Scotland fans ask: ‘Should we apologise for enjoying ourselves?’ | OneFootball

Scotland (and Ireland) fans have reacted to the criticism while a Mailbox right-winger gets a kicking.

Thanks for your mails; keep them coming to theeditor@football365.com

Scotland undeserving? No wonder people hate the English

Firstly, I feel it is important to explain this up top: the anti-English sentiment in Scotland is not as fervent as outsiders believe it to be, and it is often exaggerated for comedic effect.

However, when it comes to international tournament football, ‘Anyone But England’ becomes the national mantra.

This is largely because of the English media force-feeding the rhetoric that “It’s Coming Home,” along with the constant mentions of 1966, as if it has any bearing on the present day.

Personally, in my experience, most England supporters are somewhat pessimistic. Many believe the team should do better, despite the squad only ever being somewhere between the third- and eighth-strongest on paper.

Yet the media handpick the most entitled, deluded supporters for broadcasts to gee up those of a similar persuasion and create a hate-watch audience in Wales and Scotland.

Over the past few tournaments, I have seen the ‘ABE’ ethos dissipate slightly, largely because the current team don’t seem as narcissistic as the ‘Golden Generation’. In fact, the majority of the players seem genuinely likeable.

Then I read Andy’s entry in the morning mailbox…

On behalf of the Tartan Army, I would like to apologise. Sorry that people like us, sorry we can get p***ed without fighting ourselves, the locals, other fans, or our own shadows.

The Scots are up themselves, yet people like us? Perhaps, Andy, the call is coming from inside the house.

Has qualifying for the knockout stages been diluted? Absolutely. But does that mean success shouldn’t be celebrated? I don’t remember England fans refusing to celebrate reaching semis and finals under Southgate just because they got the easier half of the draw.

Hopefully this will be an eye-opener for Andy so he can look himself in the mirror and have his own Mitchell & Webb ‘Are we the bad guys?’ moment. John, Glasgow

…I promise we’re not standing in the streets of Boston, drinking beer and having a laugh purely to annoy you.

The reason Scottish fans are getting so much attention is because major tournaments are supposed to be fun. Tens of thousands of supporters have travelled halfway across the world, spent an absolute fortune, sung their hearts out, drunk bars dry, boosted local businesses, behaved themselves and embraced the host city. The people of Boston seem to have loved having us there. That’s why it’s getting coverage.

I’m not entirely sure what you want us to do. Should we refuse to go through if we qualify because the format is easier now? Forfeit the knockout game? Stay in our hotel rooms and apologise for enjoying ourselves?

Our first World Cup match in 28 years kicked off at 2am Scottish time. Pubs were packed, living rooms were full and people set alarms for 1:55am just to watch Scotland play Haiti. That’s what football is about.

It’s meeting up with your mates, kids (and adults) collecting Panini stickers, being delighted with a shiny and learning who John McGinn is. It’s forgetting club allegiances for a few weeks, all wearing the same colours and letting ourselves believe for once. That’s the magic of international football.

As for us being “up ourselves”, I think you’ve mistaken self-deprecating joy for arrogance. Scottish football fans have spent nearly three decades being the punchline and finding inventive ways to break our own hearts. We could still lose 5-0 to Brazil and be heading home in a few days’ time. Forgive us for enjoying our first proper World Cup adventure in a generation.

And yes, getting out of the group isn’t the achievement it once was. We don’t make the rules, but we’ll happily take the place FIFA have offered us.

The weirdest part of your email is that you seem genuinely irritated by the sight of people standing in the sunshine, drinking beer and looking happy. In 2026, that feels like something we could all do with a bit more of.

Hopefully we can do exactly the same thing in Miami this week, and maybe somewhere else after that too.

Come and join us. We’ll even buy you a pint. Shaun, Scotland

…Wow Lot’s of Brexiteers seem to be writing in these days – one guy giving out that the teenager Lamine Yamal is just so horrible what with his parentage and everything and another saying Scotland shouldn’t celebrate qualifying through the group stages – well I’m Irish and I wish I was Scottish now!

Remember their population is less than a tenth of England’s population so maybe stop being an asshole about it! As for their fans- here’s a thought if Netflix did a documentary about Scottish fans it would show humour , fun and alcohol. If they did one about English fans it would show… well it would show why you guys will never be the fans of any tournament.

Scotland should be on cloud nine right now- they qualified directly for the World Cup FFS. Look at what happened to Italy: four-time champions! The English guy who tried to p*** on their chaps should know this- They don’t care what you think. They don’t care that you, uh like, uh, usually cheer for the home nations, but like, uh, this time is… you’re English- F*** Off!

The fact that you would bother writing in at all about Scotland is a joke. And as for their fans, they are witty, humble and great craic- and they have one thing you will never have- wherever they go in the world people f**king love them. Michael, Ireland

Time for England’s own anthem

Got to say that I’m a tad fed up of watching Wales and Scotland belt out their anthems at national events while England is left with the national anthem. This should only be sung when the nations come together to represent these shores.

England needs to find an identity, it’s a nation that fought for 100’s of years for control of its own lands and whose language was bastardised by invading forces. Let’s face it the Scots identity is wrapped up in legend and fighting the English. It’s excepted that they can wear Ginger wigs, Kilts and paint the Saltire on their faces. Their anthem glorifies their battles with the English.

The Welsh similarly celebrate bards, poets, singers, the Welsh language, the landscape of Wales, and those who died for Welsh freedom, reflecting a deep sense of national pride.

Strangely many on the left of England will not allow such celebrations in an anthem. Do we not have bards, poets, singers, Celebrate the original English language (Bretton and dialects of). Can we not celebrate victories against the French, Spanish, those who died on the fields of Hastings or the Magna Carta?

It’s about time England started to build an identity and celebrate it, Do we use Jerusalem, I vow to the my country or do like the Scots did and create a new one. Anyway bored waiting for England’s next game. P Didi (Not)

Noisy World Cup neighbours ahoy

It is extraordinary how many countries have qualified with their neighbours, either land border neighbours or close maritime ones, e.g. New Zealand – Australia, Bosnia Herzegovina – Croatia, South Korea – Japan, Iran -Iraq, Jordan – Arabia saudi, Austria – Czechia, Colombia -Ecuador, Norway -Sweden, Algeria – Tunisia and up to 35 neighbours in total.

Pretty unusual. Some ‘local derbies’ could get pretty feisty when the cross-continental qualifiers are over . Peter, Andalucia

Pundit Watch

We all know that there is now nothing mundane in football, unless Roy is asked to give credit, but similar to media watch I think we could run a daily “most ridiculous comment/hyperbole” competition.

My first contender is Ashley Williams and his post match analysis of Uruguay v Cape Verde when he said, “I’d like to congratulate them on a PERFECT defensive display”, just to be sure, I checked the result and confirmed that the perfect display conceded two goals. Wonder how many times he came off the pitch thinking the same about his own game. Howard (was a great result for them though) Jones

William, Leicester gets some reaction

Is William, Leicester, ok?

Also, this World Cup is awesome! Paul

…Imagine how exhausting it must be hating brown people so much. Like ,just waking up every day angry at darker colors. What did melanin ever do to these people that makes them so furious? Jess, Tampa (Thank God, great island nations like England has never been soiled by mass migration)

…So I read the bizarre rant from William, Leicester earlier about Lamine Yamal, and too an extent Barcelona and well, WTF was that all about?

I think you summed it up with the headline to it ‘Campaign against diversity at World Cup begins here’, and I’m not sure what part of the ‘entire sports media’ William is reading which would have lead him to think that everyone is making a massive deal about Yamal scoring because he is the child of immigrants to Spain or religious, but nothing I have seen (The Guardian, CBC, BBC, F365 thus far) mentioned either of these things.

Before sending his mail, perhaps he could have cited where he has read these things, rather than coming across as some one who HOPED this was the case so he could write a bigoted mail.

And to mention that Yamal was substituted at half-time, but not that the other goalscorer (Oyarzabal, a white guy), doesn’t help disguise the racism. That both these players were substituted as Spain will have thought it was a job done already at that point, and Yamal only managed the last quarter of an hour of the first game whilst recovering from an injury seem irrelevant to William.

Seriously, I can’t believe you published that bullshit in the first place, or that I have wasted my time reacting to it! A, LFC, Montreal

…William, Leicester went off on one a bit, there, didn’t he? Thing is, even if we accept arguendo that Yamal has been overhyped for his performance against Saudi Arabia, does he genuinely think that it’s because of his religion or ethnicity, rather than because he’s only 18, already a key player for a major footballing power, and has already been one of the stars of an international tournament at 16? And if he DOES genuinely think that, isn’t that a bit weird to think that?

Elite sport, and football in particular as the largest mass-participation pursuit in human history, is probably the last meritocracy* left, and there is nobody being picked for their club or national team because of woke. Don’t be silly. Dara O’Reilly, London

*”Darren Ferguson has a Premier League winners medal” notwithstanding.

…Dear William, Leicester