It’s 2001, the night before England thrash Germany 5-1 during the qualifying stages of the 2002 World Cup, helped along nicely by that rather spectacular hat-trick from Michael Owen. Four England fans meet for the first time on a campsite in Munich. Drink is drunk, songs are sung, secrets are exposed.

Jump back to 1945: Alf and Ted march through Europe for home, fighting fascism while dreaming of a new England.

Skip forward to the present day, and former Hemel resident and lifelong Hemel Town and Watford FC supporter Eddy Brimson intercuts the action with stand-up comedy routines that deliver provocative and hard-hitting material about football culture, what it means to be English and what’s happening in the world today.

England Away is the new play from writer and director Paul Hodson (who adapted stage version of Fever Pitch) and delves into the themes of passion, patriotism and ‘Englishness’ – and it’s a new direction for both Paul and Eddy.

“I’ve never done a play before, it’s… interesting,“ laughs the comedian and author, who celebrated his 50th birthday this week.

“I’m a little bit nervous, but nerves are always a good thing, I think, it sort of fires you up a bit.

“We’ve been rehearsing for a while. It’s new for the cast having stand-up in the middle of a play, but they’ve laughed in the right places – most of the time!

Eddy’s stand-up routines reflect the themes that the characters in the play touch upon.

“I talk about how things might have changed since this play was set,“ explains Eddy, who now lives in Brighton.

“I talk about Englishness and what that means, and what freedom means. My take on it is that ultimately we’re very fortunate to live in a place where we’re free to express ourselves. And we’re all very different, but also very similar in a lot of ways. And that’s reflected in the play, in the four very different characters.“

Eddy got involved in the play after being introduced to writer Paul through his background of penning seven best-selling sports books and making programmes about football and its associated culture.

“Paul had the idea of doing a play and said he could put me in it, even though it hadn’t been done before, putting stand-up in the middle,“ says Eddy, who still makes it down to Vicarage Road whenever he can, although he’s been watching Hemel Town more at the moment.

“So I just go off about the types of people you meet at England games, things like that, people from all different walks of life who have very different views of what it means to be English.

“He’s a great writer, very clever, and there’s a lot of funnies in it. It’s an exciting project to be involved in.“

Is he looking forward to the upcoming World Cup in Brazil?

“I am indeed. I’m not expecting too much of England, but I think that’s where we are at the moment, which is a good thing, I think we’re starting to rebuild. If we get out of the group it will be a big achievement.

“I’ll be in Thailand on tour – that’ll be alright, won’t it? I’ll get to see it all at a much more reasonable time than you lot and in a very hot country!“

So where was Eddy when England beat Germany 5-1 in 2001? “I was doing a stand-up gig in the most posh venue in Hampstead, it was horrendous,“ he laughs. “’Oh this is jolly good, innit?’ Oh no! You are not my people! I remember it very well. I was lucky enough to see most of the second half, it was good fun.“