The National Anthem at football matches

[Factamondo]

Its the English FA Cup Final played in the Capital of England and you object to the anthem being played because some of the fans are not English?

We already pander to the Welsh by not playing it when one of their teams plays at Wembley even though its also their National Anthem and I recall when we played Cardiff in the Play Off Final it was not played in case it upset them!!

I sincerely hope they play it when England play Ireland leter this month as the FA are warning us that will not accept the chant of "No Surrender" during ir even though this has been sang for years since the troubles ceased in the North of Ireland and is now sang against mainly Al Quaida or any group who threatens our Nation

Can you imagine if a steward came down the steps at the old Wembley in say 1941 and tried ejecting Winston Churchill because he said me must never surrender to the Nazis?

The whole Country has gone mad

mr isleworth i salute you for a fantastic post mate......spot on

[QPR_NW10]

Its the English FA Cup Final played in the Capital of England and you object to the anthem being played because some of the fans are not English?

We already pander to the Welsh by not playing it when one of their teams plays at Wembley even though its also their National Anthem and I recall when we played Cardiff in the Play Off Final it was not played in case it upset them!!

I sincerely hope they play it when England play Ireland leter this month as the FA are warning us that will not accept the chant of "No Surrender" during ir even though this has been sang for years since the troubles ceased in the North of Ireland and is now sang against mainly Al Quaida or any group who threatens our Nation

Can you imagine if a steward came down the steps at the old Wembley in say 1941 and tried ejecting Winston Churchill because he said me must never surrender to the Nazis?

The whole Country has gone mad

Don't get me wrong I would sing if it was being played. I'm by no means suggesting we don't do it because we might offend people - but I just don't see the point in doing it when about 90% of the professionals involved are not English

I understand the the English cup final held at the English national stadium in the capital city...but what about the rugby final - in two weeks the top two teams in the English rugby league meeting in the English final in the English national stadium in the capital and they won't sing the national anthem.

I think there needs to be a real football anthem...abide with me is ok, not great but it's traditional.

My point is that the national anthem should be used when our national team is playing. Otherwise it's importance is taken away. Far from pandering to the Don't Offend Anyone brigade I want to see the anthem protected more, not used anytime with no thought as to why its being sung

[QPR Richard]

Some people confuse Englishness and Britishness and think they're the same thing. They're not.

If it were true, then Britishness and Scottishness are the same, meaning Britishness Englishness and Scottishness are the same, and therefore Englishness and Scottishness are the same, which of course they're not.

I'm English and a Londoner. I'm not British or European.

Rant over

[DeepcutHoop]

Some people confuse Englishness and Britishness and think they're the same thing. They're not.

If it were true, then Britishness and Scottishness are the same, meaning Britishness Englishness and Scottishness are the same, and therefore Englishness and Scottishness are the same, which of course they're not.

I'm English and a Londoner. I'm not British or European.

Rant over

Most English people don't care too much about the difference between English/British

Some do, but as the biggest of the countries in Britain, it's understandable that we don't make as big of a fuss. It's not the English way....

You are British and European Richard, you may not identify yourself as such if asked, as is your right, it doesn't stop you being them.

Edit: I'm getting a strange sense of deja vu here. Should probably leave it there, for sanity's sake.

[QPR Richard]

Most English people don't care too much about the difference between English/British

Some do, but as the biggest of the countries in Britain, it's understandable that we don't make as big of a fuss. It's not the English way....

You are British and European Richard, you may not identify yourself as such if asked, as is your right, it doesn't stop you being them.

Edit: I'm getting a strange sense of deja vu here. Should probably leave it there, for sanity's sake.

Actually, in the 2011 census you can identify yourself as English.

So that's what I did

[Factamondo]

i think that being proud in being english has been sabotaged by some as being ' a jingositic racist' and here is where the problem lays....most children born here to 'immigrant' parents appear to not follow the country of their birth but their parents....ive no problem with that yet for me it makes me even more determined to never be ashamed of my proud english heritage and oppose those who choose to thrown scorn on us being 'english'!

[DeepcutHoop]

i think that being proud in being english has been sabotaged by some as being ' a jingositic racist' and here is where the problem lays....most children born here to 'immigrant' parents appear to not follow the country of their birth but their parents....ive no problem with that yet for me it makes me even more determined to never be ashamed of my proud english heritage and oppose those who choose to thrown scorn on us being 'english'!

No the problem is that some jingoistic racists have made out that people are stopping them from being proud of being English.

Majority of people don't want to be associated with them, and tend to shy away from the aggressive style of nationalism.

When there's a bigger unifying event, like a big sporting event or tournament, or a national event like the jubilee etc, everyone embraces it and enjoys a bit of pomp and circumstance.

[Factamondo]

agreed deeps i love the pomp n ceremony of a 'national' event but dont want to see zieh heiling meatheads shaming our flag!

[WeAreQPR12]

i think that being proud in being english has been sabotaged by some as being ' a jingositic racist' and here is where the problem lays....most children born here to 'immigrant' parents appear to not follow the country of their birth but their parents....ive no problem with that yet for me it makes me even more determined to never be ashamed of my proud english heritage and oppose those who choose to thrown scorn on us being 'english'!

I still don't get Isleworths point, unless he just clearly has an issue with opera.

He moans about a posh 'english' woman which symbolizes the nation of 'us', more than most things ie like an english rose and easy on the eye.. and yet he doesn't mention a dickie bird with regards to 1 of the men, singing it that has west indian routes, you couldn't make it up and although I might not be being PC, I think this is exactly why we have lost our identity because of all the foreigners that so call represent us!

[QPRWEBBIE]

It's all SH* T these days,long gone has the great build up for the 3 o'clock ko of the best cup competition in the world, gone is the vocal support from the passionate fans singing the national anthem due to someone bellowing it out over a microphone and gone is the full house at Wembley,can't believe the amount of empty seats around the ground.

[IsleworthRanger]

I still don't get Isleworths point, unless he just clearly has an issue with opera.

He moans about a posh 'english' woman which symbolizes the nation of 'us', more than most things ie like an english rose and easy on the eye.. and yet he doesn't mention a dickie bird with regards to 1 of the men, singing it that has west indian routes, you couldn't make it up and although I might not be being PC, I think this is exactly why we have lost our identity because of all the foreigners that so call represent us!

I could not give a toss what colour anyone is if they choose to sing the National Anthem and I only wish more that more of us would be proud of doing so rather then being ashamed

My origional point was the the opera singers completely ruin it year after year with there forced high notes and shrills and as Factp quite rightly pointed out this has no place in what should be a working class game and yet it is done year after year after decisions made by old men in grey suits at the FA who are completely out of touch with the game as usual

[loneranger]

And it used to always be sunny.

[WeAreQPR12]

I could not give a toss what colour anyone is if they choose to sing the National Anthem and I only wish more that more of us would be proud of doing so rather then being ashamed

My origional point was the the opera singers completely ruin it year after year with there forced high notes and shrills and as Factp quite rightly pointed out this has no place in what should be a working class game and yet it is done year after year after decisions made by old men in grey suits at the FA who are completely out of touch with the game as usual

Yeah I can see your point and I guess it doesn't really suit the passion it should provide, however the fact that a black man sings it is wrong imo. This is not a racist point but most of my friends are indian born in the uk. They all see themselves as indian not english and for that reason I don't get how you could relate to them, if they could sing and was choosen to perform on the big stage which is an Fa cup final. I do agree that it should be sung and disagree with the other poster because the fa cup has so much history it deserves to be respected.

[WeAreQPR12]

And it used to always be sunny.

****** global warming for you!

[DeepcutHoop]

It's all SH* T these days,long gone has the great build up for the 3 o'clock ko of the best cup competition in the world, gone is the vocal support from the passionate fans singing the national anthem due to someone bellowing it out over a microphone and gone is the full house at Wembley,can't believe the amount of empty seats around the ground.

I get the feeling the later kick off has something to do with the lower sun at that point. The new Wembley suffers badly from a TV point of view when the sun's out as there's half the pitch in shadow. It makes it look ****e on TV as the camera has to change exposure over and over.

The FA cup should always be the last game of the season IMO. The FA seems to have decided that the Premier League is the the showpiece so that must be the last event, even if it is an anticlimax like this year.