who supports who?

[andymadmak]

OK, I did a quick straw poll around mates/family on saturday. General view was that

1) If you're English your order of support in any sporting contest:

1 England
2,Any other home country (Wales, Scotland , NI)
3, Ireland
4, Gets a bit confusing, but mostly commonwealth/underdog

2) If you're Welsh your order of support is

1, Wales
2,Any other home country (England, Scotland , NI)
3, Ireland
4, Gets a bit confusing, but mostly commonwealth/underdog

3) If you're Norn Iron your order of support is:

1) Northern Ireland
2) Ireland
3) Any other home nation (Wales, Scotland, England)
4) Gets a bit confusing, but mostly commonwealth/underdog

4) If you're scottish your order of support is:

1) Scotland
2) Wales, NI, Or Ireland
3) Absolutely anyone else
4) England




Ok, so my polling sample may have been a bit small, but would the PH massive agree with the broad findings?

Andy

[munky]

shouldn't that be 'who supports whom'?

[puggit]

I'm half English, half Welsh...

Rubgy:

1) Wales
2) England
3) Anyone else
4) Ireland/Scotland

Football:

1) England
2) Wales
3) Anyone else
4) Ireland/Scotland

[sheepy]

Your ideas for Scotland and NI don't take into account which "side" of the sectarian divide you are on. Nor does it take into account Australia.

For me (Scottish, couldn't give a damn about religion), the list is:

Scotland
Wales/Ireland/NI
Anyone else (exluding Australia, France and England)
Members of the animal kingdom
England
England second XI
England U21
Plant life
Comets and Asteriods
France
Rocks
Clouds
Australia second XI
Australia

[andymadmak]

sheepy said:

Your ideas for Scotland and NI don't take into account which "side" of the sectarian divide you are on.

Bugger! I knew we'd miss something vital! Nice to see you're supporting England over France though. The general view in my group was that for a Scotsman, England would come last behind the Sith Lords

[sleep envy]

the ref

[Plotloss]

A real Welshman doesnt care who wins as long as England lose.

(c) Gren.

[Calorus]

I'm English,

1) France.
2) Japan.
3) Any other countries I like.

[djm101]

You're way off on the Welsh thing - the welsh I know have a policy of supporting whoever is playing against England at the time.

So, I know support against wales. Tit for Tat!

[mattyb123]

Im half Irish, half Engilsh

In terms of favourite countries

1) Ireland
2)Anyone Else
3)England
4)Anyone Whatsoever (Except USA)

[mat205125]

I'm afraid I'm not particularly patriotic on this kind of thing. I'm born English, to English born parents, however prior to that the two sides are either Irish or Polish.

For the Rugby it is:

1 - Ireland
2 - England
3 - Wales
4 - Anyone else apart from
5 - France

What about motorsport allegences?

Quality homegrown talents with obvious passions for their sport are rare these days. Sure there have been Chris Walker, Colin McRae, Neil Hodgeson and now (maybe) Lewis Hamilton. The balance of our home nation contributions tend to be dull as dish water, mediocre, also rans.

I'm a Raikonnen F1 fan, a Rossi / Caparossi / Baylis MotoGP fan, a Franki Chili (has he retired now?) / Haga Superbike fan, a Plato touring car fan.

Personality, passion and talent are more important to me than nationality - Rossi and Haga live in England anyway

[sheepy]

andymadmak said:

sheepy said:

Your ideas for Scotland and NI don't take into account which "side" of the sectarian divide you are on.

Bugger! I knew we'd miss something vital! Nice to see you're supporting England over France though. The general view in my group was that for a Scotsman, England would come last behind the Sith Lords

Yes, but I'm from a scottish family that was on the side of the English. You'll get a different answer from the "other" side!

[james f]

half English / Half scottish

Rugby
scotland
england
.... could be bothered to support anyone else

only other sport i watch is rowing and thats GB

and F1 dont relay support and f1 team as such just like to watch

aside form that have no interset in any other sport

[Calorus]

andymadmak said:

sheepy said:

Your ideas for Scotland and NI don't take into account which "side" of the sectarian divide you are on.

Bugger! I knew we'd miss something vital! Nice to see you're supporting England over France though. The general view in my group was that for a Scotsman, England would come last behind the Sith Lords

Penultimate after the Sith, but before the Americans.

[angrys3owner]

Well in my experience the Welsh do not support England, infact in the rugby the were supporting anything but England. This was just after we (all the English guys) had been supporting Wales... oh my god did things change.

This was some time ago at Cardiff Uni during the world cup.

[anonymous-user]

angrys3owner said:

Well in my experience the Welsh do not support England, infact in the rugby the were supporting anything but England. This was just after we (all the English guys) had been supporting Wales... oh my god did things change.

This was some time ago at Cardiff Uni during the world cup.

The exception is for football. The last time I supported the Welsh football team, they lost to Afghanistan. Who the hell LOSES to Afghanistan? I kind of lost faith after that day

[Kermit power]

Symbolica said:

The last time I supported the Welsh football team, they lost to Afghanistan. Who the hell LOSES to Afghanistan?

Arguably we the British did, the Soviet Union did, and Bush is having a pretty good crack at it right now! I'd say the Welsh football team should be able to console themselves with that!

As for who I support in Rugby:

1. England. Because I am English, this is not open to debate.
2. Wales. Because rugby without a strong Wales is missing a big part of its sparkle, plus I've never been made to feel anything less than welcome after a game in Cardiff.
3. Ireland. Rugby needs as many countries competing at the top level as possible. Good in Ireland for getting there with a population of twelve, especially when Union is at best the 4th sport in the country.
4. The Barbarians. Players let off the leash with no reputation delivering still possibly the best try ever scored (and against the All Blacks too).
5. Italy. For much the same reasons as Ireland.
6. France. Lived there for 3 years and like the vast majority of the French. If the Parisiens ever fielded a national team, however, they would possibly be the only people able to get me supporting Scotland!
7. Russia. For providing a lifelong happy memory by stuffing the Aussies at Twickenham in the Sevens 2 years ago
8. South Africa. Again a great bunch to drink with pre/post match, which counts for a lot in my book.
9. Argentina. Someone please let them into a proper annual tournament! They get better and better despite the efforts of the rest of the Rugby world to stop them.
10. The British Lions. A somewhat artificial construct that I just can't really get to grips with. Except when they tour South Africa! For some reason, the destination seems to make all the difference
11. Pretty much anyone playing against Scotland. I know plenty of pleasant Scots as individuals, and had a good time with those around us at Twickenham this year, but why do so many of them have to persist in being so nastily anti-English? It just tends to provoke an equal and opposite reaction in me.

And who do I support in Football?

1. William Webb Ellis.
2. Er... That's it. Possibly the only sport capable of rivalling a horse race you don't have a bet on for dullness!

[jamieboy]

Kermit power said:

I know plenty of pleasant Scots as individuals, and had a good time with those around us at Twickenham this year, but why do so many of them have to persist in being so nastily anti-English? It just tends to provoke an equal and opposite reaction in me.

In fairness, you could swap Scotland for England throughout that statement and it would be equally true. You don't have to search very far back in the P+P history to see that.

The problem is perhaps that the majority of people in one country seem to think that the noisy minority in the other is representative of the country as a whole.

[richburley]

puggit said:

I'm half English, half Welsh...

Rubgy:

1) Wales

Football:

1) England

Do please explain why?!?

[andymadmak]

jamieboy said:

Kermit power said:

I know plenty of pleasant Scots as individuals, and had a good time with those around us at Twickenham this year, but why do so many of them have to persist in being so nastily anti-English? It just tends to provoke an equal and opposite reaction in me.

In fairness, you could swap Scotland for England throughout that statement and it would be equally true.

I really don't think thats the case. The Scots anti English sentiments are far stronger and more common than English anti Scottish ones IMHO. In fact i'd go so far as to say that most English are only pissed off at the Scots cos they blame us for everything and keep whingeing on about it.I mean, its not as if they are repressed is it? Own currency, own Parliament, own language, own culture.... There have been Scottish kings of the union, scotish prime ministers (not forgetting the present and immediate future incumbents here). Hell, the english even buy tartan, eat shortbread and bread wild Haggis !

Andy