AIBU to wonder if anti-English feeling is mostly about sport

[Batsratscatsgnats]

If you support anyone but England in football or other sports do you dislike English people generally or is it just in sports?

It's related to the English media and sports.

Is it though? A lot of what I hear seems a lot more than that

Is there a big dislike of the English?
From who?

From a Scottish person this is correct

no hate to any English people individually. As a collective and particularly with regards to sports it’s insufferable to hear constantly

But who are you hearing it from? English people mostly want england to do well the same as Scottish people mostly want Scotland to. The difference is if England were knocked out and Scotland were still in the contest pretty much every English person I can think of would br supporting Scotland (or Wales)
I just find it a. It sad because it often seems to spill over out of apprts and just into a general grievance towards English people (at least the people ive heard on radio phone ins or online) My Scottish or Welsh born friends down here in London are very much ABE but dont at least seem to be so personal about it.

My mother hates The English, but she doesn’t hate English people.

It's a bit pathetic to be honest.

What does this mean though? I am one of the English and an Engliah person although I mostly identify as a Londoner, so people from elsewhere in England also have a problem with 'Londoners'

It's plain old xenophobia. Xenophobes are not intelligent people.

Make that make sense.

For me (Scottish person) it's specifically related to the England men's football team. Still going on about winning it that one time and the general dickish behaviour of fans combined with the deeply, deeply boring football!

I will happily cheer on the Lionesses and I don't hate individual English people in the wild (unless they behave as above!)

Surely it’s related to Empire. Certainly is where I come from.

If you dislike someone for where they were randomly born, you are a dimwit.

I’m Scottish but I like England. Why would I dislike a whole country of 50 million people? I’ll be hoping they win tonight too, but I don’t think they will.

But it wasn't the English Empire, it was the British empire, with Scots, Welsh and some Irish willingly participating and expanding under Scottish kings.

I think it’s both. There is a lot of anti-English sentiment which is beyond just sport. I think some is historical, some is based on our government (no matter who is power) and some just appears to be general anti-English people sentiment.

And of course a lot is related to the British Empire (which many ignoramouses think of as just the English empire with Scots and Welsh being innocent dragged along for the ride).

I think it’s pathetic but hey ho.

Came to say this, even between the home nations..its often based on past behaviour and harms

That makes zero sense.

I'm from north east England, I feel the Scottish give Geordies a free pass as we are closer to Scotland than London. We spend a lot of time in Scotland and have only felt the love.

I live in Scotland. Scottish born and bred. I support England, wales, N Ireland too. There’s a heck of a lot of anti-English bigoted xenophobia here in Scotland amongst the knuckle-draggers. It’s so embarrassing.

Yes maybe. But actually London seems to be the most disliked part of England which is weird bc politically at least London and Scotland seem.to share a lot of views. I think people blame London for Westminster (us Londoners have no more say over that than anyone else)

The problem is, the national media talks about England constantly, at the expense of the other Nations teams.

I'm English, but have lived in Wales since I was a kid. The amount of world cup coverage over the last couple of months about England compared to Scotland is daft. It's like 90% / 10%.

It's the same with stuff like the 6 nations, which really should be a lot more even between the home nations. I'm English, and even I tend not to support them these days if they're playing against Wales or Scotland!

She’s a nationalist who married an Englishman. Nothing she does or says makes any sense.

In Wales we teach children Welsh history from the age of about 5 that probably stirs up a lot of anti-English settlement - Owain Glyndwr, the Welsh Not, general treatment of Welsh miners etc.

Aside from that though, the media are a bit of a nightmare when England are in any sporting event. They'll talk about upcoming England games at any opportunity even when other home nation teams are playing sooner. Once you notice it, it really is quite annoying. There's also a tendency to preempt excuses so if they play badly it can be blamed on something random ie. the altitude.

Inferiority complex