Hooray! It's OK To Hate England
Newsweek · C · trust 38/100
0 Share Newsweek is a Trust Project member See more of our trusted coverage when you search. Prefer Newsweek on Google to see more of our trusted coverage when you search. The despair felt in England after their 2-1 defeat to Argentina in the World Cup semi-finals may appear inconsolable, but there is a upside. The England team’s failure to reach their first World Cup Final since 1966 comes with the knowledge that, for a while at least, the globe is united. In a world bitterly divided by ideology, religion and national rivalry, there is one thing that can still bring people together: it’s OK to hate England.
Argentina’s animosity towards England is well documented, expressed on the soccer pitch in fractious World Cup meetings in 1966, 1998, 2002 and, most famously, 1986 in Mexico City when Diego Maradona proved he was both a cheat and a genius. That 2-1 win 40 years ago took place in the shadow of the 1982 Falklands War and Maradona was clear that beating England was revenge for the Argentinian soldiers who died in the conflict (the fact that Great Britain’s victory in that war all but ended a vicious military dictatorship in Argentina seems to have escaped those who now proclaim their hatred of the English).
But Argentina will have to get in the queue. The prime spots for this national pastime are held by the other constituent parts of Great Britain itself, in particular Scotland and Wales, where hating England (if not individual English people) has become a compulsory part of the national culture.
Argentine banners have been on show all week in Scottish cities, where the “anyone but England” mantra may as well be written on the flag of St Andrew. In Wales, loathing of England is most often expressed around the sport of rugby rather than soccer, based on an assumption that English people are “arrogant” and even today tainted indelibly by England’s historic role subjugating Welsh independence. It has been pointed out, in a polite English way, that many Scottish and Welsh soldiers died fighting in the Falklands War, so it seems counterintuitive to support the football team of the country that killed them. But this just shows how ingrained anti-Englishness has become.
Even if the truth of a famous speech before a Wales v England rugby match in 1977 has been called into question, that doesn’t stop some fans wearing phrases from it on T-shirts today. The Wales captain Phil Bennett was supposed to have said: “Look at what these b******s have done to Wales. They've taken our coal, our water, our steel. They buy our houses and live in them for a fortnight every 12 months. And what have they given us? Absolutely nothing. We've been exploited, raped, controlled and punished by the Englis—and we're playing them this afternoon.”
So, the answer to the question “Why is it acceptable to still hate the English so vociferously?” can be answered with “It’s history, stupid” and it wouldn’t be far wrong.
On a superficial level this is true of the French, who although being England’s longest running historical adversary (1,000 years and counting) are prolonging a kind if England-hate cosplay out of habit. France is Britain’s closest European ally, but nobody likes to admit that in public. Australia sends much of its bored, restless youth to England each year to work in bars, and the historical ties with the mother country as among the closest of any two countries in the world, yet Australians still feel perfectly willing and able to decry the English as feckless, arrogant and pompous when it suits them. Again, this is most often expressed in the context of sport, in this case cricket.
The historical animosity is most raw for Ireland, which endured centuries of colonization, mistreatment, mismanagement and in some cases terrible bloodshed at the hands of its nearest neighbors. The anti-English sentiment extends deep into the US too, from the idea that nasty old King George III was a tyrant in 1776 right up to today. What Joe Biden meant in 2023 when he answered a request by BBC journalist for a quote by saying “The BBC? I’m Irish” was less a proud proclamation of his heritage but an assurance that he was anti-English. Many Americans love to discuss their family’s personal heritage, with one notable exception.
There is a similar sense of low-level resentment and suspicion among the Indian and Pakistani establishment both for England’s (as part of Great Britain) colonization of their countries and as an expression of a thrusting national identity. The desire to project 21st-century power means that post-colonial countries will hang on to their resentment of England—in particular—even after 80 years have passed since they gained independence. It’s just too convenient as a national rallying point. Disliking England, even if it’s just for show, is the sentiment everyone can get behind.
The irony is England doesn’t often seem a like a very powerful, confident or indeed arrogant country anymore. Huge sections of English society don’t care for being English, perhaps egged on by the evidence that so many other nationalities feel the same way about England as they do. Only 45 percent of those in a series of recent polls said they were proud to be English, with “embarrassment” tracking at around 10 percent.
The Scots and Welsh are living in the same “ Broken Britain ” as the English, a fractured society with an underpowered economy, yet they are still permitted to cherish their national identity. Many English people feel like they’re not allowed this luxury, which is contributing to the English nationalism feeding into the rise of the populist Reform UK party. Even flying England’s own St George’s Cross is a source of continual public debate about whether it is a symbol of oppression.
There is a football club in south London called Millwall, once notorious for its hooligans, whose most famous chant became “No one likes us, we don’t care.” This World Cup has proved once again, that England may have to accept…
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