Black Country house covered with 200 England flags ready for Euro 2020 final
An England football supporter’s patriotic fandom has helped to light up a small part of the Black Country.
Dan Hill from Brierley Hill has covered his house and back garden in England flags to celebrate Euro 2020 and England’s progress to the final.
The 36-year-old butcher and Aston Villa fan said the decorating was something he had always done, albeit on a small scale.
He said: “It’s something I do every time we’re in a major tournament, but usually on a very small scale as I’ll put up some flags around my gazebo and invite close family around.
This year, however, it was a case of thinking that we hadn’t done anything for nearly 18 months, so I turned to my partner and said we should just go for it and cover the whole house in flags.
“She said I could do this as long as the back garden was finished, as she’s been asking me to get some jobs done there, so that got done and then I started decorating.”
Mr Hill said he had started buying flags and England-themed supplies 20 months before tournament started and had spent a week decorating the back of his house and the back garden area.
There are two England flags at the front of the house and then more than 200 flags of different sizes at the back, including a six foot by four foot LED England flag which lights up at night.
Flags can be seen on the garden fences, on top of his daughter Autumn’s playhouse, his daughter Cassidy’s trampoline and on the greenhouse and gazebo at the back of the garden.
There are also England-themed chairs, hats, clappers, big inflatable hands and other pieces of merchandise in the gazebo, which has a TV and is where Mr Hill and his friends and family have been watching the tournament.
Mr Hill said he had had a great reaction to the display from neighbours and passers-by and said his partner Samantha Holloway loved it as well.
He said: “She joked with me that it wouldn’t look as good without the gardening she’d done, as she has done all the work there and all I’ve done is come along and cover it in England flags!
“It’s been great though and I’ve definitely noticed that more and more houses in the area having been putting up England flags as the tournament has been going on.”
Mr Hill said he would be giving away England goodies at Scriven & Thornton Butchers in Halesowen where he works to all the customers, including hats, horns and clappers.
He spoke about his memories of watching England lose to Germany in a penalty shoot-out in the semi-finals of the 1996 European Championships and what it would mean to him to see England win the final.
He said: “ It was heartbreaking at the time because of England losing and because of Gareth Southgate, a Villa player, being the one to miss a penalty.
“I’m still getting my head around the fact that in my lifetime, I’m going to get to see England play in a major tournament final.
“It’s crazy, but it’s wonderful. I can’t wait for the final,” he said.
