JINGS, crivvens, help ma boab. Last week it was the English “stealing” our square sausage and calling it a Squig, and now pollsters are claiming Scots are going to support England in the World Cup this summer.
Supporting England? Should that not be “anyone but England”? But the poll doesn’t lie, and it’s a big one in the eye for all those Sassenach trolls and right-wing political pundits – often they’re the same thing – who constantly say we Scots hate the English.
In a gesture of amazing Scottish magnanimity, England has been selected ahead of Brazil, Spain and Egypt – honest, they’re our fourth favourites – by the Scots as the team they’re most likely to support.
In a poll of 2000 UK citizens, new research commissioned by Living DNA of Frome in Somerset shows how Scotland’s diverse ancestral make-up means residents will be supporting a whole host of nations in this summer’s World Cup.
But England first? Well, it’s a shock poll result that would have Sir John Curtice himself certainly questioning the outcome, but at least the Auld Enemy is in the Finals – for which we didn’t qualify yet again.
It’s all to do with DNA apparently, or at least that’s what Living DNA maintains.
They said: “Scotland’s diverse cultural make-up means it will be supporting a whole host of nations in this summer’s global football tournament”
The survey of 2000 “nationally representative UK respondents” conducted by Opinium in April 2018 reveals which nations will be scoring highest with Scots this summer.
Just over half of Scots, some 52%, will be watching or supporting the tournament despite Scotland failing to qualify.
In a press release they said: “England, Brazil, Spain and Egypt are the nations that Scottish football fans are most likely to support.”
Over a third, that’s 36%, of Scots will pick a team based on their performance while family ties to another nation account for one in ten Scots choosing which team to support.
Ancestral links to Australia, Germany and France may be the reason why they rank in the top nations that Scots will be supporting this summer.
More than two thirds– 69% – of Scots with a family link said they feel more of an allegiance with these teams because that connection.
The top ten teams likely to be favoured by Scottish fans in descending order are England, Brazil, Spain, Egypt, Germany, Argentina, Nigeria, France, Senegal, and Mexico.
Those who think Living DNA may have missed the net on this occasion should be aware that the company is highly respected in its field and indeed has teamed up with Strathclyde University to make a genetic profile of the whole of Scotland.
They are also well aware that Scotland is a mongrel nation, only they put it better when launching the project last November: “Scotland has a rich history of immigration and a diverse genetic structure, which will be explored during the project.
“The country has had multiple waves of immigration since the first hunter gatherers arrived over 12,000 years ago. In recent times, there have been more focused settlement in particular areas of Scotland from Scandinavia and the Baltic, France and the Low Countries with some areas of Scotland being more diverse than others.”
David Nicholson, managing director at Living DNA commented: “Our increasingly varied genetic mix means that more and more people are likely to support more than one team in major sporting tournaments in future.
“It’s fantastic to see so much global support from Scots for the teams participating in this summer’s football tournament.”
A member of the Tartan Army, told about England being top pick for the Scots, had just two words to say: “Aye, right.”
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