Louis Tomlinson has been hailed the “god of Glastonbury” after bringing a TV into the festival so fans could watch the England game.
In case you missed it, England took it right to the wire but (somehow) managed to book a coveted place in the Quarter Finals of UEFA Euro 2024 last night after beating Slovakia 2-1 in extra time, thanks to two very late goals from Jude Bellingham and captain Harry Kane, despite it being another particularly poor performance overall.
But for those who were camped out in the fields of Worthy Farm at this year’s Glastonbury festival, the chance to catch all the sporting action unfold could have passed them by.
While Glastonbury has been known to screen the football in other years in the past, this wasn’t the case for 2024, as officials had announced earlier in the week that the match would not be shown at this year’s festival due to clashes with performances on the major stages.
Louis Tomlinson hailed Glastonbury ‘god’ after bringing TV for fans to watch England game / Credit: Flickr | England (via Instagram)
This left many festival-going England fans with the dilemma of having to decide to either watch their favourite music artists, or support Gareth Southgate’s men in European football’s flagship tournament instead on Sunday night, and One Direction star – and famously a massive football fan – Louis Tomlinson was one to have found himself in this predicament.
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However, he hatched a plan… and it was this very plan that saw him hailed a “hero” and the “god of Glastonbury” by hundreds of others at the festival.
The 32-year-old Doncaster-born singer – known for being one-fifth of boyband One Direction, turned solo artist – was one of the approximately 210,000 people who attended this year’s Glastonbury festival, but after he found out that he wouldn’t be able to watch England’s Round of 16 match, he decided to head to the nearest Argos earlier that morning and buy a big flat-screen TV and a generator, so he could stream it using WiFi.
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Judging by all the pictures and videos shared on social media, and the TikTok posted by his little sister, Lottie – which has already amassed 650,000 views and counting – it looks like dozens of campers got wind of his plan, and all gathered together around the TV screen in the field to watch the drama live.
Louis, his sister, and their other friends and family who attended the festival with them, wheeled the TV into the campsite and set it up on a little stand using plastic buckets filled with stones.
Glastonbury doesn't show football. But in one of the campsites, someone set up a flatscreen to screen the England match.
Tomlinson told the BBC’s Culture and Media Editor, Katie Razzal, that it was pretty “touch and go” with at times with the signal of the live stream, but they made it work and were able to see England clinch that last-minute victory.
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“It was a little… well, we brought a TV in,” Tomlinson told the BBC.
“Very Glasto, in some stones and a little stand. It was a little bit touch and go at times, because the signal kept going in and out, but yeah, luckily we got the win.
The Three Lions will now face Switzerland in Quarter Finals of the Euros this Saturday at 5pm in Dusseldorf.
Featured Image – BBC
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Jude Bellingham given suspended one-match ban and fine for ‘inappropriate’ gesture
Danny Jones
England and Real Madrid star Jude Bellingham has been handed a suspended one-match ban after making a gesture towards the Slovakia fans following the Three Lions’ last-gasp win in the round of 16 of Euro 2024.
Bellingham scored what has already gone down as one of the greatest England goals of all time to equalise against their first knockout opponents of the tournament to put them through to the quarter-final stage.
However, it was his celebrations in the immediate aftermath following the goal that got him into a little bit of trouble, as a small gesture towards his genitals has seen the Madrid midfielder pick up a fine and a one-match ban that he will thankfully he doesn’t have to serve any suspension immediately.
ln case you missed it, this is the moment in question, as reshared by the player himself:
🥱❌- An inside joke gesture towards some close friends who were at the game. Nothing but respect for how that Slovakia team played tonight.🤝🏽 https://t.co/H8sETMkPoi
As you can see, Bellingham shrugged off the gesture as nothing more than an “inside joke towards some friends” who were in attendance inside Gelsenkirchen’s Veltins-Arena and clearly wasn’t willing to indulge any suggestion that he meant any offence despite the crude gesture.
Regardless, UEFA’s ethics and disciplinary body, unfortunately, hasn’t seen it that way; they stated that he violated “the basic rules of decent conduct” with the celebration, being slapped with a €30,000 fine (approximately £25k) and the match ban.
They did go on to explain that the ban is “subject to a probationary period of one year, starting from the date of the present decision”, meaning that it will only have to be served if the 21-year-old re-offends in the next 12 months.
A big relief for England supporters after he helped keep them in the game with his second goal in a competition where Gareth Southgate‘s side has still struggled to really get going.
BREAKING: Jude Bellingham has been given a suspended one-match ban and fined £25,000 for a gesture during England's 2-1 win over Slovakia 🚨 pic.twitter.com/M0fUx8Z0zE
While Bellingham will be available for Saturday’s match against Switzerland, another player received a harsher punishment for his reaction following a goal at this year’s Euros.
Turkey defender Merih Demiral has been handed a straight two-match ban for a politically associated gesture he made during his side’s previous win, doing the wolf salute celebration after the second goal of his brace against Austria.
The gesture is linked to the far-right Grey Wolves extremist group, who are also closely linked with Turkey’s ruling coalition National Movement Party. Bellingham’s behaviour pales in comparison when sized up against potentially inflammatory instances like this.
Meanwhile, back in the England camp, there is another member of the squad who Three Lions fans will be hoping can make an impact in upcoming games – we can only hope.
Watch the moment Mayor Andy Burnham learns of Labour landslide as Tories lose all Greater Manchester seats
Danny Jones
It’s official: the Labour Party have won the 2024 UK General Election as the Conservative reign is brought to an end after 14 years and the Mayor for Greater Manchester, Andy Burnham, learning of the landslide has become somewhat of a viral moment.
Not only were the Tories displaced from Parliament following the result but the Labour majority was massive, winning a total of 412 seats compared to just 120 for the incumbents but most notably in local terms, not a single blue seat was left intact.
With 25 of the region’s 27 constituencies going red and backing Sir Keir Starmer to become Prime Minister, Manchester’s Mayor Burnham made no secret of his relief and satisfaction as the exit polls came through on Thursday night whilst sat on the panel for Sky News’ coverage.
Here’s the moment Burnham was visibly buzzing mid-broadcast:
The 54-year-old was already vocally positive in the lead-up to the vote as well, responding to the now outgoing Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s claims that a Labour supermajority and “blank cheque” approach would only lead to more tax.
Quoting him on X, the former MP for Leigh simply wrote, “So it looks like the Tories are giving up on getting back into government in my lifetime. I’ll settle for that!”, along with a laughing emoji.
The only two Greater Manchester seats to stray from the red wall were Stockport constituencies Hazel Grove and Cheadle, which still have some historic Cheshire roots where the vote was more varied and some Conservative voters still held out.
Much like the crowd in the hall over in North East Somerset and Hanham (a newly created seat), where Jacob Rees-Mogg has remained since 2010, Burnham also thoroughly enjoyed the moment he learned the Labour landside including the controversial Tory losing to Dan Norris by more than 5k votes.
Dubbing it the “[Michael] Portillo moment” he has been waiting for (referencing the Conservative frontbencher once tipped to become the party’s leader who was displaced Stephen Twigg in the 1997 election), Burnham said: “He’s been battered and he deserves to be”.
The Mayor went on to insist that “he has no clue what’s inflicted on people” – a sentiment we imagine he feels applies to the last decade and a half of Tory rule in general.