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

Right….,

You know many of the English team have family trees in formerly colonised (and worse) countries?

It may be that your colleague’s issue with you is your general rudeness, your active insulting of his team, etc.

But in the end it’s just football and whether you even watch and whoever you choose to ‘support’ makes no difference.

I'm English but would never support England in a football final. I'm really not into football so I'm not going to suddenly support them because they're in a final.

They wouldn't ask someone who was a Man U fan living in London to suddenly start supporting Chelsea because they live there, so they shouldn't be telling you to support England because you live in England either.

Support who you like. It doesn't matter where you're from or where you live.

I don't think it's about football. You seem to dislike England because of what some people who are now all dead did. I can't stand that victim mentality. Go on hating the Swedes for the brutality of the vikings, the Germans for obvious reasons etc. But what are you doing living in such a horrific country? Surely there must be à country with a pure history where you could live? Switzerland are known to have been neutral so why don't you try your luck over there.. their football team are in need of supporters!

I just think they’re trying to offset their personal guilt at the fact they’re choosing to live and pay taxes here… by saying ‘well I still hope they lose the euros’

Hahaha, what a knob

Same here. I’m not British, but it’s always interesting to see posters rushing in and accusing others of being Reform voters if they display even a hint of patriotism in any shape or form.

The funny thing is the English are nowhere NEAR as patriotic as the Scottish/Irish… both of whom happily profited from the slave trade.

I think you are entitled to have any opinion you want about the country you've chosen to live in, and any opinion you choose about whether their football team wins. However, given you live with a person who is presumably feels differently about the country he lives in and its football team, I think its unnecessarily rude and provocative to make a performance about supporting the other side. It's a reasonable bet that English people who like football would be supporting England, so unless you were a genuine supporter of Spain I don't get why you'd even get into this with your partner other than to be awkward.

I think it's nice to support the country you live in (unless they are playing your home country and you prefer to support them). I lived in Germany during the last world cup and supported them as well as England. I would have supported England if they had played Germany though.

100% agree. What has football got to do with colonisation (if that is presumably what this is about)? If OP regularly supports the opposite team, I hope they don't support France, Germany, Belgium, Spain, Russia, Italy, Netherlands, Japan, Portugal, Sweden, Denmark, and Norway. Probably several others that I'm forgetting about. Probably throw in USA for their part in slavery too. And double Germany because they were once Nazis. Honestly ridiculous.

Yes I agree but also I am British but I’m a Londoner born and grew up there in married to a fellow London born person who has a diverse heritage and this limited view of the English is bizarre to me as my upbringing was so diverse. I just don’t see the dividing lines as religiously as some people I suppose!

Ooh, careful some posters think that those not supporting the team of a country they live in regardless , should be deported!

Nope, we mythical English-averse Scot Nats are almost equally disdainful of Spain - perhaps even more so as no one got literally bashed over the head by the Occupying Power during our independence referendum! We'll be wearing the Catalunya shirts - or Euskadi in a pinch!

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!

You're both unreasonable.

I find football supporters annoying but the people smugly NOT supporting any particular team is even more tedious tbh.

I am neither English nor married to anyone English so no conflict at home over football! DP couldn’t give a stuff about football anyway, doesn’t understand the fuss.

There was a lot of movement between the four nations so I never get the hate for the English
I'm English I was born here but my Dad was born in Ireland and most of my mums ancestors were Irish ,I bet that's not unique to my family, I bet there are loads of English people, who have Scottish, Welsh, Irish heritage.

We all do, my mum’s side are Irish and my Dad’s Finnish.

Apologies. For some reason I thought the conversation was with your DP, although you clearly said colleague! Obviously making up my own stories here!

If be extremely uncomfortable if a work colleague basically blamed me for England losing. It is illogical and, depending on the tone, could sound quite threatening.

However, OP does seem to have a chip on their shoulder so I’m wondering what they actually said to the colleague.

I'm English and live in England and couldn't give a toss they lost! But I wish they'd been knocked out earlier rather than limping through to the final - and by consequence it was on in our house. Utterly tedious.

How miserable.

I think people should be a bit careful labelling things with such strong words like ‘threatening and harassment.’

OP didn’t say this man had harassed her or seemed threatening. She doesn’t exactly seem intimidated.

Imagine they took your advice and went to HR on the basis of harassment over that conversation? Poor bloke could lose his job!

‘It may be that your colleague’s issue with you is your general rudeness, your active insulting of his team, etc.’

Did you even read my OP??? I wasn’t rude, I didn’t bring it up - HE has a pop at me and then lost it when I said I was ‘neutral’ and then he basically got sent home to bed to sleep it off by his manager.

On the contrary, she seems very chirpy and keen to let people know how she doesn't support England so she can stir things up. Does seem intimidated to me.

We have enough to argue about without starting fights over pointless football matches thanks!