Let us not forget our ladies are competing in the women's world cup now with England having a good chance of winning! I saw a couple of womens football matches at Hampden Park in Scotland during the Olympics and they were very entertaining and their skills were excellent. They also play very fairly without the tricks the men employ. I would say well worth watching some matches on TV.
Bloody 'eck, if the rest of The Ashes are going to be like this, it's going to be a nervous summer. But I hope it carries on tight to the end as I have tickets for days 4 and 5 at The Oval...
It's very difficult in establishing quite why BB has such a bias against England and the English - it's a wonder that he deigns to support Watford........
Well I hate the English a lot of the time too and I was born in Watford. But it is something I have always wondered.
Can't be both? As a matter of fact.... Bias - moi? It's quite simple really - I tend to support both the land of my birth and my adopted homeland in their sporting endeavours against other countries, so can't really support those others at the same time. England just happen to be one of 'those others' and are treated no differently from 'all the others'. My reasons for supporting Watford are equally simple - I spent my teenage years there, mainly hitch-hiking around the country (with the occasional foray into Europe) with friends, following Watford. Most of those friendships have survived the ravages of time too.
No, I don't buy this "England... are treated no differently.....". There's a virulent gleam comes into most Scotsmen's eyes when England are mentioned in a sporting context. It's the same with the remainder of the Celtic fringe countries. Mind you, like babydan, I have a healthy loathing for a certain type of English sporting fan........
'England' and 'sporting' in the same breath - an oxymoron if ever there was one. I'm surprised that you didn't add Australia into that mix - many a pom mistakenly believes that that virulent gleam appears whenever the word 'England' is mentioned. Those in the know understand that it is reserved for the word 'Kiwi'.
I think the Scots do not like the English at a pathalogical level, bit like the Vlaamse and the Walloons in Belgium. It's deeper than the English dislike for the Germans (recent history and more distant royal connectons) and the French (more distant history).
I do need to learn, even at this late stage in life, not to open my big mouth... 117-9 looked conclusive...but the fat lady hadn't even put the date in her diary
I was thinking about this recently. I couldn't really come to conclusion. Though born in London, I spent my early years in South Africa. (I spoke Zulu before I spoke English). I have now lived in NZ for over 20 years. At football I support NZ and SA. At rugby I support anyone but NZ (except when they play Australia, and then I don't care.) I probably prefer England to SA at rugby. For cricket it depends who I am watching the game with and whether I want to wind them up! As for the Celts, my blood group suggests that at least one group of my ancestors came from pre-Celtic Wales so I've always objected to the way that the Celts steal our land and ravage our women. suggest that one part of
I would have thought it also mightily depends on the sporting event and occasion and the historical context of past encounters. I suspect the Scots dislike of the English when it comes to football is that whilst England are mostly ****e, Scotland are very very ****e and it must piss off the jocks. Whilst the English only seem to care about Scotland when the stories appear of them buying up every replica shirt In Scotland of the country England are playing in the World Cup or Euro finals that Scotland have failed to make yet again. But England and Australia is almost totally based on Cricket and The Ashes in particular...although the comments made regarding "England only being good at sports you sit down in" has come home to roost for the Crims as they are not even good at them either and no longer any good at the sports they were bragging about at that time. So some of the comments thrown back is based on that and I am sure most Aussies can take it in good grace... But no need for the "England' and 'sporting' in the same breath - an oxymoron if ever there was one." comment BB - who was throwing punches in the pub a few weeks ago?
Guilty of the sin of omission there - I never intended to claim sainthood on behalf of Aussies, or Scots for that matter. They're both, in truth, as bad as the English... I obviously can't speak for the 25 million population of the two countries, but in my experience the contention that both reserve their rivalry/dislike/jealousy for the English simply isn't true - it's shared around quite equally really.
