KANSAS CITY — It was some sight as the controversial “Ten German Bombers” song rang through the concourses at the AT&T Stadium.
A big group of England fans were bouncing along while singing but an even bigger crowd – mostly of bemused but fascinated locals – had gathered to film it.
Peeling away from the crowd a smiling Becky Williams, from nearby Arlington, told me she hadn’t realised the song was controversial but she didn’t regret getting it on camera.
“I can’t believe how crazy you all are. The last time I was here was for Beyonce and it was a very different crowd. I’ve never seen anything like it – and I love it.”
At a World Cup like no other, the booze-fuelled invasion of up to 15,000 England fans prepared to max out their credit cards appears to be capturing the imagination of the locals.
Biggest Honky Tonk bar in the world playing Three Lions as the final song last night absolutely wasn’t on the bingo card, English & Americans all together having the time of their life. England fans doing us proud again
— Bealopic.twitter.com/pTXj0o7lwX
That was certainly the case in Texas, where England fans managed the unthinkable – encouraging Billy Bob’s, the world’s biggest Honky Tonk bar, to play “Three Lions” rather than its steadfast policy of only spinning country music.
“Sacrilege,” Fox News’ Austin Perry wrote for sports site Outkick.
And really, that is what it has been like wherever England fans have gone in this World Cup.
From watching rodeo to queuing round the block for the famous Terry Black’s barbecue, hospitable Texans seem to enjoy hosting the English.
“It’s nice to see the cowboys and the limeys coming together and celebrating as one, which is exactly what this World Cup has been all about,” he added.
Trouble? The i Paper understands that there were zero arrests across the city and the only hint of bother came in the Londoner pub in Dallas, where a couple of idiots threw plant pots off a balcony after police were called to clear the packed venue on Tuesday.
Rumours of bad behaviour were just that. Officers were not called because of problems but because it was over capacity, invalidating its fire licence.
Indeed sources in Dallas claimed that scores of England fans stayed behind to help staff clean the venue, having topped up the coffers by spending nearly £25,000 on beer in one night.
“It’s been very positive. Dallas is weird because it’s so big, you have Arlington and Fort Worth and everything was quite spread out,” explains Thomas Concannon, who leads the Football Supporters’ Association’s England group.
He liaised with local police and officials and said they had been very positive about England supporters.
“The bars were great, they were all full, and they adopted to the culture,” he said.
“I still think there’s a bit of a divide – someone asked me at one point if Dallas could play England – but the buzz is growing as the tournament goes on.
“I still think the cost of things is surprising people, they’ve been paying a fortune without necessarily realising it.”
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England get 8% of the stadium capacity as their allocation, with prices ranging from a few hundred “supporter tier” tickets at $60 to category one tickets costing $1,295.
UK police said 15,000 were following England but it felt like more.
“The biggest surprise was how many England fans were in the stadium. It felt like the stadium was about 80 per cent England – I think we were topped up by loads of Americans wearing England tops,” he said.
Next up is Boston, where Scotland fans threw down the gauntlet by drinking the bars dry as they charmed the city.
“We’ve been planning for this for months and it’s another great American city, so we can’t wait,” Concannon says.
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