Children at a primary school in Fleetwood, Lancashire, have recreated the infamous ‘Vindaloo’ video ahead of the World Cup semi-final on Wednesday, which will see England play Croatia.
The adorable video sees dozens of kids from Flakefleet Primary marching through the school corridors proudly wearing England face paint, waving flags and just generally having a blast – what’s even better is the oldest children, aged 11, were born in 2008, some nine years after the anthem by Fat Les was released in 1998.
The clip stars both pupils and teachers at the school. Head teacher Dave McPartlin, who can be seen donning full face paint and standing on a table around the 0:52 mark, told HuffPost UK: “It’s captured the spirit of the country at the minute - there’s the heatwave, everyone’s excited by the football, there’s a lot of excitement.”
Dave came up with the idea for the video on Thursday night and then had a frantic dash getting all of the materials ready including all of the red and white bandanas. On Friday 6 July, between 1.30pm and 2.30pm, the whole school - that’s children aged 2 to 11 years old - got involved in filming.
“It was absolute mayhem across the school but the children were so excited,” said McPartlin, who edited the video himself.
To date the video has had 1.2 million views on Facebook and the public are loving it. Mark Kreissl commented: “Get this on Twitter for the England team. If this doesn’t inspire them further then nothing will.”
Val Brunson added: “Absolutely brilliant, I take my hat off (if I had one on) to the teachers etc who put this together. The kids must have had so much fun. Well done.”
Dave said the video has “surpassed all expectation”.
“I didn’t think it was going to take off like it has,” he said. “It sums up the school’s ethos: it’s a fun, happy place to be. The kids love coming here, the parents are proud of it - and that’s what makes kids want to learn.”