Andy Murray has been subject to a lot of anti-Scots prejudice by the English recently.
Why? They claim its because he made a flippant comment about not supporting England in the last world cup in 2006.
OK lets go with that for a bit. Why should Andy Murray support England at football? Each UK nation represents itself – in the eyes of FIFA at least the countries are independent.
We may live in a faltering political construct called the UK, but the reality is that the Welsh, English and Scottish are all different. The Northern Irish are also different and don’t even share the same island!
It may be neighbourly to support England, Scotland, Wales or Northern Ireland but nothing more.
There are plenty of neighbours you can cite that don’t support each other national football teams. The Dutch and Germans. Turkey and Greece.
Domestically, its even more apparent. Rangers and Celtic. Hearts and Hibs. Dundee and Dundee United. In England:- Manchester City and Manchester United. Chelsea and Arsenal.
All neighbours that don’t get on.
Now I’m not saying that its right, but its at least understandable.
Similarly, I don’t expect England to support Andy Murray. He’s not English, so why should they?
What I do object to is the sort of views that Tony Parsons recently made known about Andy Murray. Murray as “the tip of a toxic iceberg of anti-Englishness” and “I believe Andy Murray is one of those characters who genuinely dislike England and the English”.
I don’t know Andy Murray. I do know from the papers he has an English girlfriend and has a flat in Wandsworth. Not signs of anti-English mentality.
If the English don’t want to support Andy Murray that’s fine – he’s not English. I just wish they wouldn’t justify it by saying he’s anti-English and writing prejudical nonsense about the Scots.
Another slant on this is the Britishness angle.
The attitude here is exemplified by a quote in The Herald:-
“A tabloid reporter was heard to murmur this week in the SW19 media scrum that what Wimbledon needed was a True Brit. He was immediately upbraided by a Scot: ‘But Andy Murray is a Brit.’
“The reply was an almost apologetic ‘well, you know what I mean’. What he meant was that a large constituency of the media and spectators crave an English presence in the style of Henman. This may be understandable, even forgivable. But Scotland does not have to agree with this skewed view.”
This skewed view equates Britishness with England.
That’s probably one of the reasons why the most Scots are loathe to be called British, or if they are its Scottish first, then British. Only a minority describe themselves as British before Scottish, and only a handful of Scots call themselves British only.
Now I can only speculate why the English equate Britishness with themselves.
It may be because they are by far the larger partner in this island.
It may link to an imperial past. Is Scotland just another colony?
But speaking as a Scot, Britishness is just a geographical term describing a native of this island. To me, the Northern Irish are not British, although they are very much a part of the UK. I think that’s why the British epithet is less used in Scotland – its not necessarily viewed as a nationality.
I think I would be helpful if the English started feeling English more. Perhaps this recent anti-Scottish diatribe is just the English starting to do just that. Hopefully such feelings will pass. Ending the asymmetric devolution process and giving English votes on English matters will help the process. An English Parliament is the most logical outcome of this.
England should take back the St. George’s Cross from the racists. The English should celebrate being English.
That’s my tuppence worth, from a Scot.
And wouldn’t independence just sort all this out nicely?!!
View from North Britain 
“England should take back the St. George’s Cross from the racists. ”
Oh pur-leae, we can’t take something back that hasn’t been theirs in the first place. The CoSG has never been a right wing symbol (unlike the CoSA), but this lie is constantly peddled by those seeking an alternative agenda. Stop this slander.
As for Murray, he should be free to support whoever he wants. However, when he says he’ll support anyone BUT a particular nation, he should be exposed for being the xenophobic little shit that he is.
Finally, I agree with independence. I just wish someone would “bring it on”
Good article – thanks.
“This skewed view equates Britishness with England.”
Yes you’re right – but take hope in that this view is on the wane. But it does persist in some hard to get at areas like the media.
“It may be because they are by far the larger partner in this island.”
It may link to an imperial past. Is Scotland just another colony?”
I think historically there has been an element of that.
But to bring the situation up to date – the British Government is waging an intence propaganda campaign in our schools – that’s English schoools – to put British identity first.
In fact English identity doesn’t seem to get a mention.
On the face of it – it’s an attempt to promote social cohesion – in reality I suspect its main objective is to supress English identity.
Andy Murray should stand by what he said, he should be proud to be Scottish and should have walked into Wimbledon carrying a Scottish flag.
I am English and understand exactly what Andy meant by not supporting England. I would have said the same about Scotland if they were in the world cup and England wasn’t.
Andy was being honest and I admire him for that but to now try and hide behind Mr Browns British flag is wrong. Be proud of what you are. Then stand by it.
as a ‘hybrid’ (mother scots, father english) I’m trying to see both sides of this divide. I think the original item was fair in parts and raised some good points. However, as an anti-imperialist I have to make some criticism. Scotland was far from being ‘just a colony’. far, far from it. In fact. I have to say that the Brisish empire was a product of largely both English AND Scottish endeavour. If the English were active imperialists, the Scxots were equally so. In the 19th century Indian Civil Service and Army Scots were well represented. For instance, of the three men most criticised for atrocities committed during the Indian mutiny, one – Havelock – was English, while two – Clyde and Neill – were Scots.
I’m now unashamed globalist. We’ve been through the stages – tribalism and nationalism. We need to move forward beyond the nation state. Quite frankly, it’s had its day!. As regards nationalism, I’m drawn back to one of George Orwell’s essays. He said that he favoured the idea of patriotism, which by his definition simply meant having an affection for your own country, rather than nionalism, which meant you thought your country was better than everyone else’s! If we have to look back, then let’s follow Orwell’s example and be patriots. Nationalists (whatever the geographical divide), please note!
And for heaven’s sake, Scots and English, let’s be mates (for my mum and dad’s sake, if for no ther reason!)
The whole Andy Murray anti-English myth is completely debunked in this interview with Tim Henman…