Sunday 24 February 2013

ABE,ABE,ABE,ABE,....

I have English friends who are often perplexed  by my Anyone But England (ABE) attitude and have sometime been called a racist for it .

But with the coverage of  the six Nations  it is not difficult to fall into the ABE camp

For example on when talking about the Daybreak talking about rugby on the day before yesterdays Matches.


"When England beat France tomorrow they are guaranteed the championship" .
But its the BBC who are worst offenders . The coverage often appears to consist of

England,England,England,England,England,England. Oh an some other teams also are playing in the six nations but never mind about them . England,England,England,......
And after the Welsh Victory the female presenter turned to the camera and said

"Well that was just the starter, The Main Course is yet to come  with England play France.
Todays Scotland Ireland Game will see on of these sides remaining in the Mix for the Chapionship though you would not know it from the BBC coverage  and I bet even during this Match we will still have reverences to England


Now I accept after their victory England are clear favourites to win the Championship and the Grand Slam and have a healthy 36 point goal difference  compared to Wales' 19 and if both were to win on March 9/10 then I can see England putting more points on Italy at Home..

Though there still no reason to dismiss the possibility of Scotland defeating France on the final day or Ireland beating  comprehensively to top the Table.

 .
It is still to soon to call  but from the very first weekend you wouldn't know it.

Even if England were heading for the wooden spoon the coverage would be concentrated on that .

You could argue that this is because there's not a BBC England with a sports department just as there's  not a English Parliament.

But would it make any difference to the  England,England,England,...... bias from the BBC

It is a sad reflection of the major issue of the Union where only one Nation counts even without its own parliament.

I very much doubt it and it may be childish of me to respond with ABE but that's what I will continue to until we see the other Nations in this competition treated equally.





4 comments:

Jammo said...

So the "AEB" in your headline must stand for "Against England, Butt"

or did you mean ABE?

glynbeddau said...

Jammo Of course I did did .Must have let my anger give me a brainstorm . Thanks for the correction and have now amended it.

Anonymous said...

That's the thing- Britain is Anglo-Britain and largely always has been- not solely English but certainly Anglocentric and Anglo normative. There is no BBC England because the default, the 'normal' of the BBC (as it is for the state) *is* England. From that angle, Scotland and Wales are provincial oddities, abnormal and anomalous, the modern day equivalents of the tribal territories of Empire (now ruled indirectly). The same is true of the House of Commons. It is, and always has been, the English parliament with a few tribal representatives included at different times. Yet the Westminster system is very much an imperial throwback, a system for administering a now largely defunct Empire, not that of a modern, democratic civic England. Its Anglocentric imperial legacy and mindset in part accounts for both the conflation of England with Britain and the extreme difficulty the Westminster class and the BBC have in thinking and talking about England as a specific civic community distinct *from* Britain, of England as a 'mere' nation like any other in contrast to the expansive, civilized and civilizing impulses of British Unionism (as the elite sees it, civic and outward-looking Englishness) as distinct from named Englishness, often denounced by the elite as 'ethnic'/ 'racist'/ 'backward'/ 'isolationist'. As the civic democracies of Wales and Scotland develop, it is perhaps ironic that despite the relentless and often aggressive Anglocentrism of Britishness, the English people themselves remain the last uncivilised tribe under the direct rule of the Empire?

Anonymous said...

If I ever think of supporting England, which occasionally happens when they're playing Australia or Ireland - have you ever checked out what Munster fans think of Wales - then I mosey on over to twitter and put a term like "Welsh c**ts" in the search box ...... that usually cures me.