The looming World Cup football tournament offers many businesses a golden opportunity to make some quick money, not least those in South Africa's overpriced tourism sector where this year's event is taking place.
Entrepreneurs closer to home have also realised the World Cup's economic potential and have acted accordingly, either by putting up prices for things like airline tickets or by producing souvenirs such as replica shirts for those keen to follow the fortunes of their favourite teams.
A Scottish-based company falling into the latter camp has found itself on the receiving end of a visit from police - purely in an 'advisory' capacity - for selling T-shirts with the slogan "Anyone but England" emblazoned across the front. Grampian police said that the visit to the Slanj store in Aberdeen was not in response to any public complaint but rather out of concern that such a slogan might increase "incidents relating to nationality" and as a result they were duty-bound to investigate. In response a spokesman for Slanj said staff were "flabbergasted" by the warning and that in the three months the offending item of clothing had been on sale they had had "a great response".
A lot of people might well think the police in Aberdeen should be focusing their time and attention on more pressing criminal matters rather than investigate garments that - according to Slanj - are "just a bit of tongue-in-cheek football banter" with no genuinely racist undertones. England, after all, are the UK's sole representatives in this year's World Cup and such teasing is bound to occur in those areas of the country not taking part.
But there does seem to be something uniquely Scottish in the "anyone but England" mentality - so famously articulated by tennis player Andy Murray four years ago - that has loomed in one form or another at virtually every major footballing tournament where there is English participation, a phenomenon I've noted previously. Claims that such statements merely constitute 'banter' is, in my mind, undermined by a dearth of similar slogans - and T-shirts - emanating south of the border during tournaments where nations of the UK other than England qualify. I've long suspected that there is some deeper psychological issue at the heart of the matter that transcends mere sporting rivalry.
Slanj's T-shirts will almost certainly continue to sell like hotcakes, perhaps even more now that Grampian police have afforded the store some inadvertent and welcome publicity. One just wonders exactly why a demand for such a product exists in the first place.
11 comments:
I'm not sure which is the more amusing, the fact some people may buy these T-Shirts (and there is no accounting for taste) or the reaction in England.
We all do remember the contretempts that followed Andy Murray's comments. But what was much more worrying was not his opinion but the reaction that followed. And that reaction was not isolated to just one or two crackjobs, but was all over the English national media and IIRC there may have been interventions by politicians at the time. That reaction itself would seem to me to reveal (using your own good words) "some deeper psychological issue at the heart of the matter that transcends mere sporting rivalry".
It just seems to emanate from the "dish it out, but can take it back" mentality.
After all whilst "Anyone But England" T-Shirts were on sale in Scotland in 2006 at the very same time thousands of English football fans were singing "Ten German Bombers" in some of Germany's finest cities.
I'm a bit surprised at your surprise regarding the Scot's attitude. You'll be claiming next that Yorkshiremen don't have a chip on their shoulder either.
I can't think where 'dish it out but can't take it' comes from. You hear about racist incidents towards the English in Scotland from time to time but I have never come across any racist incidents towards the many, many Scots who seem for some reason to prefer living in England.
I saw these T-shirts on sale in Edinburgh this time last year, and I have to say I was offended, though not enough to make a complaint. It's not just friendly banter as some interviewees have tried to make out, as DR says, there is a psychological basis, and it is obviously an inferiority complex.
I'm not saying that Enlgish fans can't be boorish too, but that doesn't make it all right, surely? Anyway, I'm just off to the T-shirt shop to have an "Anyone but Scotland" one run up. Trouble is, I'm not sure when I shall get much chance to wear it!
PS this ghastly attitude can be infectious. After Murray's pathteic comment, which I am sure was from the heart, unlike the weaselling afterwards, I find an unworthy satisfaction in seeing him lose.
Tom as a Scot who lived in England for three years I can ensure you that racism towards Scot does exist. Only the 'sweaty sock' 'tight arse' remarks are generally good natured and are taken as such.
There may be an inferiority complex in Scotland but the same applies in similar countries that have powerful neighbours, Canada & New Zealand the obvious examples that spring to mind.
As the first poster points out the English also suffer from a inferiority complex. Who can forget the 'ten German bombers' and unsightly and xenophobic front pages of the Express and Daily Mail.
Sometimes it pays to look in the mirror before commenting on others.
Well do you do acknowledge that the personal remarks are generally good natured. I should hope you have never been seriously assaulted in the street on account of your accent, as has happened in Scotland. But yes, idiocy knows no barriers.
I don't think the Daily Mail-style xenophobia is about an inferiority complex, more a misguided - and very offensive - harking back to a (as the readers to whom they pander see it) more glorious age when Britain counted for something.
The Scots want to be taken seriously by the English and then behave like adolescents. That's not he way to be taken seriously.
Not shy on the occasional sweeping generalisation are you Tom? 'The Scots want to be taken seriously by the English and then behave like adolescents'
Who are the these Scots? I dont see thousands of Scots descending on number 10 demanding that a Scottish PM take action on the English not taking us seriously. And who isnt taking us serious? The entire population? The entire population who democratically elected two successive Scottish PMs?
You speak of acting like an adolescent yet your vague and inaccurate generalisations are exactly that.
What I find interesting about the whole affair - and I'm talking within a sporting context here - is that antagonistic behaviour from the more undesirable section of English fans towards supporters of the opposition is that this only tends to take place for the duration of the match, immediately preceding it and in the aftermath. The aforementioned T-shirts on sale in Scotland are indicative of a much more passive form of antagonism that does not require engagement with the England football team but just requires that team to exist in the first place. I still think that constitutes a curious distinction between the two.
How well would a reciprocal T-shirt sell south of the border? And would there be demand for one?
I'm absolutely crushed by your accusation, Allan, particularly as I have no idea what you are talking about.
Keith:
"How well would a reciprocal T-shirt sell south of the border? And would there be demand for one?"
Tom:
"Anyway, I'm just off to the T-shirt shop to have an "Anyone but Scotland" one run up."
Clearly your brother is quite keen on one.
As a poster stated earlier its amazing how much of a reaction that these jovial jibes at the England team create. It is almost as if some regard mocking the English team as blasphemy.
As Rafa Benitez would say lets deal in the facts. These t-shirts are sold by a small independent clothes store. Therefore they do not represent the entire Scottish population.
The 'Anyone but England' slogan is obviously directed at the English national football team and not as some would like to believe directed at the entire English population. So why people feel the need to take offence to this is beyond me.
No problem Tom I will spell it out for you.
'The Scots want to be taken seriously by the English and then behave like adolescents.'
= Sweeping generalisation
= Adolescent behaviour.
Allan, my saying I was going to have a T-shirt run up was a joke. I wasn't really going to have one made. How pathetic would that be? (Answer: About as pathetic as a Scotsman wearing an "Anyone but England" T-shirt).
I saw my example in a shop window just off Princes St so I suspect they are available in more than just the one outlet mentioned in the recent coverage.
Do you really think the ABE T-shirts are only aimed at the England footie team? Don't you think that they are symbloic of a much wider grudge? Jovial jibes made because the Scottish team isn't very good? I still maintain it's a symptom of a sense of inferiority expressed in a passive-aggressive way.
OK, perhaps I shouldn't generalise, it's clearly unwarranted, though a fault not confined to adolescents. Let's distinguish between those Scots who think such a T-shirt is a good idea, and those who cringe with embarrassment at the thought of them being produced because they appreciate what it is saying about a certain Scottish attitude to England.
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