
In another report, Origo expresses shock over a comment by the BBC commentator who allegedly praised the Wolverhampton public for ‘not fearing to voice their opinion during the Hungarian anthem’.
hvg.hu describes the behaviour of the English fans as a reaction to the jeering by young Hungarian fans when England players took the knee before the first-leg match in Budapest. The author remarks that whistling during the playing of the opponent’s national anthem is by no means rare in England.
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