To NOT support England ???

[Shaketherombooga]

I’m not English. I have lived in England for a very long time. I do not support the England football team, I frequently support their opposition!

Colleague has taken the England loss hard, and said ‘ I bet you’re glad they lost’ - I replied that I was essentially a neutral but thought Spain deserved the win.

Hes gone off in a big old rant about how if I live here I should be supporting England teams etc.
I think he should have a wee lie down and chill out!

YABU - you SHOULD support the team of a country you’ve made a life in - even if you are from a former colony of that country

YANBU - of course you don’t have to support a national team that’s not yours

Nobody's blaming the team though!

Despite this though the England team is much more diverse than the Scottish, and Welsh and the Irish as are the supporters which you would know if you visited and supported any London teams.

You do realise the team were actually supporters of football and are don’t you, why are they any different?

We are apparently racist though but if I were non white I know where I would like to live.

Not just London. All over the country.

No idea why you feel I owe you an explanation? My posts are very clear.

I don't understand your point here, sorry.

So if it is the media people take unbridge with and rightly so why do so many post xenophobic posts against the English?The media is not our fault and I was thinking "calm it down a bit".

Aside from the ones that clearly are though? Beige, boring, shit at football etc

Why? You know, OP, you don’t have to support a national team that’s not yours.

"No, the football didn’t colonise or subjugate anyone, but a lot of the fans still demonstrate the same triumphalism that went with it - as do the media. The fans also tend to cause trouble and behave rather obnoxiously wherever they go. It’s bad enough when they're not even playing great and just scraping by, so it would be quite unbearable if they did win something (as 1966 has proved)."

God it's all so petty. As someone who doesn't support football, all countries fans sound the same, cheering singing and hyping themselves and eachother up. Personally I think it's nice to see, usually people are so negative and dreary and it's nice to see some positivity, excitement and hope. How is 1966 annoying? They clearly know it was a very long time ago and are being self deprecating and tongue in cheek. The songs are hopeful. It's lovely seeing people like this. And I've no doubt that every country has fans the same, you just don't see or hear from them as much if you don't share their country. It's only ever applied negatively to English fans.

I can only speak for myself but for me it's definitely the media, yes. I'm sure there are people who just don't like the team and post crap about them, but such is life these days.

I don't think they've decided yet

"No idea why you feel I owe you an explanation? My posts are very clear."

Where did I say you owed me an explanation @DanielGault? Similar to your assumptions that I thought people "owed" England football teams their support 😆 stop making shite up.

And no your posts aren't clear. You're making things up to justify your personal prejudice. I didn't ask you to explain yourself, I was just making it clear that your posts misrepresented what I had said.

I don't have personal prejudice ( not so bad at making stuff up yourself). I said I dislike the media bullshit around the English team

Bugger off to a different country then.

Quite simple really, the England team were and are supporters of the England team, so why are you letting them off the hook?

They support themselves? Is that not a given? Still confused as to what you mean tbh.

Yes a ‘former colony’ is all we know

I'm Welsh and generally support anyone-but-England. This isn't because I hate England - which I don't - but I think it's a pretty normal feature of sporting rivalry to not want a rival to do well.

Similarly, when Wales made the semi finals in Euro 2016, I found that quite a few England fans started rooting against us, because they knew that Welsh fans would have been insufferable if we won the Euros before England did!

I think the main reason a lot of England fans aren't as inclined to support anyone-but-Scotland/Wales is mainly because it's vanishingly rare for Scotland or Wales to look like they might be in with a shot of winning something, whereas England are often contenders.

It sounds like you are mistakenly conflating the people who think the issue is media coverage with the people posting xenophobic content.
I can't explain or talk to the logic of a demographic I'm not a part of.

People like you are why certain political parties are expanding in popularity.

You have an issue with the England supporters but the players before they were famous would have been part of the very people you dislike.

I said I have an issue with the media. And I suppose the like of this crap on here. That's all. You don't have to agree with me. I get the feeling I won't agree with you. But I'm perfectly entitled to my own opinion.

‘Actually they played pretty well yesterday ’

We must have been watching a different match then…England barely touched the ball in the first 15 minutes, their passing was flat and poor, and did they even have 2 shots on target in the first half?

YANBU to not support the England team.

YABU, however, to boldly declare your stance to someone who clearly does support the England team after such a loss.

A little tact probably wouldn't have gone amiss.