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?!

I’m Scottish. I love Gareth Southgate, I love many of the players and I hope Raheem Stirling scores the winning goal in the final so that all the tabloids give him a break in the future. BUT I cannot support my sporting rivals in the same way I’m sure no England fan would support Germany etc. Also the media pundits are unbearable! I’ve had to switch off my favourite BBC Breakfast in favour of Sky as they can at least do sport impartially.

Some would say Wales, Ireland and Scotland were first colonised by England though

Some would say that England was colonised by the Normans. Our part of the world was devastated by the Normans.

I still like Normandy though.

Most of the negativity reports in the press are made up by the press. Ignore, there is some harmless banter but as a United Kingdom the cast majority will be in support of England in the World Cup, our press just love to stir the pot. Let’s enjoy

I hear ya OP. I agree.

Upshot is, the people who have this attitude are jealous of us.

They loathe and despise us, but still envy and respect us.

It makes me laugh, and it makes me smug.

They wish they were us.

We are fucking awesome, and revered the world over, but somehow despised too.

Don't hate us coz U ain't us!

Thin line between love and hate people.

Did you hear that fucking git Maradona saying we 'cheated' to beat Colombia?! If ANY other country had beat them, he would have said fuck all. Jealous, bitter little arsehole.

ENGLAND RULE! Yeah baby.

I’m English (though refer to myself as British). I love where I live. I love how welcoming and inclusive our country is on the whole. I support England and Great Britain in most sporting events. I think Southgate is amazing and has done a lot to change the team. But I hope we don’t win the World Cup. There’s something about the English football teams and their supporters which isn’t pleasant

Though there are neo-nazis in the country, mainstream politicians and writers have been doing their very best to distance themselves from them.

They've not been doing a very good job then, seeing as the far-right AFD is part of the official opposition in Germany.

Do you have any basis whatsoever for that belief?

Without the British, Napoleon would have conquered Europe.

Without the British, Nazism would have triumphed.

I guess if despotism, concentration camps and eugenics is your definition of better and fairer...*

I almost can't breathe for laughing 😂 thank you so so much! I love this thread.

Aye? Who made these decisions then

The UK Parliament.

Tony Blair is a Scotsman. As is Gordon Brown.

I'm just seeing a lot of sweeping statements about English people based on a few. Trust me, I know we're shit in some aspects. (Football hooligans, EDL, some arrogant people etc) but you know the majority of us just live normal lives, work, have families & pop down the shop for our milk & bread JUST LIKE YOU.

Do you have any basis whatsoever for that belief?

Without the British, Napoleon would have conquered Europe.

Without the British, Nazism would have triumphed.

I guess if despotism, concentration camps and eugenics is your definition of better and fairer...*

I almost can't breathe for laughing 😂 I love this thread so so much. Thank you! 😂

Last time I checked, The Iraq war and Brexit was not just an English decision.

However a lot of the rest of the world see England and the UK interchangeable don't they?

And the Scots voted to remain.

With the possible exception of Ireland, they'd be wrong. Where were all these English 'colonies' in Wales and Scotland?

Ok, substitute the world colonised for invaded.

I think Any country who does so well at so many diffferent sporting events (and we do, before anyone who doesn't know anything about sport comes on and says we don't) is always going to be the one people want to beat.

It was the same for Australia about 15 years ago, when they were winning a lot of things. Then it was 'anyone but Australia.'

However a lot of the rest of the world see England and the UK interchangeable don't they

Well, they do learn English, don't they

Yeah I think christinthesunsums it up there.
The arrogant attitude that lead to the colonization and ruin of so many countries just hasn’t gone away.
People learned about all the atrocities carried out by the English at school and are shocked that they still think they are better than everyone else even now.
I appreciate that you don’t study history in the same way and now that you revere people that we consider mass murderers.

With the possible exception of Ireland, they'd be wrong. Where were all these English 'colonies' in Wales and Scotland?

Colonies was probably the wrong word hence the ''... you know what I mean though. Suppression? England were the masters throughout history and some would argue they still are to this day.

Germany and Japan disarmed after utter destruction and occupation. Willy Brandt wept. Spain, Portugal and Greece suffered under dictatorships. England have barely begun to engage with their colonial past in comparison to other countries. You still get people referring to 'Britain standing alone' in 1940 without mentioning Canada, India, South Africa, Malaya, Malta, Cyprus, Burma, Egypt, New Zealand, Australia...

Ok, substitute the world colonised for invaded.

What 'invasions' are you referring to?

And if you insist on going down that (daft) route, then England was invaded by the Anglo-Saxons, the Vikings and the Normans. Should the English bear an eternal grudge against Norwegians or Danes?

It's football I hate. Not England.

If I remember correctly the decision to go to war in Iraq was not run by parliament in the proper means and instead was orchestrated by Tony Blair and W Bush.

Scotland voted to remain and it was by and large English voters who wanted Brexit.

It's news to me about big T Blair being a Scot but I'll happily take your word for it. Still doesn't make it a UK wide decision.

I am not a football fan. I am usually very negative about the arrogance of many footballers, how over-paid they are, idolised, awful role models, treat women badly etc
But I have been impressed by this England team and their manager. There is a humility, pride and work ethic amongst them. They have behaved well. There's an emotional intelligence in Gareth Southgate's approach and Harry Keane seems genuinely nice and very likeable. I have been happy to see them win.
I don't get the sneering at 'It's coming home'. This is the home of the people singing it, so if the team won the world cup, it would be coming home.
I thought the behaviour of some of the supposed fans yesterday was pretty disgusting, disrespectful of communities and embarrassing. It is a shame because the team have got it so right but are represented here by thugs and yobs- destroying proerty, urinating in public and women showing their tits to crowds of strangers. Nice!

Starting to wish I hadn't started this thread! Although it's been generally respectful debating, I'm buzzing now & want to go to bed! 😂 Ahhh we love ya, Ireland, Scotland, & wales. Even if you do hate us!! ❤️😉

And if you insist on going down that (daft) route, then England was invaded by the Anglo-Saxons, the Vikings and the Normans. Should the English bear an eternal grudge against Norwegians or Danes

It's the Romans I can't stand.

And considering how common it is to see English people moaning on social media about the Welsh using their own language in private conversations or on bilingual signposts and how those views are not only found on social media, but given a platform in the press

Where's that happened? I've genuinely never seen that happen. Of course Welsh speakers are going to use their own language in private conversations, or with signposts in their own country.