Petition to replay Euro 2020 final nears 150,000 signatures (because people are odd)
By Max Cooper
Almost 150,000 people have signed a petition asking for the Euro 2020 final between England and Italy to be replayed, with some viewers apparently unable to accept the Azzurri's victory.
The Three Lions drew 1-1 with Italy after extra-time, before losing the European Championship final on a heartbreaking penalty shootout at Wembley on 11 July.
Roberto Mancini's men lifted the trophy for only the second time in the nation's history, and first time since 1968.
Italy may have been the best side on the night (and throughout the tournament generally) but a section of supporters have struggled to accept that football would not be 'coming home' this year.
A petition titled "Rematch Demand for Italy V England" was set up on www.change.org by user Sharon Guilmen and has since amassed over 142,000 virtual signatures.
The brief blurb that accompanies the petition contains some (at best) problematic language, while calling into question the integrity of the referee Bjorn Kuipers. The Italian players' 'pushes, pulls and kicks,' and 'dragging' are used as reasons for why the game wasn't fair and should be replayed.
Change.org appears a popular platform the modern irate fan/troll, with a similar petition set up days earlier requesting England's semi-final win over Denmark also be replayed. That particular petition now has around 36,000 sign-ups.
As per UK government rules, this particular petition wouldn't be heard in government as it has not been hosted on the petition.parliament.uk website - however, had that been the case, any petition which receives over 100,000 signatures is 'almost always' discussed in parliament. Quite what those signing up expect the UK government to do about the result of a football match is anybody's guess.
Still, signing entirely pointless petitions is better than trashing Leicester Square, fighting among other fans, and inserting flammables into your person, I suppose.
Could football still be coming home as a result of this latest lifeline?
Spoiler alert: No.