Grantham football fan with Dutch family has ‘backup’ top

A football fan who has family from the Netherlands says she will be supporting England “all the way”, but will wear a Holland shirt as “a backup”.

Emily Knight, 38, who lives in Grantham, Lincolnshire, said her loyalties would mainly lie with England during the Euro 2024 semi-final against the Netherlands.

During the match, she said she would be the only one wearing a Holland top, as she has a Dutch mother and often visits family in the Netherlands.

She lives with her husband Gareth, 45, and their children – Edwyn, six, and Wilfred, five.

Mrs Knight was born and brought up in England and her mother, Gerda Newsham, 69, moved to the UK in 1983 and lives with her stepfather in Essex.

Referring to the performance from both teams over the course of the tournament as “pretty lacklustre”, Mrs Knight said she was most looking forward to captains Harry Kane and Virgil van Dijk battling it out for victory on the pitch.

“If I had to pick a side, it would probably be England,” she told the PA Media news agency.

“My husband will be watching with his England shirt on. My kids will be in bed but they normally support England.

“It’s more that the Dutch supporting element is like a backup.

“I’m not going to be as gutted if England drop out as I would have been because I’ve still got a team in the mix.”

Mrs Knight said her eldest son was a keen football fan, regularly playing the sport, but watching the matches had been a nerve-racking experience for him.

“My eldest son told me it was very stressful watching England do penalties [on Saturday],” she said.

Her advice to him was: “That’s something you’re going to have to get used to, kiddo.

“That is just par for the course being an England fan.”

Mrs Knight said her stepfather was “an enormous football fan” and would be “loudly cheering on England” – but it might be in a different room to her mother.

“I think to safeguard matrimonial harmony, he has agreed to hang an enormous Holland flag outside of their house,” she said.

Looking ahead to the match, she added: “England have really incredible players, but put them all together and they really struggle to pull it out of the bag, so we’ll have to wait and see.”