Do Scottish fans really not support England?

[HouseofHills]

There’s always a running joke about Scottish fans wanting anyone but England to win and supporting which ever team England is playing against. I totally get the friendly rivalry but is it actually true that most Scottish fans want England to lose in the Euros final or do most want England to win deep down given Scotland is out?

If England aren’t playing I think most England fans would support Scotland or Wales as fellow Brits, especially in a Euro or World Cup final!

English athletes never get called English in the same way that Scot or welsh ones do but if they are from Yorkshire we do get told a million times that they are from Yorkshire 😁
IIRC at the 2012 Olympics if Yorkshire was a country if would have come 5th or something

A bit much to expect Scots to be positively for English footballers! You will never see it in the press - English football does not exist! I don’t see that changing at all.

It is confusing to me when, every year, the English come on this forum all offended that the scottish don't secretly support England. Do you expect germans to support England against Spain too, because of geographical and cultural closeness?

My cousins are big Man U supporters. When Man City were doing well, they always wanted them to lose. It's the same principle. We understand it perfectly well when it's local football teams, why not for country rivalaries?

To add: the English get all wide eyed about the scotland-support-for-england issue every tournament. Fine. But day to day I have never encountered anti-english sentiment in Scotland (albeit in a multicultural city). I have experienced the following when visitng family in England: people openly laughing at how my 2 year old pronounces words in a scottish rather than english accent, to his face. People making constant jokes about scotland being a poor country: do we have running water? do we have electricity? People openly mocking any scottish team that gets into any competition. People ridiculing my DC with stereotypes, asking them mockingly if they play bagpipes and so on. Jokes about violence and getting stabbed (absurd from Londoners...). Obviously I call it out every time, and my DC have enough Englsih blood that I'd imagine they will support England too when grown. But would I be amazed if other scottish children who have been openly taunted by the English grow up to want England to lose at football? Er, not really.

It’s not unusual to support a neighbouring country. Obviously a very different context, but it’s the same in the eurovision where many countries will vote for neighbouring countries. I think it’s natural to feel a sense of kinship when you have so much in common, shared experiences and cultural references, have likely spent time there and have friends from those nations (so many Scots live in England and vice versa).

Why?

TV commentators are not representative of the nation.

FWIW even as an England fan I get annoyed how much they go on about England.

If Spain and France are playing, I want to hear about their tactics and best players in the build up, not what Southgate is doing the next day!! I think it's extremely lazy of them - some of the pundits just phone it in and don't do their research. They don't seem to have had as many overseas pundits on either recently. It's not like all the players for other teams are unknown either, half of them play in the Premier League!

I can see that would be annoying. But to me, that’s more of an issue of there not being coverage specifically for Scottish TV with dedicated pundits.

Do you support the USA in the Olympics then?

I must be a bit naive because I’d be cheering for Scotland if they were in the final (from England). I’d want Andy Murray to win a tennis match for example. I’d want Wales to win a rugby match against New Zealand.

We are all part of the UK.

I also referred to the people I know.
The English media have a lot to answer for imho.

If competing against your own country that’s totally different. The question is about once your team is out and you choose to support another country.

Do you really feel as much of a sense of connection to France and Spain as a Welsh person, as you do to England? It’s hard to understand that.

I’m with you on that. But the hatred is one-way - in the direction towards the English.

I certainly don't

I don't feel that way. My dad supported Man City and always cheered for Man Utd or any northern teams and I cheer on City if they are not playing United. I'd like nothing more than Man Utd to be no1 in the PL and City No 2. It's great for Manchester as a whole. Much better than Chelsea or Arsenal winning AFAIC.

I used to get involved in Leeds and Liverpool hating crap when I was younger but reject it now. It's crap.

No because the USA isn’t a neighbouring country and I don’t feel any sense of connection to the USA. If GB weren’t competing I’d support other European countries like Germany. Why would I support the USA?

Perhaps as part of a kingdom that is united?

And FWIW people from the SE can be incredibly parochial about accents.

If I’m in England on my English sofa watching English tv and a Scottish commentator talking about Scotland talks about “we” and “us” that wouldn’t bother me one jot - I want to hear from a Scottish person talking about their team.

I would also be supporting Scotland if they were playing anyone except a home nations team.

Some Scots seem to have a massive inferiority complex. self confident people just don’t behave like that.

English football comes with a healthy dose of arrogance and the tv commentary is often shockingly English bias (as it is in all sports) as a Scottish person it's very obvious but maybe not noticeable to English people as its often an unconscious bias. So often it's a reflection of this - a putting in your place type of thing, down a peg or two, so to speak!

I chose my countries at the start.
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One of my countries has helped put one of my other countries out and one of my countries actively put one of my other countries out....
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We've moved from Scotland to live in South of England. Every time I come back to Scotland (for work) and tell this to anyone, they start arguing with me about what a poor decision we've made. We moved for schools, politics and crime rates. I do miss Scottish Lochs and Mountains, but not worth putting up with toxic nationalist views they had.

They pathetically tell me how great Scottish pupils do at school and how great their private schools are (aye mate, not better than Eton or Cheltenham Ladies College for sure!) As soon as I note the statistics, they are quick to puff their cheeks and shut up.

Me and my husband are both Alumni of great Scottish Unis - Aberdeen, St Andrews and Glasgow uni, and loved our time there as students. But as a student, you're slightly more secluded from the nasty politics that is going towards the English there.

Massive inferiority complex???
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Except they never do - so the "we" "us" argument is a moot point!

but more than capable of beating England in the rugby...

This post tells me all I need to know about the effect the media can have on people's views. 🫣