Eng-Er-Land: play exploring football, racism and identity coming to the National Football Museum in Manchester

A play exploring the relationship between football and national identity is coming to Manchester.

Hannah Kumari’s new work Eng-Er-Land, which explores her own experiences as a mixed race football fan, will be performed at the National Football Museum.

Hannah says she wrote the play in the wake of the 2020 Black Lives Matter (BLM) protests and seeing how some football fans reacted to them.

It also comes at a time of concern about increasing levels of hate and abuse on the terraces and on social media.

What is Eng-Er-Land about?

Eng-Er-Land blends storytelling, dance and music with ‘90s nostalgia to tackle its themes of racism, identity politics, lad culture and working-class masculinity.

Playwright Hannah weaves into the work her very personal story about her experiences of racism as a mixed-race football fan and her struggles to be accepted into what is historically a white, male, working-class world.

The play will be at the National Football Museum in Manchester on 10 and 11 March.

What has Hannah said about the play?

Hannah said: “I wrote Eng-Er-Land in June 2020 in the wake of the BLM protests and seeing supposed football fans acting in a very aggressive and anti-social way.

“It made me sad and angry that we are still in this position, and I felt compelled to reflect on my own experiences at football matches as a mixed-race teenager growing up in the 90s, and now as a woman.

“The play is also an exploration of my mixed-race identity, and the idea of Englishness - what does it mean to be English and who gets to define that?

“I wanted to write a play that was fun and uplifting, whilst also confronting big issues.”

What else has been said about the play?

The national tour of Eng-Er-Land is being supported by the Football Supporters Association.

It comes at a time of increasing alarm about the level of racist and homophobic hate and abuse surrounding the game, both at matches and online.

Findings by Kick It Out, the English football’s equality and inclusion organisation, noted in 2019-20 an 53% increase in reported racial abuse in the professional game compared to the previous season.

The organisation also received 117 reports of abuse based on sexual orientation compared to 60 the previous season.

Kick It Out also received more than 100 direct reports for the 2020-21 season, even though Covid severely curtailed the number of people who could attend matches in stadiums or stand on the sidelines at grass-roots games.