In previous international tournaments, Jones didn’t feel self-conscious when he cheered on Beckham & Co at his local pub in Dundee. But this year’s World Cup has been different. “I was looking forward to the tournament and really didn’t expect it to be any different to previous ones that England have played in,” he said. “But I have been very surprised at the amount of hype over anti-English racism in Scotland, which, frankly, is not something I have experienced or witnessed.”
Jones sensed a change in mood the moment he read that Gordon Brown, the Fife-born chancellor and committed Scotland fan, had declared his support for England. Politicians have traditionally shied away from the combustible mix of football and politics and a cynicism-free interpretation might have decreed that, as Scotland hadn’t qualified for the tournament, Brown was doing the patriotic thing by supporting our closest neighbours.
Some didn’t see it like that. The prime minister-in-waiting is on a southern charm offensive to convince English voters that he is more British than Scottish and the image of him cheering on Sven’s men would play well in the shires. When Jack McConnell, no great friend of Brown’s, came out in favour of Trinidad and Tobago — opponents in England’s group — there was more than the whiff of suspicion that the World Cup was being used as a political football.
“Politicians have been trying to score points by ingratiating themselves with the English or the Scottish. Previous World Cups have been much more low key in that respect,” said Jones.
Their declarations opened the floodgates, with politicians and celebrities being called upon to show their hand. Suddenly everybody was being asked to nail their colours to the mast. But what started out as a tabloid exercise in filling silly-season column inches quickly became tainted with more sinister undertones. The argument, as far as some commentators were concerned, was no longer about which team you believed played better football, but whether you liked or disliked the English. Predictably, what should have been good-natured football banter was becoming ill-tempered political debate.
The untimely publication of a report, which raised the twin — and equally thorny — questions of high levels of government funding for Scotland and the alleged over-representation of Scots at Westminster, only added fuel to the fire. The rhetorical question posed by much of the subsequent coverage could be summarised thus: “Why can’t the Scots support the English at football when the English are so generous to the Scots with government funding?” And the counter argument: “Why should the Scots have to show gratitude to the English for what is rightfully theirs?”
When a handful of isolated attacks on fans wearing England tops in Scotland was condemned by Tony Blair during prime minister’s questions last week, the issue appeared on the radar of the England-based media for the first time, prompting fulminating tabloid columnists to caricature all Scots as violent, mean-minded, parochial and hateful.
But what is the reality? Has the image of Scotland been transformed from a welcoming and tolerant country to one in which even our closest neighbours are met with hatred and suspicion? Is this the beginning of an ugly and divisive phase in Anglo- Scottish relations? Has it become commonplace for people to be attacked in the street because they have English accents? Or is the whole thing a media myth created to coincide with a World Cup that will fade from the memory as quickly as it appeared.
FOR seven-year-old Hugo Clapshaw, the hatred is real. Last week he was playing in an Edinburgh park on his scooter when a man approached him, punched him on the back of the head and knocked his father to the ground. Hugo’s crime was to wear an England football top. Two days later, Ian Smith, 41, a disabled retired postman, was dragged from his car in Aberdeen and punched in the face because he, too, was wearing an England strip. In Linwood, Renfrewshire, two Englishmen needed hospital treatment after being beaten up following England’s win over Trinidad and Tobago, and in Coatbridge a man had his window’s smashed for flying the St George’s flag in his home. Such incidents have been condemned as the actions of a tiny criminal element with no connection to football.
“These incidents are deplorable,” said Tam Ferry, of the Association of Tartan Army Clubs, which represents 1,500 Scotland supporters. “They are isolated examples and it’s unfair to accuse Scots of being racist.”
Small, isolated pockets of anti-Englishness have always existed in Scotland, but they have generally been restricted to occasional neighbourhood disputes that often involve other issues. In the 1990s extremist fringe groups including Settler Watch and Scottish Watch gained notoriety for campaigns to monitor English incomers to Scotland and “persuade” them to leave. They were restricted to a handful of shadowy activists.
Bill Miller, professor of politics at Glasgow University, who has spent the past four years studying alleged anglophobia in Scotland, said attitudes had changed dramatically in the past 15 years. His research, based on interviews with more than 750 English immigrants as well as influential Scots, suggests that devolution has created a more welcoming and tolerant society in which Scots feel more at ease with themselves and their southern neighbours.
Of those English people living in Scotland whom he questioned, only 15% believed there was “fairly serious” conflict between the two nations and the majority of those who said they had been insulted by Scots did not believe that attitude was representative.
“Devolution has certainly helped to make Scots feel less like second-class citizens in their own country. From my research, those who detected a noticeable difference were those who believed things had improved,” said Miller, whose findings will be published later this month.
“If Scots have something to complain about, they now know where to complain, which is the Scottish parliament rather than their English neighbour.”
The Sunday Times decided to test anti-English feeling by sending reporters out onto the streets of Scotland’s three biggest cities wearing kilts and England football shirts.
The reporters walked through the city centres, into bars and shops and travelled on public transport. The only negative reaction was from a group of youths in Glasgow, who shouted obscenities.
In Aberdeen, Alan Morrison, 57, shook the reporter by the hand, adding: “I think it’s absolutely great. We’re all British after all. I wouldn’t mind if it was an England shirt, a Welsh shirt, or an Irish shirt you were wearing with the kilt — they are all the same to me.”
Joyce Adam, 51, from Edinburgh, said: “I don’t have a problem with the kilt and the England top together — but I do wish they would stop going on about 1966.”
In Glasgow the reaction was mixed, with some people laughing, others scowling and the occasional insult. Eddie Mackie, 35, a mechanic from Glasgow, said: “Attacking a wee boy and a disabled guy was completely out of order. It made me ashamed to be Scottish. But I think it was a one-off and doesn’t reflect the way Scots fans behave.”
Police are anxious not to contribute to the hype. “My feeling is this has been blown out of proportion,” said Peter Wilson, chair of the Association of Chief Police Officers in Scotland. “There have been a couple of examples of idiotic behaviour but everybody else is either enjoying the football or not following it.”
Senior politicians also dismiss the notion that Scotland is rife or awash with anti- English feeling. Alex Salmond insisted he supported Trinidad and Tobago on merit but said it was wrong for people to support England’s opponents just for the sake of it.
“Obviously sports and politics do intermingle but it’s important for politicians to engage in the debate with a light touch,” said Salmond.
Henry McLeish, the former first minister, said he backed England and lamented that more politicians didn’t feel the same way. “Why does Jack McConnell claim to support Trinidad and Tobago and Ecuador?” he said. “Obviously because they oppose England. Does he? The danger is that such a perceived anti-English posture could encourage the irresponsible.”
Back in Dundee, Jones is at ease with his identity and is looking forward to nipping down to his local pub today to watch England play Ecuador.
“I get banter about being English, but it’s generally light-hearted. It’s not my experience that English people are unwelcome in Scotland and I don’t recognise the level of racism being described.”
