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!!

I want an ABF T-shirt = ANYTHING BUT FOOTBALL. World Cup? more like World War. Hostilities have broken out everywhere, even on Mumsnet.

Please gie's peace - is there anywhere not involved where I could go on holiday for the duration? We were on holiday in Italy at the last world cup and all entertainment was cancelled in favour of football on giant screens, with Italian (i.e. way OTT) commentary.

I am Irish, DH Norn Irish, DS born in England (as will DD next month). DH and I will never support each other's teams - it is the one bit of nationalism we can get away with without calling each other names! I think national rivalry at football is healthy, once it doesn't turn into bile and outright hatred.
We will wait with bated breath for a possible France v England game and see then where centuries of anti-England feeling in Ireland ends up! Thierry Henry's hand may be able to do more than years of peace processes!

I don't have time to read the whole thread, but if you are English, watch the news coverage (especially BBC) and pretend you are Scottidsh or Welsh for example.

Then you can feel what it is like to watch the endless "WE will win this" "WE are playing them" etc.

WE other countries don't take kindly to being counted as part of England ta!

I have nothing against English people just the media endless pro english drivel.

As has been said several times upthread football, rightly or wrongly, is tribal, and I wouldn't expect anyone who isn't English to support England in the World Cup. DH is from Northern Ireland and is very anti the England football team. He's also supporting anyone who plays against France because of Thierry Henry's handball which cheated knocked Ireland out of qualifying for the WC.

I'm a huge football fan and don't support English club teams who I dislike (ManU and Chelsea) even when they are in European finals against continental opposition.

During Euro 96 we were in Austria and watched England v Holland with fans from all over Europe. Two Belgians were cheering on England because they were playing Holland (and we won 4-1 for anyone who is interested!)

I have a rabid Celtic and Scotland fan friend from Glasgow who will be wearing a ABE shirt tomorrow night. Doesn't make me like him any less, because he doesn't hate England and the English - just our football team. And when you've had 1966 rammed down your throat for the whole of your life I kind of think that's understandable.

Apart from England I'll be supporting Spain - no connections with Spain whatsoever, but they have the fittest players in the tournament

I know the discussion has moved on from talking about football, but that was what the OPs original post was about and I wanted to address that issue.

PinkFuschia - I'm from NI too and it's a funny situation here (in many ways - not just football lol) but half the country support NI and probably by extension should support England. But they don't! And the other half all support Ireland, so we're pretty much Anyone but France after Mr Henry's indiscretion with his hand and his balls tee hee

People shouldn't let football wind them up so much - world cup is just a load of jingoism and dated nationalist stereotypes being trotted out by the pundits. Some people will support England, fair enough. Some defintely won't. But really, is anyone all that bothered about it???

LittleMiss - I think you're right that people should not be bothered about who does or doesn't support England. What's more important is the way we treat each other. I have had nothing but kindness from DHs family and friends on our many visits to NI, and from my Scottish friend's family and friends in Glasgow. But from postings upthread I see that I have been lucky and that some people have been abused in all of the countries in the UK.

Football just gives people a ready made excuse sometimes to let their nationalism and jingoism out which is very

My ex is scottish, I'm english. He has just picked our 9yo DD up for the weekend and she has given him an england flag to put on the car! The horror on his face and his squirming trying to get out of it was hilarious!
I suffered years of listening to him slagging off the english (whilst we lived there as thats where all his work was!). Some of the stuff that was said would be racist if you put in the word black rather than english.
I used to live in scotland and loved it but this is the one thing that lets them down as a nation....

sporting rivalries are petty and tribal,based upon derision of rivals.think some of you are prone to bit hyperbole and generalising about scotland wildly.and no it doesnt let us down as a nation

man city and man u fans
everton and liverpool
all in same cities but hardly best pals and unlikely to fondly effuse about each other team

team rivalries are commonplace

I don't really care about football at all, but I am afraid I associate English football fans with hooligans, drunken behaviour and half naked builders with tatoos and flags on their vans. I think English football fans have got a poor reputation abroad generally, hence the anyone but England-attitude.

Couldnt really care less about the football - not one match will be on my TV screen over the next however many weeks it is on.

I am the product of 2 scottish parents, and therefore am Scottish. I lived in England my whole life until April this year when I moved me and my family to the Scottish Highlands.

I do not support England in anything other than Cricket..... if there is a GB team, great, no problems, however I will not be forced to support England just because Scotland arent partaking.

I havent come across any hatred for the English football team here, the only thing that would make me realise there is a world cup on, is the constant BBC coverage (who cares?! Really?!) and the way the supermarkets are churning out advertising crap! Even my beloved Irn Bru is cashing in by selling "beer" sized cans covered in footballs!

YA SOOO NBU. This gets on my tits. They need to get over themselves.

This was discussed on Jeremey Vine show yesterday, and a Scots woman had the gall to come on a slate His Hamminess for flying the St Georges cross flag over Downing street in support of England, because it too blatantly nationalistic and it 'divided' the nation.

What divides the nation is devolution, not frigging football. We are either British, or not, Scotland. You decide. And you always decide you are not.

I'd love to know if she thinks that the Scottish flag ought not to be flown over Holyrood at times of national pride/importance.

If Scotland or Wales or NI or even Ireland were in any competition and we English were not I would support them with gusto. A chip on the shoulder is a nasty festering thing.

sporting rivalry and riposte doesn't equal "chip on shoulder". generalising about scotlands psyche and chuntering about festering etc is a bitty ott.for millionth time dont exagerate

FFS the two things that always make me think mundanes are wierder than us alleged wierdos are monogamy and sport. Why on EARTH can anyone think it matters which bunch of blokes running around in a field after a ball catch it first? I can just about imagine it being fun to play a sport, but to watch other people doing it? For hours? And care which one of them is which?
I hve never, ever understood this.

It's world over too, my parents get it from other ex pats, in China.

It's just sour grapes cos their team is shite and didn't qualify.

It's v sad reading some of these posts that a lot of people seem to have some kind of abuse because of where they come from. I was told to 'go home' a couple of years ago (I'm Scottish) and let and English person have my job. Did it make me hate the English? Of course not. Can't stand the moron who said it but that's because he's a twat, not because he's English!

many here are indulging in hyperbole and cliché about scotland to demonstrate your ire about been maligned.

so lets see to show contempt for hollow stereotypes and clichés a thread maligning scottish footy fans

nice

I don't support any football team so don't give a toss what happens in the World Cup. And I'm Scottish. If Scotland had got through I'd still feel the same.

Rugby's where it's at...

I hate English attitudes.

I hate being made to feel bad for not supporting them.
Why should I?
All I hear is that bloody song on my radio, shit on the tv about that one time they won the cup, endless tv crap about horrible chavvy blokes and their minging wives who earn more than is morally right to play a bloody game.
It's the English attitude. Yeah ok, we might have a chip on our shoulders, but bloody hell at least we are honest about it.

You might have a national game but we will have YOUR national game until its all over. And then some.

I hate football. I hate it so much. I'm rooting for England to get kicked out because at least then it will be off the T.V!!!!

Do you really feel bad threelittleducks?

You're right, you don't have to support the England team, no-one does, but it's the Anyone But England concept we're debating here.

Whatever you think of football culture, one of the UK's national teams has qualified for the World Cup and that is something to be proud of. Lots of people are therefore talking about it and getting excited about it.

Those who aren't interested, well it's only a few weeks then it's over and forgotten about for another four.

There will be lots of media talk - of course there will - the four home nations share our mainstream media, and when there is something as big as a World Cup happening, and the majority of the people who live in the UK (England has 85% of the UK population) are following what's happening, it's in the media's interest to follow it, and in the case of the BBC it's in their remit. So switch off or read a book until Wimbledon when it'll be all about Andy Murray.

The anyone but England attitude exists outside of football too. My parents watch rugby sevens in HK, and are surrounded by anti English feeling by Scots, South Africans, Argentines, Americans.

I think it's very sad that people in our own nation are prejudice.

scotland play footy with passion,but like a bunch of hammer toed jessies.all passion but nae skills.we didnt qualify.hey ho