Parents have been left confused by a new football trend, the ‘Brexit tackle,’ that has seen kids shouting 'Brexit means Brexit' as they play the sport - so what is it all about?
There's plenty of things kids do that leave us adults confused. The main is their use of teenage slang that's seen tweens and teens saying strange terms like ‘skibidi' and laughing when we don't know what that means.
For parents of football-mad kids, the latest new term has likely left you stumped. That's because tween and teens have now taken to shouting 'Brexit means Brexit' as they're playing football - and the reason why is actually pretty funny.
Writing about the phenomenon in The Guardian, mum Lola Okolosie gave parents the rundown after consulting her 10-year-old son about it. "My son says it means taking out the player without getting the ball, all while shouting ‘Brexit means Brexit’," she explains, adding that it 'is a tackle that doesn’t get the ball, only takes out the player.'
The name refers to Theresa May's Brexit deal and the less-than-favourable terms the UK left the EU with. For many, the then Conservative UK government simply went through with the deal because they said they would get the country out of the EU and wanted to make good on their promise, not because the deal was actually good or would benefit the country in anyway - in fact, it's arguable that the UK is now worse off with the rising cost-of-living perpetuated by high import costs and a lack of reliance on European trade deals.
Relating this to the unlikely football tackle, the Brexit-tackle is a move that will almost certainly end in harm coming to either the tackler or tackle-ee, definitely won't get the tackler the ball, and may also result in them being sent off with a yellow or red card to the detriment of everyone else on their team. It's a clever parallel, isn't it?
Describing her first experience of the tackle, she shares, “[My son] 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!'”
It's questionable whether any of the tweens and teens joining in with this trend actually fully understand the connection between this type of tackle and the name now given to it. It's likely that a lot of them have simply picked up on the trend thanks to TikTok as creators make videos showing them how to do the 'Brexit tackle' without really explaining the origins of it.
But Okolosie thinks that perhaps they do and that this trend is all a bit of healthy fun-poking at the older generation. "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," she says. "If we keep in mind that the tackler is willing to hurt themselves – either by getting sent off the pitch or injuring themselves physically – then it can also be read as a pugnacious attempt to make things worse for yourself, just to make a point."
She adds, "There’s a healthy dose of irreverence in there too – you have to admit, there’s something very funny about one child barking “Brexit means Brexit!” to another in a muddy park. You get the sense they’re having fun at older generations’ expense."
There are plenty of tween and teen phenomenons that parents don't understand, like the new term ‘menty b’ that teens are using to discuss their mental health. Also, is your tween saying this season is a 'brat summer'? This is what they mean. Plus, do your kids make fun of you for your millennial ways? These are the 6 habits that GenZ believe make millennials ‘officially old’.
