Old Enemies

Philip Patrick Chris Cavey

England and Scotland may be parts of the same country but when it comes to sport， they dont always see eye to eye.

A few years ago， I played a friendly game of football with my friend and colleague， Duncan， and some Japanese students. Duncan is a pretty good footballer and he played very well and scored a great goal. After the match， two of his Japanese teammates congratulated him. ‘Great goal， Duncan， one of them said. ‘We love your English style of play—just like David Beckham or Wayne Rooney.

Duncans face was a picture. He was happy to be complimented on his football ability but not so happy to be complimented on his ‘English style of play or compared to English footballers. Duncan， you see， is Scottish. Hed prefer to be compared to famous Scottish players like Kenny Dalglish or Denis Law， and not to players from the team Scotland love to beat—England！

For lots of people， its easy to get confused： Britain， Great Britain， the United Kingdom， England， Scotland … Are they all the same place？ Ask this question to a Scottish football fan like Duncan and youll get a short answer. No！

The United Kingdom （UK） consists of four countries—England， Scotland， Wales and Northern Ireland—but by a long way the largest and most powerful is England， and the English are sometimes accused of acting in a superior way. Sport is a chance for the other UK countries to show their own identity and get some revenge on the English.

Although a joint Great Britain team competes in most Olympic sports， each of the four nations in the United Kingdom has its own national football team. England has the biggest population and has historically had the most successful team. Their biggest achievement was winning the World Cup in 1966. Scotland， Wales and Northern Ireland have all qualified for World Cup tournaments but its fair to say that none of them has been as successful as England. They have always enjoyed， however， the opportunity to defeat their bigger neighbour.

England first played football against Scotland in 1870 （a 0–0 draw） and the game quickly became an annual event. At that time， England and Scotland were the only two national teams playing football so the winners could consider themselves world champions. Over the years there were some great games. Scotlands 5–1 win in 1929 was their biggest ever victory against England. Englands 9–1 victory in 1961 was the Scottish goalkeepers last ever match for his country and he later emigrated to Australia.

Annual matches between Scotland and England came to an end in the 1980s but the rivalry between the fans has continued. Both sets of supporters like to sing songs and laugh at the other team when they have a bad result. Some Scottish fans even dressed up as cowboys before one game between England and the USA.

For some， the dislike of the other team is serious， but for most it is just a bit of fun. According to a survey taken before the 2014 Brazil World Cup， when England reached the finals but Scotland did not， only 5 per cent of Scots said they would support ‘a(chǎn)nyone but England and 20 per cent said they would actually support England （albeit quietly I suspect?。?， while 39 per cent remained neutral. So the enmity may not be as widespread as it sometimes appears—but be careful not to ask a Scot if England and Scotland are the same place！