To think the anyone but England mentality is cringe?

[SolitaryMind]

I’m Scottish, I was brought up to be anti English, SNP mad household, despite having English grandparents. I’ve always thought it made no sense, England is part of the UK like we are. I now have an English dp who is step- parent to my child, I support England in football as does my dc, every match my social media is filled with support for any country playing against England, I don’t get it! Can someone explain the logic to me, I can’t be the only one surely!

I don’t really like football but have a French Dad so grew up watching and I suppose supporting France alongside him, subsequently always have a softer spot for them than England. I know I’m a twat because I am ultimately English but half of my identity/genes are French so I feel some sort of connect with the country despite not living there.

Not true at all!

Exactly! And I don’t care who supports Wales. Once we were out I had no interest in who wins. It’s strange how when other Home Nations lose it’s very much ‘oh well’ in the media. Now England are out, we’re all meant be devastated because all of a sudden ‘we’re all British’ 🙄

Absolutely deluded.

This isn't about football, but for those who still don't get it, here's national treasure Limmy:

This is what it feels like to be Scottish watching the media during any competition, football included. It's not about whether England has more people in it than Scotland, or about what Scottish media would look like if fully independent. It's the fact that the media is undeniably England centric, not just in what they cover but as an entire perspective. If that irritates you then of course you want England out quick.

Plus the rivalry that everyone talos about, again it's perhaps like United (when they were good) and Liverpool, where Liverpool feels the rivalry more keenly than United.

YANBU. I find it pretty pathetic

To be fair a lot of the Irish where secretly rooting for England yesterday. We've never forgotten that handball incident in 2009 by Henry.

Nobody is crying people don’t support England - “get a grip” yourself. If you can’t understand the difference between passively choosing not to support X team vs actively being a ABE xenophobic Anglophile then look up the definitions and come back to the thread.

I’m going to start reporting posts on this thread and see what MN have to say about it. Shameful. Replace the word “English” with something else and they’d be a very different reaction.

I do think that anyone who believes that the other UK countries should support England have really made a great case and have changed hearts and minds.

Just leaving this here…

twitter.com/JacWills23/status/1598218118991867904

The mocking of Gary Speed’s suicide is limited to a small section of England fans, but the delight at Wales losing is always very commonplace.

My sentiments exactly.

It is not the same as friendly rivalry between counties or cities as those are of the same nationality.

Once you get to Anyone But <country>, you are treading a fine line between friendly rivalry and racism. Is this really the language you want to encourage?

I agree it wouldn't be tolerated by the posters advocating ABE if English was replaced by another nationality. Also, if it was directed towards their nationality, they wouldn't like it either.

But it IS directed at other nationalities too, including England fans who always root against Scotland and Wales.

Blinkered beyond belief.

That’s interesting. I too have a father from another European country (not Ireland) but they are my third choice to support after England and then other home nations. They usually do much better than England so they are a good third option 😊

I agree 100% that's wrong too.

To make my point clear i think that encouraging language such as

Anyone But <nationality>

is wrong. And a slippery slope to justifying racism.

Whatever nationality is inserted there.

And whatever nationality is saying it.

There is a massive gulf between hating those of a certain nationality and not wanting to see a rival team with a trophy (and be on the receiving end of the inevitable gloating). It trivializes racism to draw the equivalence.

My stepbrother is Scottish but does openly support England when they play but then he does have English family. The worst is when the person has lived in England all their life. A lot of Welsh/ Scottish players have been born in England too so it’s strange to me.

I see on Twitter a lot of Europeans don’t like England because of our fans and I can understand that. Our fans really let us down. I hate the constant mentions of the War and especially the German Bomber song. It is so embarrassing. We haven’t won anything since 1966! The ‘it’s coming home’ thing the last few tournaments has really peed people off and people think it’s arrogant and disrespectful, although I think it’s been took in the wrong way.

I'm Scottish and supported England in the Euros, I felt really sorry for them . In the World Cup though I have supported other teams as I have just found them more interesting to watch

A lot of Welsh/ Scottish players have been born in England too so it’s strange to me.
And a very good illustration that not wanting the England team to win is not the same as hating people from England (as some other posters have suggested).

Exactly this.

As a PP said, the Dutch were delighted when the Germans went out. They don't hate each other as people, it's just neighbourly rivalry.

Brazil and Argentina are the same.

I'm sure some of France's neighbours would have been happy to see them go out last night.

I think the people getting upset about this don't actually follow football and understand that this is normal.

Personally I always find it a bit conflicting.

I like a lot of the current England squad and naturally want them to do well…but then I don’t want to suffer the gloating from the fans if they win the whole thing!

Even then, I felt awful for those English players who missed pens in the 2020 final and, particularly knowing the abuse they would face, was willing them to score.

That's a fair point but how do we distinguish between those who use AB <country> due to team rivalry and those who use it due to racism?

Personally, I won't use this phrase about any nationality as its never going to end well. I mean just look at the language and abuse it has provoked on this thread from both sides.

By accepting that it is entirely normal, and actually part of the fun, for fans of your immediate rivals to not want your team to win.

If someone actually goes on to express a racist sentiment, then you can distinguish them as being racist.

Shifting The Goalpost Fallacy now! That's not what you said before.

I've watched most of the games and, no, England wasn't spoken of at every single one. Half time talk was mostly about the first half of whichever game was on with a little about any other upcoming matches that day or next day.

Let's not exaggerate....🤷‍♂️

Aside from their own respective national teams, England IS the most supported team in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland as a whole.

England's Premier League is the most popular football league in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.

The most popular players are also in the Premier league.

So, it's no surprise England receive more support in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland as a whole than any of them manage as a whole in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.

Given the history and geographical proximity, you'd think Scotland team would be the most popular amongst Northern Ireland fans....but its actually England! Portugal is more popular amongst Northern Ireland fans than Scotland as well - a lot of that will be the Cristiano Ronaldo effect.

It's no wonder UK media will focus a lot on England in newspapers and so on since the demand is there in all four parts of the UK to justify it.

There is nothing fun about this thread so there are deeper issues than football at play here.