Mike Tindall has revealed that he broke up a fight between fans at the Euro 2020 final and described the scenes walking into Wembley Stadium as a “disgrace”.
In the latest episode of The Good, The Bad & The Rugby, he tells co-hosts Alex Payne and James Haskell about his experience at the match that saw England defeated by Italy in a penalty shootout after extra time.
The former rugby star said: “A guy was there the whole time, smashed out of his face, literally didn’t watch any of the game anyway, he was just too busy shouting at supporters that they should be standing on their feet, ends up getting into a fight with another one that’s straight behind my seat.
“It got to a stage where this guy literally was trying to pile this guy in the face, there was a kid next to us, there was a kid on the other side crying because he couldn’t see the game because of all the guys stood in the galley way and I just pulled these guys apart, said to one of them ‘What are you doing? Just what are you doing?’ And you know, he wandered off, blood all over him. The guy on the floor had blood all over him.”
He continued: “I was just like you know these kids, what are they learning about going to a live football game? I was trying to put some balance on it but there wasn’t balance, it was just—And then going out and seeing the amount of smashed bottles on the way out, you could feel people being nervous walking out of there.
“We all knew that if England won, it would be the best night ever, if they lost, it’s like board up your shops. Why do we have to have that mentality? It’s just absolutely ridiculous and it was an unsavoury environment to be in, and as I say, I wouldn’t have enjoyed being there if I had had my kids there.”
Speaking about his arrival at the ground, father-of-three Mike said: “If I was there with my kids I would not have been that happy about it. Walking down Wembley Way was a disgrace, the amount of just [expletive], litter, like people who just generally didn’t seem to care about anything. It’s a small minority, but it’s, unfortunately, the minority that you only remember.”
He later added: “I feel it undermines what the England team has done and that’s the biggest shame for me, I think they’ve really galvanised the country after a really bad period and in one night, it feels like it’s something broken.”
