The Irish rugby team represents the whole island (Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland).
England, Scotland, Wales, & Northern Ireland also compete seperately in the Commonwealth Games. Canada has three seperate teams in the Jeux de la Francophonie; Canada, Quebec, & New Brunswick.
Yeah and they usually let us win world curling championships. Actually the Scots and Norwegians are generally the main opposition. Incidentally, the Brits also, in principle, compete as four separate teams for curling (in practice, only Scotland makes the tournament) but there was a UK team (also entirely Scottish) for the Olympics. My guess is that the individual sports federations each make their own rules for the world championship, while the IOC makes them for the Olympics.
The fact that soccer in the UK is essentially English and curling almost entirely Scottish illustrates that they really are separate countries that share a government. Nothing like that happens in the US. You don’t see different regions specializing in baseball, football, and basketball.
Different criterion. When IOC organized, they decided that nonindependent colonies or dependencies of sovereign nations could be recognized as distinct olympic teams (UK and US go along; France doesn’t). Similarly HongKong had their own team as a Brit colony and were allowed to keep it when they became a territory of China. Meanwhile Taiwan plays as “Chinese Taipei” and not as either Taiwan or Republic of China.
In the end, sports associations are private entities, they admit who they see fit.
This isn’t true at all, sorry.
You know, for the longest time I was confused as to how the United Kingdom had become a power in world curling, until during the Vancouver games it finally dawned on me that the team was from Scotland.
Och aye.
Before I was fortunate enough to become Canadian, I lived in the American South. In my area, Eastern North Caw’lina, there was basketball. Other sports were…stuff people watched when Duke or UNC or NCSU weren’t playing basketball, and maybe they had a broken leg and only got a couple of channels. Hockey didn’t exist, and the Pro hockey teams or even football teams in the Southeast still strikes me as wrong.
I understand that football is the only real religion in Texas, so you may catch some further flak over this assertion.
I imagine that’s because the federal government and the provincial governments of Quebec and New Brunswick are each participating governments of the Francophonie.
That’s one of the two key points, the other is that it’s a matter of history. England, etc., have always been represented separately in the World Cup, so it makes no sense to change things now.
Wikipedia expands on what merrick said:
Well, England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland are all separate entities anyway (but make up a singular one), so it makes absolute sense for them to compete separately. This is a completely different political situation to Germany’s states. Scotland for example his it’s own government, school system, and law system specific to their country. There is a reason why the SNP exists.
Judging from the game earlier it looks like our goalkeeper would. Even one of our retired forwards in goal would inspire more confidence than Robert Green.
In Scotland if you say someone that they are being a wee bit English, it means that they are overly competitive, overly confident, overly aggressive. So non-UK Dopers should know the background to the English attitude.
The first football club was started in Edinburgh in 1824 and it was called “The Football Club”, because they were the only club and so didn’t require a more unique identifier. By 1872 we’d taught enough Englishmen to play that Glasgow hosted the first international match, a scoreless draw. Those first internationals led to the World Cup competition. England even won that in 1966, a fact that is repeated endlessly up and down Scotland thanks to the London-centric BBC. In 1967 Scotland demolished the world champions in a dazzling display of footballing superiority that was self-described as ‘takin’ the pish’, and that humiliation still troubles them. Even more annoying for England is that Scotland has for a long time ranked number one in the Unofficial World Championships, England is number two.
I’m not sure I understand your point. I’m quite certain that German states also have their own government (state, but they also recognize the federal government), school system, and laws (in addition to federal laws). That’s how it works in Canada and the US, anyway, and I’d assume in most of the world’s federal states.
I’d agree with njtt that the constituent states in a real federation actually have more autonomy than the constituent countries of the UK. So you’re right that it’s a different situation, but in the sense that German states are more distinct from each other, legally and politically speaking, that the countries in the UK.
I suppose the real reason is that UK countries have existed as separate entities for centuries before the UK was created, so they have their own history and culture, including their own football teams. The current German states were created in 1949 in a push to eliminate the state of Prussia, so other than, say, Bavaria and a few others, their existence as separate entities is more recent. The US and Canada also have several states/provinces that were created in the late 19th or early 20th century and populated by settlers from other places.
Canada, USA’s hat.
Other examples;
In cricket its the England and Wales Cricket team, though to be honest it IS actually the UK team, if a Scot or Irishman is good enough, he’ll go play for England, Jardine, Denness, Morgan and Joyce for instance.
In addition during the era of the Colonies, British India competed at the Olympics on its own, but aftre 1906 the Government of India was a seperate entity from the UK government.
And finally from the 80’s and 90’s, the criteria for playing for the Irish Republic was i) being able to recognise a goalkeeper from a forward and ii) having read some Irish literature at some time.
I don’t think the ability to read was one of the criteria. That surely would have ruled out some of their players. But certainly, the idea that members of the Ireland team should actually be, you know, Irish was quietly dropped some time in the 1980s. Example: Tony Cascarino, who is actually less Irish than me, or for that matter anybody. Let’s face it, Mahatma Gandhi was more Irish than Tony Cascarino. And rather fond of a pint of Guinness, I hear.
:eek:
THAT surprises me.
What’s next? Chinese players joining the Tibetan Fightin’ Monks? An India/Pakistan team? Israelis inviting Palestinians to join together for the World Cup? A China and Taiwan Unified team?
Medicis joining the Vatican Cardinals? The Jets and the Sharks? Vulcans and Romulans? An Atreides/Harkonnen team? Capulets being asked to join Montague United?
Eh? I’ve never heard anyone say that. Where do you stay?
That’s a fairly contentious point, care to elaborate? Scotland has had a separate legal, religious, educational and in many ways political system for centuries before the unified German state.