Thursday 30 June 2016

C'Mon Wangland. An end to our Identity.

Wales Online  reports that America's heavyweight newspaper The Washington Post published a series of searing critiques of Brexit in the run up to the referendum.
The Post Alan Taylor 
'Never have so many risked so much for so little', was one painfully sharp intro .
More dramatic still, Londoners are demanding independence from Britain, noting that they, too, voted en masse to remain in the EU," The Washington Post has calculated that:
  • Wangland would have a population of 49.4m
  • That's 3m from Wales and 46.2m from England (with London's 8.5m already taken out)
  • Without London, Wangland would be very white - 85% White British.
  • The Tories would dominate for the forseeable future
  • It's GDP would fall significantly - from the UK's £2.5 trillion to £1.7 trillion
"If such a scenario were to play out, as fantastically unlikely as it is, it is possible that one day a post-Brexit Britain would simply be a rump state of Wales and England, missing its enormous capital city.
"In the spirit of the now-infamous "Brexit" portmanteau, perhaps it could be called "Wangland" ("Engles" might be more palatable, though it sounds a bit too English)."
The Washington Post has calculated that:
  • Wangland would have a population of 49.4m
  • That's 3m from Wales and 46.2m from England (with London's 8.5m already taken out)
  • Without London, Wangland would be very white - 85% White British.
  • The Tories would dominate for the forseeable future
  • It's GDP would fall significantly - from the UK's £2.5 trillion to £1.7 trillion

OK its silly but if Scotland where to leave the UK in the wake of the BREXIT viote and Northern Ireland was to reunite with the South

Wenglasd would be a very real possibility with London obviously  being stil there and that could well mean the end of our Welsh Football Team

With an United Irish and Independent Scottish Football  teams the idea that Wales should have its own team whilst still  politically tied to England may be opposed by FIFA members who will probably not be too happy with the UK

  It may not be opposed by the English FA.

The Team could copy England cricket team the team that represents England and Wales (and until 1992 also Scotland) in international cricket.

It would Probably be officially called England and Wales , Though the pundits and media would quickly drop the Wales part.

Lets face it , It would be difficult to argue for a Welsh Intentional Football side where Catalonia who have more autonomy and the greatest Football side in the World (Barcelona)  doesn't.

It will be a terrible irony that just as Wales where making its biggest impression on the International side . Many of those wearing Red Shirts on Friday may well have  unconsciously voted  the end of a separate Welsh Team in the near future.


1 comment:

Leigh Richards said...

There's every reason to be disappointed with wales political trajectory at the moment - after last weeks vote permanent union with a right wing tory england beckons while scotland and even northern ireland consider a future outside the 'union'. But there's no reason to think wales existence on the international football field will disappear any time soon. We are after all among the oldest football associations in the world, were among the founding members of fifa and our performance at euro 2016 has certainly quelled those who used to question the existence of the welsh football team on the basis our record didnt merit wales having its own team.

But perhaps therein lies the drawback with how many people see their welsh identity, in that it's only on the sports field that many people recognise welsh nationhood.

I was reminded of this again when watching the wales report last nite - a thoroughly depressing edition of the show i must add - when the show ran a vox pop of the views of people in pontypridd on last weeks result, and why they had voted leave. As well as the usual ill informed bigotry about 'immigrants' more than one respondent referred to 'this country' in their replies - it's a fair bet when they spoke of 'this country' they didnt mean wales they meant 'great britain'.

Doubtless some of those interviewed - and many others like them - will be clutching their hearts in those embarrassing public displays of faux patriotism when the welsh anthem starts tomorrow nite but ask the same people to see wales as a 'country' beyond that and heaven forbid a country that could actually its own affairs and you draw a blank.

And until such perceptions begin to change wales political future is likely to remain as depressing as it was after last thursday's vote. Perhaps a certain UKIP Senedd member had it right when apparently telling a welsh guest at a st george's day shindig at his witlshire abode that the relationship between england and wales was one of was "irreversible anschluss".