scots supporting england!

[glasgowmandy]

my whole family are die hard scots, and every single one of them is bashing england to loose the cup, i dont understand it, i hope they do their best and will support them all the way! arnt we all british supporters??

if i talk about it to any of them they are horrified, just this afternoon, my brother was saying he thinks im upsetting dad with supporting them.. oh my god its football, get a grip!!

well come on england!!

Round here, it's sectarianism. And football really brings it out.

Oh yes don't get me started on the sectarianism here.
I love my country very much but it's the one of the few things I hate about life in Scotland.

expat - I grew up with that kind of shit. One thing I was delighted to leave behind when I moved to England and glad my kids won't be involved in it though it's nowhere near as bad when I was a kid. The folk down here had no idea about it.

Just to lighten this thread a wee bit:

In response to those bloody stupid ABE t-shirts ('Anyone But England' for those who don't know) England has brought out a t-shirt with 'SNP' on the front.

'Scotland Not Playing'

Heh heh

(For Londoners, the SNP is the ruling party in Scottish government)

I'm fascinated and a little disturbed by this thread. Friendly jibes and healthy competition among neighbours is one thing, but the 'Anyone but England' attitude is really strange and quite offensive at times. As an English girl having spent 4 years living in Wales, at times I witnessed some vile and spiteful aggression and hatred towards the English.

For those moaning that the British media are England-centric, the reason for this is all based around paper sales and viewing figures - over 50,000 of the UK's 60,000 residents live in England (although recognise not all are English), so it's about appealing to the majority. Not saying this is right or fair, but that's the reality of a free, commercial media industry.

And here we go again...

think I'll depart from this thread.

'Night ladies!

It's a brilliant slogan, which will no doubt have Alex Salmond fizzing with rage. Wipe the smug grin off his sanctimonious little face.

That having been said, I do get mightily fed up of the following

During BBC rugby commentaries - "us" and "the Scots" "the Welsh" etc. "Us" were always unlucky in defeat, never any conceding that "the Scots" might have played well

It's going to be a glorious weekend - from the BBC, forgetting that for every other part of the UK it's going to be peeing down. Our weather doesn't count, apparently.

English to mean British ie, the Queen of England, English breakfast (we have cooked breakfasts in the rest of the UK too), english tea, English pounds

You get my drift...

I'm from Kent, now living in Scotland. I got jock bashing down there, and there's English bashing up here. I think what's most frustrating is the English bias of the media. If you watch the BBC news in the morning, there are always plenty of "national" reports which actually mean English - it can all get pretty tiresome.

Alex Salmond lost all credibility with his ridiculous insistence on being invited into the pre-election leadership debates. But that's another thread!

I'd support Scotland, NI or Wales in any sporting tournament when not directly competing against England. We are all part of a United Kingdom after all.

Maisie I completely agree that the media can be irritating.

Isn't someone implying that all Scots are bigoted, cave-dwelling arseholes in itself bigoted. Am I really being unreasonable to be offended by that? Or to be offended by being told I am not British?

Bigots are bigoted simply because they are bigots not because of any racial/religious group they may belong to.

I for one have never said that I support the ABE campaign. I advised avada to pull her FB friends on their racist status updates. I also tried to help someone else feel better about her reaction to be subjected to racism. I brought up some of the incidents I have experienced in England to make the same point as McSnail made earlier. I have recognised the perpetrators as idiots and not tarred every English person I meet with the same brush. I am embarrassed by sectarianism and bigotry displayed by some in Scotland as are many others. Unfortunately these idiots are often the loudest. As my mum would say "empty vessels make most noise"

I read a good post in a local paper today, asking if Manchester United fans would suddenly support Man City if they were playing a game against a foreign team, or (up here) if Hearts would support Hibs.

Perhaps it's because the 4 teams play against each other regularly, and because the rest of the UK hears so much English-bias from the BBC (funded by licence fees taken from around the UK) when they are playing each other that we've almost become used to seeing England as an opponent? That and the fact that England usually beat us

Just a thought...

Dh and I are both Scottish, both been living in England for 20 or more years.

There are many, many parts of being Scottish and Scotland that we love and would defend to our last breath... BUT we both ABHOR how nationalistically chippy Scotland has become, both CANNOT STAND Salmond, HATE the ENgladn-bashing that goes and there is very, very little chance of us ever moving back there.

And yet, in the privacy of our own home, without admitting it to any of our friends, you can be sure we will be cheering if England lose at any sport.

Hasn't this thread turned into something...

As an English woman who has lived (and bred ) in Scotland for 13 years, I can say hand on heart that I have very rarely come across any genuine anti-English sentiment.

And I care not one jot for football in any form.

bloody Mel Gibson with his Braveheart crap. It's all his fault!

The UK national media will always appeal, broadly speaking, to the majority, and the majority in the UK is English. I do think there is some absent-mindedness in some reporting too though, which I guess could be misconstrued as hatred or arrogance.

I can quite see how that would be irritating.

Is the ABE thing really driven by the English media bias though? I don't quite buy that.

I agree Janos. We live in an area where there is very little English-bashing. I'm aware of incidents throughh reading about them in the papers in the same way I'm aware of other bigots in the country, but there are so many English people here that's it's irrelevant.

I work in a very deprived region of Scotland, and the protestant/catholic thing (from people who rarely, if ever set foot inside a church) is far more prevalent.

there is a big difference between hating the English and not supporting an English team (be it football, rugby or any other sport for that matter). I don't hate the English, I married an Englishman, but I would never cheer on England at sport, ever.

But when they are funded by UK taxpayers, they have a duty to reflect UK-wide news, not refer to 'national' news which is only applicable to England and Wales, and they should insist that their presenters are to be able to understand the difference between English and British.

And yes - the English (sorry, British ) media and it's bias does have a huge impact on how England is portrayed by the rest of the UK.

The BBC is funded by UK licence payers - the majority of whom are in England. But yes I agree they have a remit to reflect UK-wide news. I don't have an opinion on whether they are or aren't fulfilling this remit as I have never watched BBC Scotland.

The commercial media are a different story - they will appeal to the reading/viewing majority to ensure sales and advertising revenue. Since roughly 80% of the UK population is English, that's who they will target. This is not bias or racism, just business sense.

Oh, I agree Maisie!

I'm not saying it doesn't happen to me therefore it doesn't exist; I meant to counter the suggestions on here by some that Scottish people are all a bunch of miserable chippy racists.

Sectarianism is a far bigger issue up here for sure.

I'm not talking about BBC Scotland programmes, I'm talking about the UK wide BBC broadcasts.

I agree, the commercial media are a separate issue, and of course if makes business sense to have regional channels. Up here we have STV, Grampian and so on to reflect local interest, as the rest of the UK has their regional networks. When the UK licence payers are not funding the programmes, then of course they will appeal to the majority - which is why you lot sarf of the border miss out on such gems as River City and The Beechgrove Garden.

Oh, Maisie, in my last but one post I was referring to the perceived 'English media-bias', not 'English-media bias, IYSWIM...

Although River City and TBG are BBC - I just don't watch enough commercial TV to know which ones are regional

But all BBC content is broadcast within regional channelling, e.g. I'm watching BBC London right now even though it's not London specific programming most of the time.

Is that right? What about things like the 10 o'clock news? That's UK wide BBC, surely, and then they do that cross over thing.

OK here's a live experiment - BBC2 England is currently showing the "World Cup Kick Off Concert".

Is it on BBC2 Scotland and BBC2 Wales? I'm genuinely interested, given that of the home nations, only England has qualified.

Maisie I just found an interesting ofcom report from years ago that said BBC Scotland only received 3.7% of funding, even though it caters for 8.7% of the UK audience...