So embarrassed to be English today

[UpSlyDown]

Usually I am slightly defensive of the criticism the English get but today I feel like I have nothing left to defend. Riots, defacing murals of wonderful role models for our children, racism, violence. Horrendous behaviour from a considerable number of English fans. We are just playing up to the thuggish, drunk, stupid stereotypes. That along with the decision to just open everything up which has been highly criticised for being bonkers, the never-ending shame of Brexit. For the first time I feel embarrassed to be English and associated with any of this. Having said that, I personally don't know a single person who behaved badly post match or spewed vile racism online (thank god). I also mainly socialise/spend time with left wing remainers it seems.

Does anyone feel the same? Are there any redeeming features of the English or are we doomed to be the laughing stock of the world? I was so proud of our football team (still am) and the unity and excitement everyone felt. Part of me thinks this would have been so different if we won but why should it be?! We should be able to respond to a disappointment like rational adults instead of abusive idiots.

I 100% expected everything to happen that has happened

After we beat Denmark there was trouble

Win or lose there will always be trouble by English football fans

We have a reputation and it's fully deserved, yobs, scum, louts

I think football has lost its way as a sport, their doesn't seem to be much sportsmanship within the game. Its about time they taught this at the grass roots of football, if other sports can do it then so can the football bodies. they can stop the heckling on a Saturday and Sunday league and teach boys and parents how to behave

@Mabelene

I live abroad. I’ve been embarrassed to be English for years now

It's interesting how little the English understand that they have a poor reputation around the world, and are generally disliked. Doesn't apply obviously to the Scots/Welsh/N.Irish.

Ugh, my social media feed is full of vile nationalist abuse this morning. It's all from Scots towards the English. I'm so sick of all this unpleasantness.

PlacidPenelope has listed loads of similar racism. In loads of other countries. I remember many of these: Lukaku and Balotelli.
You must know that this goes on, and much much worse in other countries?

@chillibeansauce

Hooliganism and racism is far far more extreme in the former eastern block countries.

So lets just ignore it on our doorstop. Tell those England players who were getting racially abused on SM they are actually the lucky ones. Tell all those attacked by English thugs last night hey it doesn’t matter you got punched in the face you are the lucky ones. Minimising and deflecting isn’t getting us anywhere .

I’m extremely proud to be English 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 today.

I’m proud of our amazing, multi-racial football team who are the second best in Europe, and have potential to improve further by the next World Cup.
I’m proud of the diverse society which produced those young men, and I’m proud of the overwhelming majority of fans of all races and cultures who got behind the team.

A few thick, violent racist morons doesn’t change that.

Isn't that just par for the course though?

Booing of an opponent's national anthem is absolutely not par for the course. You didn't hear much of it at this tournament unless England were involved. A significant proportion of the English fanbase have absolutely no respect for other nations and feel superior to them. And they wonder why nobody wants to support them.

It's a minority, sure, but it's a significant one and they sure as hell get themselves noticed.

"So lets just ignore it on our doorstop."

Eh? Who is suggesting we ignore it. We are not. We are dealing with it head on. It's being talked about all the time in the Uk. We are making slow progress. Better than other countries!

Agree to a certain extent. I mean Scotland and Wales have political parties hell bent on separating themselves from England SNP, Plaid Cynru, they hold seats and have a following. (Sorry I don't know much about NI politics but imagine there's a party wanting to separate) So the ABE mentality is always going to be there sadly.

@GirlAloud - Well said!! We should be proud that such a young and diverse team represent our country

Sorry my quote on the app isn't working 🤦🏻‍♀️

Proud to be English and proud of our boys.

Those arseholes are not England fans and do not represent England.

Oh and the Denmark fans booed Finland and the Welsh anthem.

I dont like the booing but dont pretend it's just England.

I hate the football culture in this country and I hate the minority of football fans who show us up- there us no place for this sort of thuggish behaviour in a decent society. They should be condemned and face harsh penalties for their behaviour. I also hate our government and how they've handled the pandemic. And I'm annoyed about Brexit as I didn't want to leave the EU.

However, I am not embarrassed to be English- I love England, I love (most) of the people, I love the countryside, I love the food, I love proper English summers (when we have them), I love our sense of humour. There is a lot to love about England despite the murk, and there is honestly nowhere I'd prefer to live.

The fact is domestic violence goes up in England 38% when England lose . Seeing the amount of people on this thread defending the racists as it’s so much worse in some other country’s is hilarious too. Lots of things are worse and better in different country’s . We should all just let all those racist attacks happen then as it could be worse . Geez listen to your logic I feel so sad for our children growing up in a country with this mentality. Those minimising and deflecting with whataboutery are part of the problem

I'm proud to be English. But I am not proud that those nobheads are English.

@Sakura7

Isn't that just par for the course though?

Booing of an opponent's national anthem is absolutely not par for the course. You didn't hear much of it at this tournament unless England were involved. A significant proportion of the English fanbase have absolutely no respect for other nations and feel superior to them. And they wonder why nobody wants to support them.

It's a minority, sure, but it's a significant one and they sure as hell get themselves noticed.

Your ears didn't hear the Danish fans booing the Welsh National Anthem in their game then? What a surprise.

Sorry I don't know much about NI politics but imagine there's a party wanting to separate.

The Irish people in NI want to reunite their country, naturally. It was the British who partitioned it 100 years ago.

The behaviour is fairly normal for our national team fans. It's something that had never really been addressed. You'll never see that at other sports.

Players did us proud, and they will grow and get better. It's so easy to comment from the couch, but I felt it was too much responsibility to put upon the shoulders of the young subs. I do see the logic of course, but I'd not something I would have done.

In case anyone takes offense at my point I should clarify: Yes there are a lot of scum supporting our football team, but nothing I can do about it.

I just feel sorry for people that need to spew out bile like this.

Doesn't make me any less proud to be British. Our team got to the finals and played their hearts out. They lifted us from the pit of Covid doom for the last month and I thank them for doing so.

there's an extraordinary amount of denialism going on here. England is a country with a huge amount of institutional racism. I'm not English, I'm Scottish, but I live in England. And I love it - I don't plan on ever leaving, I'm married to an English man, have English children. I think everyone in England should be immensely proud of the England football team, a group of mostly very good young men led by a manager of integrity, sending very positive messages and really being a credit to the nation and an excellent example to young people.

But I also think everyone in England (and this does apply to the rest of the UK, really) should acknowledge and accept we live in a racist society. If we did that it could be addressed. But no. Anyone daring to suggest that this is the case is usually told to 'leave if you don't like it'. Or we get the usual 'well, Italy/Bulgaria/Russia etc is even more racist'. We don't live in Italy/Bulgaria/Russia etc do we? So we need to look at why this is happening in our country.

But I expect most of you and everyone else will bury their heads in the sand and tell me I'm talking shit. Some of you will know that I'm not, though.

Absolutely horrific. But no, I'm not embarrassed or ashamed to be English. I'm just embarrassed and ashamed of a thankfully small minority who seem to (sadly) shout the loudest.

There are racists everywhere, instead of bickering about who is worse we would be better using our energy to stand up to the racism that seems so prevalent in football. I'm Scottish and see it here in games too

The racism is terrible and should be traced back by police and SM should be more accountable

DV - violence by men. Obviously arrested and jail time

Wth do I have to feel ashamed of England as a woman who has done neither. I don’t know these men personally and have zero interest in being held accountable for their actions.

I agree with pp I’m focusing on our diverse young superb team. A better thing to build on