The Final: Attack on Wembley

I'm embarrassed to be English after watching this. I lost interest in football a long time ago, but felt compelled to watch this and what I found was embarrassment. This my nation denigrating in to feral barbarism in the name of sport. A couple of the people that were giving their accounts of their day out were simply morons. One, who described is moment of dancing on top of a moving bus as, "I felt like a King up there" ; just left me shaking my head and rolling my eyes. I kind of felt sorry for him in a way. Another, felt so proud of himself to have barged his way into the stadium without paying. Congratulations mate, everyone knows your face now.

A compelling watch for all the wrong reasons.

A mildly compelling but disturbing watch, proving English hooliganism hasn't really moved on that much since the 70's & 80's.

The actual football story aside (which was the only decent thing in this doc - well done lads!) this documentary missed a real opportunity to educate the public on football crowd dynamics, and what another shameful episode the psychy at English football grounds is sometimes still really like., especially when groups of young people are a several beers deep so long before the game.

The doc completely failed to go into the additional experience of a number of player's families and dignitaries that fell foul of the mob developing outside, nor some corrupt event hosts/guards that took cash bribes from ticket-less fans to ease their passage through, and also the fans with genuine tickets (including in disabled areas) who were threatened with violence for simply attempting to access their assigned seat once reaching their zone, with zero help from stadium stewards frozen to do anything about it.

The planned Covid spacing protocols went down the toilet, thugs just sat/stood wherever they pleased, taking other fans seats, overcrowding behind the goals especially, and over the access ways that were meant to be kept clear in the event of rapid evacuation etc. The list goes on.

Security was a complete shambles - remember, it was just less than 6 yrs earlier, in 2015, that a coordinated terrorist attacks in Paris took place, one of which was at the national 'Stade de France' Stadium as 3 suicide bombers attempted to gain access to a France vs Germany football game to no avail, ultimately detonating themselves outside instead. Imagine the carnage had something of this scale developed at Wembley?

I did not see any news of reprimands in the press following this shameful Wembley fiasco over their security and organisational shambles that could've turned out very differently. It was purely by fluke that no one died that day.

• It's no surprise to me that the English FA and Wembley Stadium authorities were total unprepared for the scale of chaos that ensured in England's long wait for final appearance in a major tournament.

• It's also no surprise to me that the 2 young men (and I use the term 'men' loosely) who effectively stole other people's money to gain access to the stadium, feel no shame in their behavior, such is the vast blatant disrespect for authority and that appears to exist in this age group. There simply aren't sufficient consequences for this kind of immature, childish behavior.

• And should it really be any surprise that the English FA and Wembley Stadium authorities have no shame in monetizing their failures if they can make a few bucks out of Netflix? Not really.

Disappointing lacking in accountability throughout.

As "The Final: Attack on Wembley" (2024 release from the UK; 82 min.) it is "11th July 2021", and England is set to play in and host the final of the 2020 Euros (delayed by a year due to COVID) against Italy. The movie starts at 8 am (12 hours before kickoff), and people from all over England are descending upon London, already heavily drinking, and many without tickets for the game. What could go wrong? At this point we are 10 minutes into the documentary.

Couple of comments: this movie brings a chilling account of the events on July 11, 2021, leading up to the game. A number of factors were heavily at play: first, this was England's fist chance since 1966 to win a major trophy; second, as in 1966, they would also be hosting the event; third, due to COVID delaying the tournament by a year, this was the first time people would be out and celebrating en masse; and last but not least: the English authorities vastly underestimated what was about to transpire. In short: all elements were in place for a massive for a colossal breakdown of security. The footage makes for absolute compelling if revolting viewing. I cannot readily recall having seen anything like this. The movie makers keep a tight pace throughout, and this documentary just flew by in no time.

"The Final" Attack On Wembley" started streaming on Netflix this weekend. Whether or not you are a soccer fan is frankly irrelevant. This is a documentary that shows what happens when an entire country is frenzied, with thousands of people determined to get into Wembley stadium, ticker or no ticket. SHOCKINGLY (not), pure mayhem and chaos ensues... Highly recommended.

Overall well executed doc with some glaring omissions and missed opportunities. It seems to somehow idealize and normalize English hooligan culture. There's an odd hands off, no judgement here, attitude that pervades the 90 minutes of this documentary. The authors seem to have completely forgotten that in 1985 all English soccer clubs had been banned to play in European competitions for 5 years following the Heysel tragedy, where 37 Italians died following the actions of Liverpool hooligans during the Juventus Italy, Liverpool match. So again, Italy, England, hooligans. Fortunately this time, fate had that England lost the game otherwise there could have been another tragedy. All this escaped the authors and a pervasive moral relativism tells us that there's really no difference between the Italian dad going to the stadium with his daughter and regular tickets and the lovely fella jumping on the bus and getting into the stadium by braking down the barricades and evading the police. They are both fans that love soccer after all .

I was under no illusions that this was going to be a frustrating watch. What happened on that day was a feeling of disappointment for the end result, coupled with anger, embarrassment and shame with off field antics. This documentary brought those feeling back again.

It covers the entire build up of the day of the final. It looks to understand what and how it happened, and allows some of those involved to give their personal stories and ridiculous justifications for what was, and still is, unacceptable anti-social behaviour.

As an England football fan, the rollercoaster of anger and shame while watching it all continued to unfold. In listening to the modern day Neanderthals think their actions were perfectly okay and just driven by passion and a release of frustration post lockdown was just alien to me.

It's reasonably well produced, but difficult if you're English with any sense of morality. It will be a constant reminder why people will be very nervous that England co-host the euros in 2028 or at least why the security is bound to be significant.