Images of India and Pakistan cricket fans uniting to cheer on England’s football team could only have been captured in the West Midlands, the man who caught the moment said.
Harjap Bhangal’s clip showed how rival fans at Edgbaston’s cricket ground gathered together around TVs on Saturday to cheer on England’s Euro 2024 quarter-final win.
The historic rivalry at India-Pakistan matches was usually “very fierce, very bitter,” but suddenly “we were all united, just glued to the screen,” Mr Bhangal said.
The clip has racked up over nine million views on X and has been shared by high profile figures such as Gary Lineker, Hugh Grant and Adil Ray.
The cricket fans were at Edgbaston to watch India’s and Pakistan’s teams play in the World Championship of Legends, a contest for retired and non-contracted players.
Mr Bhangal said people soon started watching England’s Euros match on their phones, before persuading bars on the edge of the stadium to start showing the football game on their TVs.
“The crowds just got bigger and bigger, until the whole concourse was absolutely flooded,” he told BBC Radio WM, adding that he had travelled from London for the cricket match and still abandoned his front-row seat to watch the football.
Mr Bhangal said the clip showed that “people can support their heritage and be proud of their heritage, and support the country they’re born in, at the same time.”
He said he was happy to that the video countered recent “negativity around immigrants”, adding that it particularly showed the unity between different communities in the West Midlands.
“Hats off to the people of the West Midlands,” he said.
England’s dramatic penalty shoot-out against Switzerland at the weekend won the team a place in Wednesday’s semi-final.
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