My son says it means taking out the player without getting the ball, all while shouting ‘Brexit means Brexit’. Sound familiar?
For the umpteenth time, my son, with an Ikea stuffed ball he has had since infancy, is playing football in the living room. He is joined by one of his best friends, an equally football-obsessed 10-year-old who, before slide-tackling in what can only be described as a deliberate attempt to knock my son’s legs off, shouts: “Brexit means Brexit!” Confused, I pass it off as an example of tweenage precocity: which 10-year-old is happy to quote Theresa May while playing football?
I must admit, this gives me some hope for the future.
The thing about Brexit is, they always try to Brexit it in!
Did you see the ludicrous Brexit last night?
What was Wenger thinking sending May on that early?
The thing about Conservatives is they always try and walk it in
Wouldn’t it be nice to have politicians whose shallowness and hypocrisy aren’t so easily mocked by 10-year-olds?
This woman knows how to write a closing sentence. Damn.
It seems like a joke they’ve seen on TikTok and repeated. I’d be interested if those kids actually understand what it means.
Not a chance!
It’s not like most adults understood Brexit either…
Tears in my eyes brexitball goes international
Is this the most Guardian?
Peak Guardian: this reinforces my viewpoint, so I’ll report it without doing much digging beyond a quick Google as the readers will love it.
Then the Tory rags will pick it up and run some equally low effort rant about Remoaners and their woke agenda, jumpers for goalposts, snowflakes, etc.
And around and around it goes.
This is the best summary I could come up with:
For the umpteenth time, my son, with an Ikea stuffed ball he has had since infancy, is playing football in the living room.
Urban Dictionary concurs, stating it is, among other things, “when somebody hits a massive slide tackle and usually sends them flying and it hurts them servely [sic]”.
In one TikTok post, football content creator Kalan Lisbie, with tongue firmly in cheek, walks viewers through “how to do the Brexit tackle”.
That young people now repeat the political slogan during aggressive play should tell us that the phrase has become symbolic of a kind of empty-headed belligerence.
They’re using it as a joke, to be sure, but it’s a timely reminder that politicians’ words and political stances extend far beyond the immediate context, seeping into the fabric of our children’s lives.
Their playful satire draws on the overt aggression of our Punch and Judy politics, which started at Westminster and has now made it on to the school football pitch.
The original article contains 640 words, the summary contains 162 words. Saved 75%. I’m a bot and I’m open source!
