A new YouGov Omnibus survey reveals the extent of Scotland’s sporting enmity towards England

With England’s first match of the World Cup set to kick off on Monday next week, it is apparent that the three lions side cannot rely on the support of England’s northern neighbours.

New YouGov Omnibus research reveals that only 13% of Scots want England to win the world cup. This stands in contrast to the 65% of English people who want the English team to win.

In fact, it seems that a significant proportion of Scots will actively be rooting for England’s opponents.

When presented with a scenario where England were playing an international friendy against a non-British team (i.e. not Wales, Scotland or Northern Ireland), 35% of Scots say they would actively want England to lose their match.

By contrast, only 7% of Scots say they would want Wales or Northern Ireland to lose their match in a similar scenario.

On the flip side, 20% of Scots say they would support their English neighbours. Again, the Welsh and Northern Irish teams are noticeably more likely to be on the receiving end of Scottish goodwill than the English team, at 35% and 37% respectively.

Scotland’s enmity towards the English football side is not reciprocated: only 10% of English people would want Scotland to lose in the same international friendly scenario, while 28% would lend them their support. Additionally, English people draw no distinction between Scotland and the other home nations: attitudes towards the Scottish team are essentially identical to those expressed towards the Welsh and Northern Irish teams.

Photo: Getty

See the results for Scotland and England

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