To think people genuinely hate England?

[beautifulblue]

Is anyone else sick of seeing the anger/hatred towards England in the World Cup? This 'anyone but england' mentality from almost every other country is disheartening honestly. I've seen every excuse under the sun, we haven't played a proper team yet, 200,000 signatures to re-play the Colombia match because apparently that wasn't fair, blaming a few rowdy fans for not wanting England to win. I'm especially surprised by the amount of Scottish/Irish/Welsh people who seem to feel like this (on social media) i know we'd so be routing for our neighbours if it was the other way round! So... AIBU to think everyone just friggin hates England?!

@mimarbia

why is it arrogant to say football is coming home when we ( the English) invented the sport

Ahh, but you see you didn't invent the game. Well, not entirely. And the first match of what we would recognise today was not even played in England. So not only is it arrogant, it's also ignorant and misinformed...

www.independent.co.uk/sport/football/news-and-comment/after-150-years-the-truth-scotland-invented-football-8756018.html

Steady on people. Feelings are obviously running high, but none of this matters a jot.
I am going to concentrate my thoughts on the remaining boys and their coach in the Thai cave. This shit is really irrelevant.

I’m very happy being English. What’s not to like

I will take the moral high ground over anybody who thinks it's okay to vote Tory

Ok then, but you do realise that a whole nation did not vote Tory? That that is not the mark of every English man and woman? Brexit is not our 'national identity'? No more than the US national identity is to be a Trump supporter. Tell me you understand that?

I really wouldn't feel superior to anyone if I were you, trust me. The word you're looking for is 'sanctimonious'.

This is word for word exactly how I feel about it.

Yes exactly. I will take the moral high ground over anybody who thinks it's okay to vote Tory. Over anyone who voted to leave Europe because they wanted to put a stop to immigration

WTF's that got to do with England and the World Cup,though? You do realise that a lot of people in the UK voted both Remain and Labour, right? Talk about stereotyping and tarring everyone with the same brush.

Haha omg yes I do realise that as I have said several times ... jeeso 🤦🏻‍♀️

Really must we go in with this?

Yes these are generalisations. Huge sections of England voted Tory in comparison to, for example, Scotland. Same with Brexit. Therefore we could create some generalisations based on these facts. Of course this would not take account of every voter.

What it does give us is an entirely unquantifiable, unscientific, stereotype that people can use to make sense of their political and cultural world thus allowing hem to form feelings and opinions.

Dangerous potentially yes but also unavoidable. We all do it. We all have judgements based on half truths. It's human nature.

How far: Well, the “balance” you talk of would be there if the other nations were in the World Cup! I’m not sure how you can provide balance writing about football if the only national side is England.

The newspapers are going to write about what most people in the UK want to read. At the moment, that is England’s performance in the Workd Cup.

I can’t think of a single English football fan who would stop watching the rest of the tournament if England go out next match. My FB memory today was about the excitement of watching the last World Cup final and feeling sorry for Brazil getting thrashed by Germany 7-1 or whatever it was. No German hatred there, by the way, before I get accused of being anti-German. It was the getting thrashed by the opposition which was the emotive bit.

Trump is actually a very interesting and similar example. Of course he is not representative of all Americans. One only needs to look at the outpouring of grief from those in the arts and popular culture. He did, however, win the election and so then is representative of the current national identity in some way. He does represent a huge section of Americans who do agree with him and subsequently contributes to the current national identity which we can discuss and criticise all we like.

No, howfar, we don't all generalise. Nor should we. So, with respect, your opinion that you are superior to England/English people (whichever you've picked, it's not clear) isn't at all valid because - much like men who believe they're smarter than women because their brains are apparently bigger - it's based on bullshit stereotypes, and I feel a bit embarrassed for you TBH.

He does represent a huge section of Americans who do agree with him and subsequently contributes to the current national identity which we can discuss and criticise all we like

True - but that doesn't mean we ca I say "I am superior to America because I am against Trump". Because that's frankly stupid. Which is what you're doing for England/English people

Well there really is no need to feel embarrassed for me but thanks for your concern

Loving this thread. I've just had this discussion with some other fellow countrymen (who lost the game on Saturday) and they are now supporting England but I could never ever support England in football. I was more or less told that no one else think like I do. 😁

The reason why I cannot support England in football what so many have pointed out already - the sheer arrogance. It doesn't come just from the fans but also from the media (tv, papers etc). Why, oh why, can you not just support your team without having to ridicule/put other countries down all the time? Everytime an English player moves a leg it's like he's climbed Mount Everest - why is that? I often watch games on tv without the sound and put on the radio for the commentary. On Saturday I was folloeing the commentary feed from a newspaper in my home country at the same time as I was watching the BBC. Besides the names, you'd think it was a different game.

I saw nice regards to my home country's team from English fans today on Facebook - nice touch - but then they couldn't let it stay with that so they had to say nasty things about the Colombian team at the same time.

I'm really sick of this attitude in English football and I actually feel sorry for Gareth Southgate and his guys. They all seem very likeable but it's their fans and the press that stops me from supporting them.

I'm Scottish and live in England. I'm supporting England. Why wouldn't I, I live here! I've seen a few "jokey" anti-English videos on Facebook which have really pissed me off. I hate the whole Scottish English divide.

Oh gunpowder this is a forum for chat. Not an academic paper. I have said several times that you can not compare a person to a nation. It's all a nonsense. This is Mumsnet where washing gets darked on, ham is naice and beakers are used for much more than just science.

Please don't worry. I'm not going to write a paper claiming I am superior to England. I know that England isn't a person. I know that there are millions of lovely English people who don't fit in with this national
Identity that causes so much negative attention from around the world.

It's sad though that you feel you've had to resort to insults. That's sad.

Talking of what one nation thinks of another, I tell you what I DID notice on social media recently which shocked me. An outpouring of hate and derision from some Americans about our public health system.

It seems a lot of Americans think the NHS is backward and some of them go far as to say it “kills babies”. (Alfie Evans)

The same people then went on to accuse the British nation of being baby-killing types. It was ridiculous, the ignorance shown, but I’m damned sure that as a result of reading that I didn’t come to the conclusion that “all Americans think the British are baby killers.”

It’s the same with this weird thread. I’m not sure where you’re going on social media, OP, to make you come to this overarching conclusion that the English are hated as a nation. But, as always, I’m betting that this will not be the case IRL with actual people.

This whole thread is self-selecting. Anyone who responds to the thread title clearly has something to say. There is the odd one like me who can’t really see what all the hand-wringing is about.

- much like men who believe they're smarter than women because their brains are apparently bigger

You've kind of used a generalisation there. I honestly don't know any men who think this. Literally never heard it!

Why, oh why, can you not just support your team without having to ridicule/put other countries down all the time?

Nobody's putting down other countries. It's a form of humour that many others don't get unless you're English/British!
(Can't believe I'm defending football,I usually hate it lol)
The chants. It's all competitive bantz.
Eg family game of Monopoly, all playing together. 10 year old losing, keeps landing on our houses and hotels lol.
"Loser" L on forehead, or whoever wins does a victory dance.
Certain type of humour that not everyone gets.

I’ve lived in England since I was 21 (I’m 50 now) and I love where I live, my English friends and my English children. I like that they’re proud to be English and I enjoy watching them celebrate England’s success. However, English ‘nationalism’ scares me - I don’t associate the St. George Cross flag with being English. I associate it with the far right nationalist movement - the racist, intolerant, triumphalist, hooliganism that we’re seeing far too much of at the moment, and that’s the bit that people see on television and in the press.

LetChildren: did you watch the Colombia game? They weren’t exactly a shining example of sportsmanship and fair play. It could have been a different team they were playing against, my opinion of their team behaviour would have been exactly the same.

howfar I'm surprised you have never heard a man being sexist before?

I thought you didn't do stereotypes or generalisations?

I've never heard the different brain size argument.

I have said several times that you can not compare a person to a nation. It's all a nonsense.

Yet you're the one doing exactly that 🧐

This is Mumsnet where washing gets darked on, ham is naice and beakers are used for much more than just science.

Don't be so fucking condescending - MN talks about more than washing. I read exceptionally intelligent posts every day on here - present company excluded.

Your conclusion seems to be: "you can't compare a nation to a person, or generalise, but everyone does it so I'll do it, because MN isn't serious, therefore I'm superior to the English".

You have loads of support and goodwill here in the USA. We're completely over what an arse George III was.😇

It's sad though that you feel you've had to resort to insults. That's sad

Coming from someone who is so sanctimonious amazing that all of England is inferior to them. Right-o