They call it the United Kingdom but sometimes it feels anything but united. With fierce rivalry between the home nations, you will often find that football fans from Scotland, Wales and Ireland will be hoping that England fail miserably at the World Cup, despite being the only representative from the UK.
Politics and sport
The rivalry goes further than sporting differences, there is a lot of politics behind the ‘Anyone but England’ attitude that many Scottish, Welsh and Irish people have adopted. Whether they choose that stance through their own personal experiences, or whether it is ingrained into their beliefs as they grow up, varies from person to person but the rivalry is still highly prevalent today.
A similar rivalry debate occurs when Andy Murray represents GB at Wimbledon, with some Scottish fans pointing out that ‘He is Scottish, not British’ – in a retaliation to the fact that sporting heroes from Scotland get labelled ‘British’ whilst sporting heroes from England are described as ‘English’ predominantly rather than being described as British.
Andy Murray supports ‘Anyone but England’
Andy Murray actually caused some controversy back in 2006 when he claimed that he would support anyone but England, which stoked the flames even further. Nicola Sturgeon has publicly congratulated England on reaching the semi-finals but you still sense that the Scottish MPs are not so happy for England to be doing so well.
What could a World Cup win do for the economy?
A good World Cup run does wonders for a nation, as well as lifting morale in what is a fairly desperate political climate, it can bring additional revenue to the country. The Premier League is arguably the most exciting tournament in the world and football is already at home in England but whether they can go those last two steps to bring the World Cup home remains to be seen. When the TV crews show clips of fans celebrating across England, we won’t be expecting them to add footage of pubs in Wales and Scotland anytime soon!
