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?

Not English but live in London and generally like English people on a 1:1 level.

But I think football brings out the absolute worst side of the English, there’s an arrogance and entitlement that seems to come out of hiding.

I remember some tournament a few years ago when England made the final and lost. We were out watching it with friends and when the game finished there was a real sense that things were going to kick off in the pub and on the streets. This was in a posh part of London. In my country we would have been heartbroken but good sports about it.

I was making a joke about the fans letting off fireworks at different hotels trying to disrupt the England player’s sleep!

It's 'expected' for fans to set off fireworks and blast car horns all night outside the visiting team's hotel, as the Mexican fans did?

I find the “some act badly so I will generalise them all” attitude rather bemusing. Especially given how inconsistently it’s applied / justified. (And I include English people who engage in this kind of thing too.)

It’s the same thing.

Are you aware you're massively contradicting yourself? 🤣🤣🤣

Do you think vocally resenting a whole nationality in 2026 for historic crimes is acceptable, or not?

I would assume there is. Not exactly the same but all my African friends from former French colonies are not too fond of France. At all. But they also would never live in France while constantly whining about French colonial history.

So that applies to England’s history with Scotland too….

You can't even admit that was a great win. I have seen fans of other countries who have said well done. We were underdogs.

Still 44% of you voted leave so it is hardly as if all of NI was against it

I feel very bad for laughing at that.

Help is understand then or post a link. You had me use Chatgpt to try and get the facts but if wrong I am genuinely interested to know. ““After the 1707 Union, the empire was the British Empire, and Scots were not merely bystanders or victims of it. Scottish merchants, soldiers, administrators, settlers, missionaries, investors, and slave-traders were heavily involved across the empire, including in the Caribbean, North America, India, and Africa. England was obviously central and larger, but historians generally describe this as British imperialism because Scots participated in, profited from, and helped administer it too.”

I saw a poll last week that said British people were among the most generous in the world and most likely to help someone from another country. But conversely when asked which nation would you be least likely to offer help to, the whole world said Britain.

Leave then, surely?

She's gone back to Scotland. I was cheering on Scotland and wasn't "putting the champagne on ice" in anticipation of their world cup exit. Then again, I'm not a glass half empty kind of woman. You make your own luck and England did that last night. What a team.

Wales also had a majority Leave vote, fyi.

Sorry if that doesn't fit in nicely with your anti English narrative.

A lot of Scottish people loathe being reminded they were enthusiastic participants in Empire. Conducting the same oppression they were subjected to.

I was responding to the cooperation comment which referred to "some Irish cooperation". Which is why cooperation was referred to in my comment. It wasn't a comment about England/ Britain/ Scotland. The issue I had was how it misrepresented and minimised colonial behaviour.

Again, its the the Irish comment that was problematic.

"Rule Britannia" was written by a Scotsman.

Yes, they do.

It was acknowledged in the Scottish Parliament recently to the absolute horror of the Torygraph! https://www.telegraph.co.uk/royal-family/2026/06/28/king-made-to-sit-through-anti-british-play-at-parliament/

I’m Scottish, married to an Englishman. I’ll happily support England playing pretty much any other sport, and even women’s football but can’t bring myself to cheer on the England National Men’s Team. They’re my footballing rivals (and there hasn’t always been a massive gap in their respective quality as there clearly is now). I wouldn’t expect an Everton fan to cheer on Liverpool in a final just because they’re nearby.

The current team aren’t so bad mind you. I have a real soft spot for Marcus Rashford.

That post was in response to another poster saying we're all shite except England.

I mean, knock yourself out.

But even if England 'crash out' in their next match, they will still have reached the last 8, which is a respectable achievement. Unlike the mighty Brazil or Germany who have already 'crashed out'.

As an English person living in Scotland and someone who was badly bullied because of my accent, 25 years later I truly believe it is to do with sports and will happily admit that when the world cup is on for example it is constant harping back to 1966, regardless of what match is being shown. It is embarassing. I would also say, having been away on trips with the tartan army with my husband and son, the English fans are embarrassing and rarely cover themselves in glory. Scotland trips are always great fun, very very rarely any bother and songs etc are sung in good taste. This, I believe cannot be said of England fans. I will also say that I know plenty of English people who would not support Scotland

Of course, there is an element of Scots who are inherently anti-English and this ties in somewhat with the independence movement. Again, I do think Scotland over the years have been treated poorly by Westminster and this sticks and is a hard sentiment to shift.