Whilst I always look forward to an international weekend whoever is playing, there really is something very, very special about an England v Wales match. This predates the Lovechickens, and has always been the match I most looked forward to each and every year. I think for me the love of this game is down to the history and the pedigree of two sides that have in their time bathed in glory as the greatest teams of their time. (Northern Hemisphere). I refer to the great Welsh teams of the 70’s who created so many Rugby legends and more recently the Great English teams that have dominated the 5 nations and then 6 nations and obviously the current holders of the Webb Ellis Trophy.
I think that the passion the Welsh Nation has for the greatest game on earth (with the possible exception of Online Texas Hold Em Poker) is unrivalled and it is this passion that I now need to refer to.
The Welsh are the greatest, most gracious losers that it has been my pleasure to commiserate with after the final whistle has blown and we head off into the bars and clubs of Cardiff or Richmond with a pat on the back from every Taff we meet, stating what a great game the English played and how we deserved to win, whilst in return with our usual English graciousness concede that we had indeed played well but Wales had put up a hell of a fight and were unlucky not to have beaten us. We then all agree that we could lay no blame on the Welsh players but instead on the WRFU hierarchy for their incompetence before downing another 2 or 3 pints in quick succession, toasting both teams. This is how after game celebrations should take place.
Now I come to the point of this Blog. The Art of Winning Graciously or Disgraciously as it really should be headed. Whilst this is definitely not a dig at any of the Chickens, who have been more than gracious in the past, it is an observation of the Welsh in general once they are victorious. It is the change in attitude and behaviour towards anybody who is adorning any sign of an English Rose anywhere on their person. Instead of the commiseration ceremony by the victors towards the vanquished, there is an altogether different attitude adopted.
This can come in many degrees of negativity from just being a few nasty comments as to my English parentage to full on assault tactics.
As an example let me cast your mind back to the Wales v England game in Wembley on that glorious Saturday afternoon in April 1999. What a fantastic match, so closely matched throughout. We were in the Claude in Roath and what an atmosphere. A couple of hundred Welshmen and Women proudly in Red and only 2 or 3 of us Englishmen resplendent in our White Jersey’s. The atmosphere was fantastic, and the banter throughout the Claude was as good as I have ever known. Everybody was enjoying the game and the playful insults were being hurled across the pub at each other in the greatest of spirits. One minute to go and England are leading. Whilst the Welsh seemed to be resigned to yet another defeat at the hands of the old foe whilst the English could already feel the Grand Slam was won yet again, my good friend and Rugby Legend Scott Gibbs scores a last minute try which is converted by the Great Neil Jenkins to give the Welsh a 32-31 victory. What more could any Rugby fan want but the drama of that game, no matter who you supported.
But there was no time to celebrate or commiserate as the mood changed within The Claude. It was turning particularly ugly and nasty. The win seemed to boil the blood of a good proportion of the gathered Welsh throng. Instead of the usual slaps on the back and the sympathetic “Unlucky Bud” for losing, the 2 or 3 Englishmen in the pub were subjected to a tirade of abusive remarks with spitting and threats of violence getting worse by the second. My good friends of the Chickens surrounded us to protect us and we quickly left the Claude totally bemused as to the change in character of what a few minutes earlier were a joyous and jovial crowd. How could winning a game in such style turn a crowd into such and ugly mob intent on making our defeat even worse. Talk about kick a man when he is down.
Now you could consider this an isolated incident, but no, over the ensuing years, usually whilst on tour with the Chickens and England have been defeated, the same pattern of behaviour has risen again and again wherever we have been or whoever has beaten us.
My conclusion in all of this is that, the Welsh do not know how to win graciously. Now whenever I have raised this point with the learned Rooster as to why this is the case, he just answers that it is because the Welsh hate the English so much that any victory is like winning a Battle against Long Shanks himself. But I still don’t understand why the English are hated so vehemently by our closest neighbours. Please enlighten me so I can better understand the treatment that is meated out to us in defeat.
No really I want to know why you hate us so much!!!!!! I want reasons, dates, events, battles, whatever it is that has engrained the hatred of the English into the Welsh DNA.
3 comments:
Sometimes my ill looking campese lookalike - it is about attitude - i will take readers back to 2000 when on the sunday the jocks were playing the imperial pig dogs and were putting up a fine performance.
At half time, you (with cigar) turn to the throng of people watching and state.
'Woodwards going to have a good talk to them and then we are going to come out so strong its going to be like an exhibition match heheheh'
exhibition match it was, in how to beat a superior english side and stop them winning the grand slam for a second year running
ok for starters, English people not welsh deciding to close industry in Wales, also a few decades ago Welsh towns were drowned to supply Liverpool and Birmingham with water, now they sell that on. Britain is the 4th richest country in the world but somehow Wales in the poorest in Western Europe.
English flags being put up in Supermarkets in Wales during the world cup and many english people saying that its because we are British and neighbours, how fucking arrogant is that? English this and english that being rammed down our throats, treating us like some second rate colony and you think that we should give you a hug. We are fighting for our very existence! Anyway i dont see so much love lost between you and your neighbours the French, so stop being so bloody hypocritical.
You make some good points but the rest you have written is irreverent and unconsidered dross.
Your first paragraph should be ignored because if you do not know about Thatcher in the eighties or know that decisions of supermarkets for ‘national’ displays aren’t done from England then I am truly surprised you managed to put your ‘offering’ together without your crayon.
The drowning of the village was voted for by MP’s of English constituencies and voted against by every single Welsh MP – read about it. They didn’t sit down to fuck the Welsh off because their actions did that anyway – those English people (all from Liverpool council and backed up by English MP’s) thought so little of the Welsh they decided to destroy communities no matter what it meant to the people. Judge those English people by what they have done. That is one specific or are you going to argue that I need a hundred specifics to actually get a point over?
So there is no English parliament but as part of the UK, England has more MP’s (quite rightly so), so they have the main votes and therefore they have most of the investment – fact. Why should they worry about Wales – that’s not where a government will gain votes – they form government because of the votes they get from England. Is this specific enough?
You last line was probably the most nonsensical – how can I answer for other peoples hatred of the English – I can only give theories based on history and who I talk to. In the latter case every person may have a different reason, most is crap but to them it is jsutified.
As for my opinion, I actually don’t care about the English. I love and care about my friends and family who are English.I am Welsh and we have enough problems of our own without blaming the foreigners over the border. Britain is on its way out and we have to learn to look at how we in Wales will make things better for our own country. Independence is the only way and can be done no matter how the British nationalists carp on. England is not in our way, I support their independence as well, it is a section of ignorant pathetic treacherous Welshman that sadly are.
Independence!
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