“Believe it or not, I’m not 100%”
Jimmy Bullard is almost universally adored by football fans nationwide for his sense of humour, his humility, and his all round friendly persona. He’s not like football pundits, who are obsessed with tactics, and systems, and outwsinging corners; he is a TV personality, who loves nothing more than having a laugh.
He frequently appears on TV, whether it’s Soccer AM or just a daytime tele game show, like Tipping Point, as he did today.
He was partnered up with comedienne Katherine Ryan, and the pair were stopped in their tracks when neither knew the answer to quite a simple football question, the sort of question that most football fans would be able to answer correctly if given a moment to cast their mind back.
The question: Which country won the Euro football Championships in 2016 and the Eurovision song contest in 2017 for the first time?
The answer: Portugal, of course. Remember, Dimitri Payet crashing into Cristiano Ronaldo early on. Ronaldo trying to continue. The moth, landing on his face as reality dawned on him, that he would not be able to finish the final he had dragged his country to. Ronaldo, cheering on his teammates from the sidelines. Eder’s late winner in extra time.
Anyway, Jimmy Bullard seemed to have no recollection of this event and appeared mortified when he realised he did not know the answer to this question that he really, really should be able to answer.
“Believe it or not, I’m not 100%,” Bullard tells host Ben Shephard.
Eventually, he settled on Italy, which was of course wrong. Italy were knocked out by Germany on penalties in the quarter-finals, and have also won the tournament back in 1968, when they beat Yugoslavia 2-0 in a replay.
Bullard’s reaction upon hearing the answer says it all – “course it bloody was.”
“I got to Portugal every year.”
He’ll be kicking himself for getting that wrong, although hopefully not too hard – he wouldn’t want to injure himself.
