Let's all Laugh at England

ivaldo said:
Correct. The inferiority complex only really comes into play when England are involved.
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Inferiority complex? I mean, they’re literally inferior, sure. Smaller populations and less successful football teams as a result. There’s a bit more to it than that in the rivalry though.

I’m honestly not sure who’s being serious and who’s not in this thread with England fans feigning surprise and disbelief over the fact that Irish, Scottish and Welsh fans tend to want the English team to lose, while they tend to want other home nations football teams to win. For obvious reasons. How can any of you not be aware of this?
 
africanspur said:
I'm. Not trying to be disrespectful but do you think most english people could name more than a handful of players from the other three teams?

Beyond Bale, Ramsey, Gunter, Williams?, Robson Kanu and Tierney, o would struggle to name another player.

Its difficult to hate something you know very little about.
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Do you think the Welsh footballers are celebrating in that video because they don’t like the English players?
 
One thing I've noticed about the 1966 World Cup is that the Union Flag was far more prevalent among the crowds than the St George's one, treating England a almost synonymous with the UK. Same with the United-Benfica final in '68. Even in Euro '96 you saw a few of them. Now not so much.
 
Cool things we learned in this thread:

1. England is a race
2. Pogue isn't really Irish, he just pretends to be for some reason
3. SAF is definitely a die-hard England fan. Roy Keane is too (probably).
 
africanspur said:
I'm. Not trying to be disrespectful but do you think most english people could name more than a handful of players from the other three teams?

Beyond Bale, Ramsey, Gunter, Williams?, Robson Kanu and Tierney, o would struggle to name another player.

Its difficult to hate something you know very little about.
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Well exactly. Any rivalry between these countries and England is very heavily stacked in one direction, which is why it's weird to suggest England wouldn't be the most disliked of those teams.

The reasons for disliking the English team go way beyond knowing their players though. There's a historical and political context that is also very heavily stacked in one direction.
 
Pogue Mahone said:
Do you think the Welsh footballers are celebrating in that video because they don’t like the English players?
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No i don't and I'm struggling to see where I said that?

I was replying to the first part of the post. It's obvious that the English team is far more disliked than the other teams. For many reasons, which I wont bother to list now.

It is also pretty obvious that most English won't have a clue about the other teams or give them even a second thought.
 
I'm welsh - supported England as a kid but stopped not long after the whole Beckham 98 thing. Terry, Ashley Cole, Gerrard et al came through and it became kind of easy to hate them - especially when basically all of my welsh friends growing up hated England anyway. But with Southgate at the helm, Jesse, Young and Rashford involved I started to get behind them again. It brings back great memories of 90 and 96 but mostly I'm just excited and happy for all my english mates and the England fans on here too. The memes are great too!
 
Fridge chutney said:
Cool things we learned in this thread:

1. England is a race
2. Pogue isn't really Irish, he just pretends to be for some reason
3. SAF is definitely a die-hard England fan. Roy Keane is too (probably).
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4. Orcs and Hobbits are people too and they, the Irish, the Scots and the Welsh are most certainly not interchangeable. Despite the fact they clearly are.
 
Pogue Mahone said:
Inferiority complex? I mean, they’re literally inferior, sure. Smaller populations and less successful football teams as a result. There’s a bit more to it than that in the rivalry though.

I’m honestly not sure who’s being serious and who’s not in this thread with England fans feigning surprise and disbelief over the fact that Irish, Scottish and Welsh fans tend to want the English team to lose, while they tend to want other home nations football teams to win. For obvious reasons. How can any of you not be aware of this?
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It was tongue in cheek.

I am aware of it and it seems entirely petty to me. The distain shown towards England fans and those singing their national anthem baffles me. Apparently, the English aren't allowed to express pride in their nation. Was it too much for you when, for example, Brazil willfully ignored FIFAs directive that NAs shouldn't be longer than 90 seconds, and continued to sing when it should've been their opponents turn?

That said a healthy bit of rivalry is nice, and when we have a good spirited repartee it adds to the game.
 
what-have-the-romans-ever-done-for-us.png
 
Tarrou said:
I'm welsh - supported England as a kid but stopped not long after the whole Beckham 98 thing. Terry, Ashley Cole, Gerrard et al came through and it became kind of easy to hate them - especially when basically all of my welsh friends growing up hated England anyway. But with Southgate at the helm, Jesse, Young and Rashford involved I started to get behind them again. It brings back great memories of 90 and 96 but mostly I'm just excited and happy for all my english mates and the England fans on here too. The memes are great too!
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Yeah I totally get this. I also do actually enjoy the banter from the home nations too. Some people apparently take it too far and want to bang on about shit from before any of us were born, but the majority of us get that it's a game.

Also, there's plenty of lemon sucking going on which is brilliant ;)
 
alsabi said:
One thing I've noticed about the 1966 World Cup is that the Union Flag was far more prevalent among the crowds than the St George's one, treating England a almost synonymous with the UK. Same with the United-Benfica final in '68. Even in Euro '96 you saw a few of them. Now not so much.
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Wonder why that is apart from the Olympics?
 
horsechoker said:
Wonder why that is apart from the Olympics?
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Just a guess here but maybe something to do with a greater sense of unity in the immediate post-war decades? Or because the Union flag was seen as a 'safer' symbol than the St George's flag. It's often said that it took until the 1990s-2000s for it to be 'reclaimed' from the far-right.
 
africanspur said:
No i don't and I'm struggling to see where I said that?

I was replying to the first part of the post. It's obvious that the English team is far more disliked than the other teams. For many reasons, which I wont bother to list now.

It is also pretty obvious that most English won't have a clue about the other teams or give them even a second thought.
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Ok, grand. I missed your point. English fans are ambivalent about Irish/Scottish/Welsh teams because they don’t know much about them. That’s fair enough. I’m certainly not expecting or asking anyone from England to root for the Irish football team. Ambivalence is fine.
 
So basically what I’ve leaned from this thread is, everyone hates the England team because of historical events like invading countries and running 3 quarters of the world.

I’m sorry for invading Scotland some 300 years ago. I’m also sorry for being bastards to the Welsh and Irish.

Let it go guys none of us were born you bitter cnuts.

Ps it’s coming home.
 
horsechoker said:
Wonder why that is apart from the Olympics?
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I read somewhere that the St. George's flag wasn't well known back in those days, and that it grew into a nationalistic symbol after the international, home "friendlies", came to the fore. Makes sense given the Welsh dragon, and the Scottish Saltire; I suppose the English were looking for a totemic image of their own?

In fact, back in the 80s I always remember the National Front using the Union Flag as an emblem, and not the Flag of St. George. Seems a bit odd by today's standards given the sometimes toxic associations with the latter and modern day racism.
 
alsabi said:
Just a guess here but maybe something to do with a greater sense of unity in the immediate post-war decades? Or because the Union flag was seen as a 'safer' symbol than the St George's flag. It's often said that it took until the 1990s-2000s for it to be 'reclaimed' from the far-right.
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Speedicut75 said:
I read somewhere that the St. George's flag wasn't well known back in those days, and that it grew into a nationalistic symbol after the international, home "friendlies", came to the fore. Makes sense given the Welsh dragon, and the Scottish Saltire; I suppose the English were looking for a totemic image of their own?

In fact, back in the 80s I always remember the National Front using the Union Flag as an emblem, and not the Flag of St. George. Seems a bit odd by today's standards given the sometimes toxic associations with the latter and modern day racism.
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It's weird but the Union Jack is in someways the more racist flag being a symbol of empire but also the more inclusive one as it represents a union of nations and even the commonwealth which much of Britain's diversity stems from.
 
Speedicut75 said:
For all those arrogant responses, you list, regarding our attitude toward potential opposition, I can honestly say that the consensus among most rank-and-file England fans here seems strikingly different. Maybe if, at this moment, you're still in Stockholm there's a different vibe but I don't see this arrogance manifest in the attitude of many where I am.

I don't like all this media-driven, "coming home" BS, and I think there'll be plenty of schadenfraude for others to revel in when the wheels do finally come off but most, in my experience, seem happy to just take it game to game and remember the execrable performances that have dogged the team in the very recent past.
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Personally, I’ve been convinced we were going out since the Colombia game but I’ve been burned by England many times before.

I’m on holiday in Greece at the moment and the vibe amounts the swedes here was that the English media and fans had been arrogant in the lead up, so much so, a Swedish newspaper printed an article in English naming Sweden’s starting 11 for the match and how bad they were, in an effort to breed complacency and set us up for a bigger fall.

I got a ton of messages from Swedish mates about the Pat Nevin “99 times out of 100” thing. That pissed them off immensely. Then their media started picking up on all the #itscominghome nonsense which came across as arrogance as they took it that we genuinely believe it’s coming home, and other teams are only at the World Cup to witness us do this.

I can see both sides, I think you have to be English to ‘get it’ most of the time. Other times it’s just dickheads jumping on beds in IKEA and throwing beer everywhere when England score that make us look like twats. I blame things like the LAD BIBLE for this banter generation of absolute bell ends.
 
Pogue Mahone said:
Inferiority complex? I mean, they’re literally inferior, sure. Smaller populations and less successful football teams as a result. There’s a bit more to it than that in the rivalry though.

I’m honestly not sure who’s being serious and who’s not in this thread with England fans feigning surprise and disbelief over the fact that Irish, Scottish and Welsh fans tend to want the English team to lose, while they tend to want other home nations football teams to win. For obvious reasons. How can any of you not be aware of this?
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I think most people are aware of it. But there is a defensive mechanism that kicks in. I mean it's not pleasant to be called the most hated country of the home nations, regardless of history and the reasons for it. People are bound to try to defend things on an emotional level since culture and identity can get very personal, and that means arguments can become blinkered. We've always been a divided United Kingdom, with England being characteristically the 'school bully' for reasons that are obvious. The thing is, it will never change. England will never be liked by the other home nations - too much has happened for that to turn around so the English just have to accept that and let it be.

But hey, tis a football match and personally I think the Welsh, Scots and Irish will be celebrating on Wednesday night since I do think we have come as far as we are going to. However, you can't buy the experience the England team has had in this tournament and I do think the team are likable. A lot of this has been down to Southgate I reckon, whose conduct on all levels epitomises what many people around the globe still believe is the behaviour of a typical English gentleman. If he had a bowler hat and umbrella and kept his team sheet in a briefcase he'd become iconic! What I want to know, who made the decision on the waistcoat, him, his wife, or some global branding company. I hope it was one of the former, it was a clever choice - even if he does say he's a bit embarrassed about it.
 
crossy1686 said:
Personally, I’ve been convinced we were going out since the Colombia game but I’ve been burned by England many times before.

I’m on holiday in Greece at the moment and the vibe amounts the swedes here was that the English media and fans had been arrogant in the lead up, so much so, a Swedish newspaper printed an article in English naming Sweden’s starting 11 for the match and how bad they were, in an effort to breed complacency and set us up for a bigger fall.

I got a ton of messages from Swedish mates about the Pat Nevin “99 times out of 100” thing. That pissed them off immensely. Then their media started picking up on all the #itscominghome nonsense which came across as arrogance as they took it that we genuinely believe it’s coming home, and other teams are only at the World Cup to witness us do this.

I can see both sides, I think you have to be English to ‘get it’ most of the time. Other times it’s just dickheads jumping on beds in IKEA and throwing beer everywhere when England score that make us look like twats. I blame things like the LAD BIBLE for this banter generation of absolute bell ends.
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Three Lions is our national football song now and is recognised in many countries as such. Hence why the Russian organisers are playing after every goal we score in the stadiums. It has merit as an actual song as well. Ian Brodie provided the song writing craft and a lot of people from all countries like to hear the chorus melody. 'Its Coming Home' has become a phrase we use every time something goes well, its part tongue in cheek and part in hope, much like the song. If the Swedes don't like it or misunderstand the tone, who cares? They misread the quarter final in pretty much every way. There's no way Southgate is letting the squad get complacent.
 
ivaldo said:
It was tongue in cheek.

I am aware of it and it seems entirely petty to me. The distain shown towards England fans and those singing their national anthem baffles me. Apparently, the English aren't allowed to express pride in their nation. Was it too much for you when, for example, Brazil willfully ignored FIFAs directive that NAs shouldn't be longer than 90 seconds, and continued to sing when it should've been their opponents turn?

That said a healthy bit of rivalry is nice, and when we have a good spirited repartee it adds to the game.
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Well, exactly. It’s mainly a sporting rivalry (albeit a one-sided one because England are always a much better team) It’s not like supporting United means we literally hate people from Liverpool. Or even hate the city. We hate their team though and the fans of that team. So long as there’s a football match on anyway.

Personally, I can’t hate England (the team) as intensely as a lot of Irish people. It just seems weird when there are United players on the team. If I supported a LoI team, or even PL team with no England internationals I’d be less conflicted. Overall I want England to do well and always have done. Sometimes, though, I do feel that inherent rivalry, that dislike for the England team and its fans. It’s been buried deep for this tournament but came out last night. A few beers and God Save The Queen triggered me!
 
Pogue Mahone said:
Well, exactly. It’s mainly a sporting rivalry (albeit a one-sided one because England are always a much better team) It’s not like supporting United means we literally hate people from Liverpool. Or even hate the city. We hate their team though and the fans of that team. So long as there’s a football match on anyway.

Personally, I can’t hate England (the team) as intensely as a lot of Irish people. It just seems weird when there are United players on the team. If I supported a LoI team, or even PL team with no England internationals I’d be less conflicted. Overall I want England to do well and always have done. Sometimes, though, I do feel that inherent rivalry, that dislike for the England team and its fans. It’s been buried deep for this tournament but came out last night. A few beers and God Save The Queen triggered me!
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You were stepping into 'West British' territory, its natural that you would have some sort of atavistic subconscious reaction to it.
 
This must be some kind of anti-jinx thread.
 
crossy1686 said:
Personally, I’ve been convinced we were going out since the Colombia game but I’ve been burned by England many times before.

I’m on holiday in Greece at the moment and the vibe amounts the swedes here was that the English media and fans had been arrogant in the lead up, so much so, a Swedish newspaper printed an article in English naming Sweden’s starting 11 for the match and how bad they were, in an effort to breed complacency and set us up for a bigger fall.

I got a ton of messages from Swedish mates about the Pat Nevin “99 times out of 100” thing. That pissed them off immensely. Then their media started picking up on all the #itscominghome nonsense which came across as arrogance as they took it that we genuinely believe it’s coming home, and other teams are only at the World Cup to witness us do this.

I can see both sides, I think you have to be English to ‘get it’ most of the time. Other times it’s just dickheads jumping on beds in IKEA and throwing beer everywhere when England score that make us look like twats. I blame things like the LAD BIBLE for this banter generation of absolute bell ends.
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It’s the lad culture thing that really grinds me the most. Half the pub were singing 10 German Bombers in the second half. Very cringeworthy, especially when there were Germans watching the game.

I can see why people would hate England fans, because there are a lot of numpties.
 
Josep Dowling said:
It’s the lad culture thing that really grinds me the most. Half the pub were singing 10 German Bombers in the second half. Very cringeworthy, especially when there were Germans watching the game.

I can see why people would hate England fans, because there are a lot of numpties.
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True. Every nation has their numpty fans, that is for sure. The difference with the English ones is alcohol and the amount consumed. They turn into packs of numpties.....
 
Josep Dowling said:
It’s the lad culture thing that really grinds me the most. Half the pub were singing 10 German Bombers in the second half. Very cringeworthy, especially when there were Germans watching the game.

I can see why people would hate England fans, because there are a lot of numpties.
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I think there should be some sort of effort to clean up these chants after the World Cup. The players can have some influence here. We should try to clean up our image.
 
crossy1686 said:
I blame things like the LAD BIBLE for this banter generation of absolute bell ends.
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The national pride and getting carried away with England doing well existed before Lad Bible but I do think it is responsible for the banter generation and has made so many British millennials unbearable twats.
 
The good thing about this tournament is that unless we have a 7-1 style meltdown we've not embarrassed ourselves. We've gone to the World Cup we've played well we've scored lots of goals and we've got happy memories to take with us. Honestly the joy from winning that shootout against Colombia was incredible, I'll never forget that.

2006 to 2016 was just so shit as an England fan, we seemed to constantly outdo ourselves in uselessness. This feels different now no matter what happens in the next week.
 
Djemba-Djemba said:
The good thing about this tournament is that unless we have a 7-1 style meltdown we've not embarrassed ourselves. We've gone to the World Cup we've played well we've scored lots of goals and we've got happy memories to take with us. Honestly the joy from winning that shootout against Colombia was incredible, I'll never forget that.

2006 to 2016 was just so shit as an England fan, we seemed to constantly outdo ourselves in uselessness. This feels different now no matter what happens in the next week.
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For sure. England have been very good this tournament. Played some great stuff. Streets ahead of teams full of much bigger stars. Southgate has done an amazing job.
 
Pogue Mahone said:
For sure. England have been very good this tournament. Played some great stuff. Streets ahead of teams full of much bigger stars. Southgate has done an amazing job.
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He has.

I feel guilty because when he got the job I could not have been more underwhelmed. Gareth fecking Southgate?!?

He's been brilliant, you can see how much the players like him.
 
fergies coat said:
So basically what I’ve leaned from this thread is, everyone hates the England team because of historical events like invading countries and running 3 quarters of the world.

I’m sorry for invading Scotland some 300 years ago. I’m also sorry for being bastards to the Welsh and Irish.

Let it go guys none of us were born you bitter cnuts.

Ps it’s coming home.
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it's not hate - it's just an enjoyment watching England lose

sorry if that upsets you snowflake
 
Classical Mechanic said:
I think there should be some sort of effort to clean up these chants after the World Cup. The players can have some influence here. We should try to clean up our image.
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I've always cringed at lad culture. Seeing the belligerence on a weekend night in the city center of any town in England (not just England to be fair) is a sad sight.

Give me a nice country pub any day.
 
Pogue Mahone said:
Well, exactly. It’s mainly a sporting rivalry (albeit a one-sided one because England are always a much better team) It’s not like supporting United means we literally hate people from Liverpool. Or even hate the city. We hate their team though and the fans of that team. So long as there’s a football match on anyway.

Personally, I can’t hate England (the team) as intensely as a lot of Irish people. It just seems weird when there are United players on the team. If I supported a LoI team, or even PL team with no England internationals I’d be less conflicted. Overall I want England to do well and always have done. Sometimes, though, I do feel that inherent rivalry, that dislike for the England team and its fans. It’s been buried deep for this tournament but came out last night. A few beers and God Save The Queen triggered me!
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I can't blame you, it's a truly horrendous anthem!
 
Fridge chutney said:
I've always cringed at lad culture. Seeing the belligerence on a weekend night in the city center of any town in England (not just England to be fair) is a sad sight.

Give me a nice country pub any day.
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I don't go up town any more but when I was younger we were always witness to trouble of some sort pretty much every time you were out.
 
IKEA-gate and the amount of times I've read that it's coming home on here got me giddy for the inevitable moment it all comes crashing down.
 
Minimalist said:
Mental thread now. That Barca fella needs to wind his neck in with the bigotry shouts. :lol:
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What wasn't bigoted about his drunken rant? Or the very clumsy attempt the following morning to legitimise it with hilarious references to "overt English nationalism". The guys a joker.

Pagh Wraith said:
And finally back up his accusation against @Pogue Mahone
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This really has touched a nerve. I've no need to back up anything It was an exchange between the two of us some time ago that struck me as entirely odd as he clearly is Irish. Maybe he was pissed then also? I really couldn't care less so its no biggie but thought it worth pointing out in response to his pretty vile stereotyping and bigoted reaction to a few people singing their national anthem.

He's apologised so nice one. Might be advised to stay off the sherry for the semis though ;)
 
Reading this thread has certainly taken some of the joy out of our semi-final achievement that is for sure. All a bit of a downer to be honest.

However, I reckon that if England got to the final, and it went to penalties and Rashford stepped up to take the one that would win the Cup, even the most ardent anti-English United fan would want him to put it away :smirk:
 
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