{"id":1609,"date":"2019-09-09T12:20:48","date_gmt":"2019-09-09T12:20:48","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.andcouldheplay.com\/?p=1609"},"modified":"2019-09-09T12:20:48","modified_gmt":"2019-09-09T12:20:48","slug":"scouse-not-english-whats-that-all-about","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.andcouldheplay.com\/scouse-not-english-whats-that-all-about\/","title":{"rendered":"Scouse Not English: What\u2019s That All About?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>As most of you know, I couldn\u2019t care less about the England national team. I don\u2019t necessarily want it to lose matches, I\u2019m just not bothered how it does one way or another. It\u2019s not a feeling that I have alone. A good majority of Liverpool supporters feel the same, with the only interest when international weeks like this one come come around being in our players returning uninjured. The suggestion from a TalkSport presenter this week that people should want their country to succeed more than their club was met with howls of derision from most Reds, with the majority quick to point out that we\u2019d rather watch the Reds win a throw-in than England win the World Cup. I couldn\u2019t tell you whether that feeling is shared by supporters of other international teams, given that I\u2019m not from Wales, Brazil or Germany. I do know that plenty of Welsh fans are fiercely proud of being from there, though, so wouldn\u2019t be surprised if they wanted to see their national team succeed.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-lang=\"en-gb\">\n<p dir=\"ltr\" lang=\"en\">For the record, I\u2019d rather my club won a raffle than England won a World Cup. <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/mnjo9JidE9\">https:\/\/t.co\/mnjo9JidE9<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 And Could He Play (@andcouldheplay7) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/andcouldheplay7\/status\/1170024298356105217?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">6 September 2019<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>I should point out at this stage that this isn\u2019t an indoctrinated belief for me. I know plenty of Scousers have grown up being told that they\u2019re Scouse, not English. That they\u2019ve never had time for the England national team. That wasn\u2019t the case for me. I remember my dad having England flags on his car during Euro \u201996. I also know that I was right behind England in that tournament, feeling devastated when the Germans beat \u2018us\u2019 in the semi-final. It is only as I\u2019ve got older and become more invested in my football that my dislike of the national side has grown. I remember one specific incident that caused me to reassess my feelings, which occurred during the World Cup in 2006. I watched England play Portugal in the quarters and the pub in Birmingham I was watching in, which had been singing Steven Gerrard\u2019s name for more than 90 minutes, decided he was a \u2018Scouse c*nt\u2019 when he missed his penalty.<\/p>\n<h2>It\u2019s About More Than Where You\u2019re Born<\/h2>\n<p>The idea of being \u2018Scouse not English\u2019 is something that you\u2019ll often see on social media, especially when international breaks or summer tournaments roll around. What this means, exactly, will be given a different description depending on who you talk to about it. There are some that think it\u2019s a literal thing: that if you\u2019re not from Liverpool then you can\u2019t really understand the true dislike of the national team and everything that is associated with it. I don\u2019t agree with that. I have never bought into the idea that only people from the city truly \u2018get\u2019 what it means to be a Liverpool supporter. There are plenty of people with Scouse accents near me on the Kop that often express ridiculous opinions, whilst Union flags have long been flown on the famous old terrace. I\u2019ve been stood next to people not from the UK that have completely \u2018got\u2019 what it means to support the Reds and have been soaked in the culture of the club.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-lang=\"en\">\n<p dir=\"ltr\" lang=\"en\">England fans singing &#8220;We all hate scousers&#8221; in a pub before today&#8217;s game against Bulgaria..Then people wonder why we don&#8217;t give a f*ck about the circus that surrounds the national team.<\/p>\n<p>\u2014 AnfieldUrchin (@AnfieldUrchin) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/AnfieldUrchin\/status\/1170383544247640064?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">September 7, 2019<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>Whilst there\u2019s definitely a breed of Scousers who think they\u2019re given a divine right to dictate the way the club should be supported, the majority of Reds know that where you\u2019re from isn\u2019t as important as understanding the \u2018culture\u2019 of the club. If a bloke is from Liverpool, refuses to wear anything bought from the club shop and leaves the ground fifteen minutes before the full-time whistle, does he naturally get to be more closely associated with the club than a woman who takes a bag of stuff to the nearest food bank, wears the official kit, knows all the songs and stays to the end of the match and applauds the players off but has flown over from Ireland to watch the game simply because of where he was born? I don\u2019t think so and I think the majority of sensible people would agree with me. The reality is that Liverpool Football Club is a global brand, with someone\u2019s place of birth not being as relevant as their understanding of the culture.<\/p>\n<h2>The Divide Is Growing Wider<\/h2>\n<p>It\u2019s not uncommon to hear people say that football should be kept out of politics, but that is a naive view in the extreme. Football is innately political and always has been. The modern-day father of Liverpool Football Club, Bill Shankly, whose statue stands outside the Kop, <a href=\"https:\/\/worldfootballindex.com\/2017\/11\/bill-shankly-socialism-liverpool-fans\/#_ftn9\">once said the following<\/a>:<\/p>\n<p>\u201dThe socialism I believe in isn\u2019t really politics. It is a way of living. It is humanity. I believe the only way to live and to be truly successful is by collective effort, with everyone working for each other, everyone helping each other, and everyone having a share of the rewards at the end of the day. That might be asking a lot, but it\u2019s the way I see football and the way I see life\u201d.<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_305\" style=\"width: 543px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-305\" class=\"size-large wp-image-305\" src=\"https:\/\/www.andcouldheplay.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/11\/P1000398-533x400.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"533\" height=\"400\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.andcouldheplay.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/11\/P1000398-533x400.jpg 533w, https:\/\/www.andcouldheplay.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/11\/P1000398-267x200.jpg 267w, https:\/\/www.andcouldheplay.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/11\/P1000398-65x50.jpg 65w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 533px) 100vw, 533px\" \/><p id=\"caption-attachment-305\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Shankly Statue<\/p><\/div>\n<p>There are plenty of people that support Liverpool and vote for the Tory Party. We can pretend that there aren\u2019t but we\u2019d be lying. Those people might want the club to do well on the pitch but they don\u2019t \u2018get\u2019 what it means to be a Liverpool supporter. The city has always felt more European than English, thanks in no small part to the scores of immigrants that came to Liverpool during its more formative years. That\u2019s not to say that it\u2019s always been a Labour city, of course. Prior to the government of Margaret Thatcher Liverpool was actually something of a Tory stronghold. But in the decades since Hillsborough and the era of \u2018managed decline\u2019 the city has turned its back on the party that wanted to see us crippled.<\/p>\n<p>You can say that football and politics shouldn\u2019t mix but the simple reality is that it does and being \u2018Scouse not English\u2019 is to turn your back on the idea of isolationism and embrace other cultures and ways of being. One of my favourite lyrics of all time comes from the Gerry &amp; The Pacemakers song Ferry \u2018Cross The Mersey:<\/p>\n<p>People around every corner<br \/>\nThey seem to smile and say<br \/>\n\u2018We don&#8217;t care what your name is boy<br \/>\nWe&#8217;ll never turn you away\u2019<\/p>\n<p>That is Liverpudlians, it is Scousers and it is those that buy into the culture of the city even if they\u2019re not from it. As each year passes it seems as though the rest of the country gets further and further away from this ideal and instead has become entrenched in the idea of looking after number one. As England fans sings that they hate Scousers, it\u2019s little wonder that Liverpool supporters couldn\u2019t care less about the national team. The only question is why those that don\u2019t support the Reds care.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>As most of you know, I couldn\u2019t care less about the England national team. I don\u2019t necessarily want it to lose matches, I\u2019m just not bothered how it does one way or another. It\u2019s not a feeling that I have alone. A good majority of Liverpool supporters feel the same, with the only interest when international weeks like this one come come around being in our players returning uninjured. The suggestion from a TalkSport presenter this week that people should want their country to succeed more than their club was met with howls of derision from most Reds, with the [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":306,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.andcouldheplay.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1609"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.andcouldheplay.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.andcouldheplay.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.andcouldheplay.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.andcouldheplay.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1609"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.andcouldheplay.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1609\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1610,"href":"https:\/\/www.andcouldheplay.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1609\/revisions\/1610"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.andcouldheplay.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/306"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.andcouldheplay.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1609"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.andcouldheplay.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1609"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.andcouldheplay.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1609"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}