The Not-So Beautiful Game

It's that time again. Every four years, players from all over the world come together to compete for greatness and world recognition - to prove who is the best. No, I'm not talking about some Street Fighter competition, or even a clichéd shonen anime plotline. It's the World Cup, ladies and gentlemen, and I'm already sick of it.

Much of the problem stems from the fact that I'm a Scotsman living in the Greater London Area. There are a hell of a lot of St George flags around, being hung from windows, attached to cars, even worn - they're everywhere. While I'm all for national pride and such, as an outsider it is somewhat overwhelming - and unwelcoming. The thing is, in a city with such a massively wide variety of inhabitants coming from all over the world, I've rarely seen any other flags flying. I can't help but wonder if there's an element of fear to this - English fans do have something of a reputation, after all. A packed pub on match day becomes little more than a monkey pen when England scores. The press is hardly helping matters, with the tabloids covered in England flags and outdated slogans and slang. Couple that with the current political situation and you have a breeding ground for national and racial hostility – hardly the friendly rivalry that FIFA intended.

The other thing that irritates me is English fans blind insistence that the team is going to come back in with the cup, simply because they did it before. Yes, England won the World Cup. Once. Forty years ago. Let it go, move on. Accept the fact that the team is not as good as you'd like to think - how many times have they qualified only by relying on the results of other groups now? There's an air of arrogance to many an English attitude because of this lone victory, and it seems that most supporters don't like to acknowledge the fact that England often don't make it past the third round. There also seems to be a lot of uncertainty with the squad itself, and all I've been hearing about recently is Rooney (despite my attempts to avoid hearing about it). If everyone is pinning their hopes on a player that may not even be fit to play, then what chance do the rest of them have? It certainly can't be helping their confidence much.

It's true that my being Scottish plays a part in my not supporting England, but not as large as you might suspect. I don't hate England, I'm not just bitter about Scotland not even qualifying (largely because I'm not surprised – I’ve never had that much faith in my national side). Even though they’re the only British team in the event, I’m not going to support them - attitudes will have to change before my support can be earned. And unfortunately, it doesn't look like that's going to happen any time soon. Instead, I'll be quietly rooting for the underdogs - South Korea. They earned my support with their great attitude towards the game four years ago, and I’d love to see them do well again this time.