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Are You "Anyone But England"?

Spymaster

Spymaster

Plastic Paddy
If so, why?

Have English people done something to you directly that you feel aggrieved about or is it just some of the less than creditable history of the nation that upsets you?

In sporting terms I support England, Ireland, and India equally and I go neutral when they play each other. I was born and live in England, mum was Irish and dad Indian. I wouldn't say that I'm proud to be British or Irish (I have both passports) but I count myself lucky that by dint of birth and through no skill of my own, I've avoided the deprivations under which the vast majority of people on the planet live. I don't feel guilty about past British badness. I'd much rather some of it hadn't happened but it was nothing to do with me or anyone I know.

After "my" teams I usually support Scotland and Wales in international sports. Outside of those I'll support whichever teams I have a much looser connection to (colleagues, hosts, friends, etc).

A bit of friendly rivalry is understandable but doesn't it go a bit too far sometimes? If you're not viewing the World Cup forums you're likely unaware, but there's real vitriol in some of the anti-English sentiment being expressed on the boards at the moment, some of it from people who have made England their home. A couple of people are taking every opportunity to denigrate aspects of English society in a way that you rarely see expressed elsewhere on the boards and might even be considered racist were it directed at (say) Indians or Pakistani's. Every single thread with "England" in the title has attracted opprobrium from the same people. Go and have a look!

If you are ABE, why do you want to hurt the feelings of many of the people that you interact with here every day, a lot of whom you probably consider friends in usual circumstances?
 
I don’t support any nation. The idea that a sporting team can somehow represent me or is automatically deserving of my support/respect is baffling. Bollocks to blind patriotism.

I don’t get the idea of supporting a club for life either. The owners, team members, ethos etc can be totally different as years roll by. Why not switch to one you like or has players you respect?

Football fans are a strange lot :hmm:
 
While the question is rattling about I want to turn it around. Are any English posters Anyone but France?
 
It just looks like the same kind of tiresome banter that's totally commonplace between clubs. Is it different because it's the national team or something?
 
My great grand parents where beaten for speaking their own language. My family destroyed by dodgy English industry. :(

But if Wales don`t qualify then I will flippantly support England because they are close and I live their innit :D
 
I'm English but I'm ABE when it comes to Rugby Union - when they lose (which has been quite often recently) I like the idea that the public schoolboys and oxbridge types, the stockbrokers, the military bods and the royalist mob are feeling a little bit of disappointment and maybe even misery in their otherwise privileged lives.
 
My earlier reply was, of course, a joke, despite having no interest in football, I hope England wins.
 
Call out thread!! bin ban gooly whatsit

Sorry to hear your feewings are all hurt
I'll have a go at a few reasons
It's the whole hype, build up, expectation, righteousness and arrogance
It's the presuming the whole country (meaning uk) is behind them
It's the reporting on tv, radio and the web, oh and the papers of course
It's the jingoism
It's the "we was robbed" boohooing and looking for a scapegoat when losing
It's this kind of shit https://www.urban75.net/forums/attachments/screenshot_20180703-205824-jpg.139863/
It's the attitude and behaviour of englund fans, the violence
It's the dish it out but can't take it
I got called racist for cheering on Colombia the other night and people were offended, get over your fucking self
It's the media reporting on english sports people that win in the olympics and commonwealth and similar competitions as english but Welsh and Scottish as british

And for me it's first hand experiences of working at a venue and having to get extra security, be worried about mine and other staff's safety and have to be ready for violence if englund lost, also people crying, really crying, some wailing, utterly pathetic
And when I was in Portugal for the euros the engerlish fans immediately started kicking off when they lost, went out of the pub and started throwing things at locals and their cars
When Portugal lost, everyone just got up and quietly went home, it was a revelation

and finally it's all this "it's coming home bollocks", it was bollocks then and even more bollocks now

Sure this is what you want and it will be picked apart to fuck, sure there's more but this'll do for now
e2a how could i forget the 30/40/50 and now 52 years of "hurt"!, laughable and more entitlement
 
I used to be. Very much so.

But then I used to be a Welsh nationalist*, **.

These days I'm neither, and find it difficult to get worked up over international competition. I still pick teams to "support' during the WC etc. (Wales, Mexico, Italy really) It's more fun that way. But it's a pretty half-hearted effort on my part.

I view England matches as a neutral, generally wishing them well - at least as well as I wish the teams of any nations that I've some connection with. With the caveat that obviously living in England at the moment I'm more immersed in it for good and bad.

*I'm also a 3rd generation Manchester United fan, and there's a strain of ABEism that's run through elements of the support for as long as I can remember. I guess that might have contributed too. Now if there was a Northern England team. I'd support them!

**Oh, and a superficial, bastardized "revolutionary defeatism" of course. cf. the Antideutsch for how silly this can get IRL.
 
Last edited:
oh! and it's all the tat in shops, the build up of car flags and their sudden casting into the gutter when losing
 
There was a tendency at one time for a lot of political activists to apply the line of revolutionary defeatism to England and the World Cup. I missed an SWP branch meeting and some educational thing during the Italy one and had Chris Bamberry knocking on my front door asking if I was in the Terry Butcher faction.
 
ddraig said:
Call out thread!! bin ban gooly whatsit

Sorry to hear your feewings are all hurt
I'll have a go at a few reasons
It's the whole hype, build up, expectation, righteousness and arrogance
It's the presuming the whole country (meaning uk) is behind them
It's the reporting on tv, radio and the web, oh and the papers of course
It's the jingoism
It's the "we was robbed" boohooing and looking for a scapegoat when losing
It's this kind of shit https://www.urban75.net/forums/attachments/screenshot_20180703-205824-jpg.139863/
It's the attitude and behaviour of englund fans, the violence
It's the dish it out but can't take it
I got called racist for cheering on Colombia the other night and people were offended, get over your fucking self
It's the media reporting on english sports people that win in the olympics and commonwealth and similar competitions as english but Welsh and Scottish as british

And for me it's first hand experiences of working at a venue and having to get extra security, be worried about mine and other staff's safety and have to be ready for violence if englund lost, also people crying, really crying, some wailing, utterly pathetic
And when I was in Portugal for the euros the engerlish fans immediately started kicking off when they lost, went out of the pub and started throwing things at locals and their cars
When Portugal lost, everyone just got up and quietly went home, it was a revelation

and finally it's all this "it's coming home bollocks", it was bollocks then and even more bollocks now

Sure this is what you want and it will be picked apart to fuck, sure there's more but this'll do for now
e2a how could i forget the 30/40/50 and now 52 years of "hurt"!, laughable and more entitlement
Click to expand...

Good job you don't live in England then! It would drive you mad! :thumbs:
 
No. Best of luck to England and all that, along with any teams from the other parts of the country. But I'm just not interested in watching it or following it in any way. This applies to all sports, including the Olympics.

I don't care if they win or lose.

I agree with ddraig about the irritating 'its coming home' bullshit. Arrogant and tedious nonsense.
 
There have been times Ive really gotten behind England...Mexico 86 and Euro 96 really stand out...nearly cried in 96 lol....other times Ive felt quite happy to watch them lose. For example I remember laughing when Iceland beat them just the other day...that came just days after the wave of xenophobic abuse post-brexit vote iirc. Its complicated.... mainly depends who is in the team and what the mood in the country is like. There's inevitably some relation with nationalism/jingoism, and at times it feels unbearable.

Behind England this year, like the squad for the most part, just a shame they're not that good really...remaining hopeful though
 
I like to see people enjoying themselves, and it’s nice when your fellow citizens are in a good mood.

On the other hand I prefer it when BBC Radio 5 devote airtime to something other than football, from that perspective an early exit from the tournament is warranted.
 
I am kind of surprised when Welsh and Scottish people aren't ABE. I don't see why they should support England, and given the unbalanced relationship it completely makes sense to me. It's kind of like how pleased English people were when Germany got kicked out but more recent reasons behind it. I find it really arrogant of English people to think the other UK nations would automatically support them and often feel there's quite a patronising edge to English 'support' of the other nations.
That said the vast majority of ABE seem to manage it in a pretty good humoured way. My partner is Welsh and ABE but he doesn't feel the need to be petty about it, just like I wouldn't do it to my German work colleague. In both Scotland and Wales I've encountered only a tiny percentage of people who insist on being a wanker about it. It's irritating as fuck when it's humourless and needling and I think it lets down the honorable tradition of ABEness. A bit like when the England band starts playing Rule Brittania and it's awkward and crap. It's likely easier to be good humoured irl than online.
I support England in the football, Wales in the football unless they are playing England because I live here and do care for the place, and I grew up thinking Rugby was for posh wankers but accept its a little different here in South Wales so I suppose arguably I support Wales in that but really don't care. Football is actually important.
 
ddraig said:
Call out thread!! bin ban gooly whatsit

Sorry to hear your feewings are all hurt
I'll have a go at a few reasons
It's the whole hype, build up, expectation, righteousness and arrogance
It's the presuming the whole country (meaning uk) is behind them
It's the reporting on tv, radio and the web, oh and the papers of course
It's the jingoism
It's the "we was robbed" boohooing and looking for a scapegoat when losing
It's this kind of shit https://www.urban75.net/forums/attachments/screenshot_20180703-205824-jpg.139863/
It's the attitude and behaviour of englund fans, the violence
It's the dish it out but can't take it
I got called racist for cheering on Colombia the other night and people were offended, get over your fucking self
It's the media reporting on english sports people that win in the olympics and commonwealth and similar competitions as english but Welsh and Scottish as british

And for me it's first hand experiences of working at a venue and having to get extra security, be worried about mine and other staff's safety and have to be ready for violence if englund lost, also people crying, really crying, some wailing, utterly pathetic
And when I was in Portugal for the euros the engerlish fans immediately started kicking off when they lost, went out of the pub and started throwing things at locals and their cars
When Portugal lost, everyone just got up and quietly went home, it was a revelation

and finally it's all this "it's coming home bollocks", it was bollocks then and even more bollocks now

Sure this is what you want and it will be picked apart to fuck, sure there's more but this'll do for now
e2a how could i forget the 30/40/50 and now 52 years of "hurt"!, laughable and more entitlement
Click to expand...
inpho_00552108-390x285.jpg
 
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