Blade Down Under

Well last night I decided to take a visit and watch England put 38 past the Crusaders. I don't think i'll ever get into rugby, despite it being heavily family orientated (which I do like). It just doesn't have that buzz walking to Bramall Lane does, or visiting The Alexandra Stadium. I really did enjoy the match and seeing an England win

However, what bemused me was a large group of so called Englanders that were cheering on the Crusaders but slagging everything off England. Beat these murdering barstewards was quite a common sound and this was coming from recognisable accents. A young gentleman above me asked them to calm their language down, which to be fair they did, but upon being asked where they were from - as expected - Liverpool.

Now, whilst I wish this was a one off, this hasn't been the case since I've been here. I just wonder what is it that particularly gets on peoples nerves about England? Country is going down the pits is another one I've heard from numerous expats here when attending a meetup event. How is England going down the pits????

I have 4 IT staff from England and they've said the same. My favourite was one in particular - she moved because her place got over-ridden by foreigners. Are you a Kiwi I asked, no she answered. So what does that make you?

I'm just wondering, upon writing this - has anyone else experienced people likeminded as the ones mentioned? Expats that refuse to note anything decent about England but just slag it off. England gave you an education, it gave you a chance in life, why hate it? What did little England do to get you so angry?

Pom_Chch

I've seen a whole mixture of people tbh. Brits who are homesick and don't want to be in NZ and then Brits who hate the UK and will never go back, ya know the "it's gone to the dogs" type people. And then you get people who fall in the middle (I like to think I sit in the middle). For my partner and I we do not hate the UK, it just doesn't provide us with the kind of life we would like, whereas NZ does. I don't think the UK has gone to the dogs, but at the same time I am not a fan of some of the aspects of UK life. Having said that I wouldn't sit and slag it off til I'm blue in the face and I do appreciate some of the benefits of living in the UK. On the other hand speaking to Brits who are homesick for the UK do talk about it as if it's all sunshine and roses, like they are only remembering the good bits. Works both ways I guess.

How the guys were acting at the match sounds a bit off. It sounds like they deserved a dressing down for their behavior no matter where they are in the world. Scousers ay?

Mark Smith

I was sitting in the City Care Stand and like most people around me was cheering for both sides/good play. I know what you mean about the atmosphere though, it was a little quiet at times.
I'm 36, got here aged 33. Spent my post university days paying off my education fees and effectively working for nowt whist I accrued experience, renting, standing still, watching those who could play the system get ahead of us. My parents generation managed to to have kids, get a house and have a life. I felt cheated out of this in the UK and let down, working hard in professional jobs (both of us) still wasn't enough to have the security in life my parents had. I miss my family, the pub, the banter, old buildings, squirrels, the layers of culture but the fact we can now own our own place (well 25% of it) overrides these feelings.
Perhaps people that feel truly pissed on and resentful are allowed a little moan occasionally? - although not agreeing with constant slagging off.

Woodlea

Probably just working class northerners slagging off the public schoolboy toffs

e.g.

http://britishexpats.com/forum/sheep...-831528/page4/

Snap Shot

I don't know what 'drives' these sort of people. The England criticizers. In sports stadiums or not.

I just put it down to always having to remind themselves that they are right to have left the country. I find it a bit juvenile and not much different to my car is better than your car etc etc etc. Or worse still my new wife is (by implication of the word new) better than my ex-wife and might just be better than your wife too.

It's got a broken record quality about it, almost like an ex-wife going on and on about the faults of her ex-husband or vice versa.

There's probably people with legitimate concerns or criticisms regarding Britain and their life there. Most people who live in a foreign country just get on with it and take the rough with the smooth. They don't feel the need to turn into an anti-England bore who's rant is on a hair trigger like it could be for politics or sport.

barnsleymat

Nowt wrong with that.

BEVS

Yes. Had to listen to all that rubbish .

Do they not realise they decry themselves, their own families , their own friends .

Makes me inwardlysmile when I here someone go on about 'England to the dogs' or 'immigrants'. I just quietly think, listen to yourself, you sound exactly like what you are moaning about.


Plastic Kiwis.

S_and_T

Ah, nothing like a bit of stereotyping is there? Why did you 'expect' them to be from Liverpool? As you're a Yorkshireman, I could 'expect' you to be a whole lot of stereotypes, but I'll not list them here. (My in-laws are from Yorkshire before you ask).

Don't assume all, if indeed any, people from Liverpool hate the UK. I don't hate it, and proved this by serving in the RAF for 24 years prior to moving to NZ. Whilst I don't doubt there are UK-bashers, you are completely out of order to suggest they all come from Liverpool. Nor should you assume that just because someone swears they originate there as well.

LauraNotts

I dunno, I think it has a lot to do with how much people invest in making emigration work for them. It's a big deal to give up your homeland and come to the other side of the world and as much as it's similar NZ isn't England and never will be. Some people probably deal with those niggling doubts and frustrations about NZ by continually reminding themselves and everyone else why England sucks so much and they had to leave.

Me, I'm in the middle. I miss home but feel settled in Christchurch all the same. If someone said to me I had to stay here for the rest of my life I wouldn't be devastated but all the same if I was told I had to go home I wouldn't be either. After initial ARGHs that is.

barnsleymat

The last few times I've been to Christchurch I've dropped on quite a few Brit/Irish lads out there purely for work as back home there's nothing, they're out here earning to put food on the table back home. It's easy to start hating things back home when you're on the other side of the world working your arse off because the place you're from can't support you and your family with job. These lads haven't emigrated and chose to live in NZ, they've gone where the work is. And who's fault is all this? Well there's a good argument it's the privately educated politicians and privately educated bankers who's responsible for the complete mess the UK is in. Lads like this don't hate home, they hate the reason home is such a mess and the fact they're away from their loved ones. And what better way to show the ruling classes a bit of distain than going along to a rugger match featuring a load of privileged English men playing the sport most linked with the ruling classes and causing a bit of public disorder.

I'm not saying I'm agreeing with such behaviour but after a few beers things like this happen.

The lads were probably called Oz, Neville, Dennis, Bomber, Moxxy, Wayne and Barry, Christchurch is the new Dusseldorf.

Auf Weidersehen

TommyLuck

The OP - atmosphere at sporting events here is generally not what you'd get at a English Football League/Premier League game.

The fans here expect, which is conducive to a poor atmosphere as they wait for something to happen before getting loud. Even then something happens, play stops for whatever reason and the crowd quells again, waiting for the next moment to get excited about.

This is as opposed to fans stirring themselves into a stupor of noise and singing and getting wholly carried away on it - which is an amazing experience, which can lead to some excellent atmosphere experience.

It's just the way it is.

Charismatic

To be fair in my view there are a wide variety of social, political and economic issues that the UK richly deserves nothing less than a savage level of criticism on at the moment.
Why do we have to be anything or belong to any group? Though born in England I’ve always been an outsider there, not able to share the often insular mind sets or many cultural aspects. A country seems like such an artificial construct now.

The people I feel closest to and most alike are not from a geographical location or social background. Arts, politics and science are there culture, being thoughtful and contemplative their ritual, happiness and contentment their goal.

After all which of us, behoved to gaze upwards into the starlight night sky, has not felt a humbled privilege of just being human. I feel not beholden to any regional group or culture or deity but enjoy an immense sense of belonging and warmness here on the earth along with the other humans. Perhaps if we allowed that warmness to resonate more among each other and our children we might realise that, while not our privileged place to be favoured by a deity or assured of success individually or as a species, we may still be happy, content and free to enjoy each other.

So what does that make me?

Blade Down Under

I expected them to be from Liverpool because of something called an accent. Yer know, those things called accents. Ones in particular that can easily stand out in front of a crowd

Just like I can tell when someone is from Birmingham, Newcastle, East London etc. Those four chaps had clear accents that people from the UK would pick up on. Indeed, they were from Liverpool. Croxteth area of Liverpool to be exact.

Oh and just to put peace of mind, my colleagues. One is from Reading, one is from Taunton, one is from Salisbury and the other one is from Watford.

Builder UK

I'm sorry buddy, but you are wrong, way off.

There is plenty of work in the UK construction industry, it's not booming but it's ticking along nicely, even in the grim North, you'll find lads out there on the promise of an abundance off work and pay on the earthquake relief work, which itself is a mass money making scheme, drawn out and dragged on so it can be used as an advert to lure tradesmen over on false promises.

I went and had a look myself and spoke to people and did the numbers, there is also an abundance of Filipino and Chinese construction workers hitting NZ.

People who sit in NZ complaining about England "going down the pan" are usually saying this to reassure themselves and justify their own actions of moving to the other side of the world, basically NZ is not as good as you thought, but to help this, you tell yourself the UK is worse.

I have had 2 emails this year from tradesmen in Christchurch both asking if I had any vacancies and what the situation was in the UK, 1 of them was living in a shared house with strangers working, silly hours on false promises trying to save up some cash to get back to the UK.

Don't get me started on the quality of housing out there, jeez

And to be fair, I got fed up to the back teeth after a week into a 3 month trip of plastic kiwis telling me how bad the UK was, it was constant and from most expats.

davros1984

Unfortunately I hear this too often, primarily in person, but occasionally on this forum. There are those who refuse to believe that you can have a great quality of life and in particular: an outdoorsy life in the UK. Typically its those from the South-East/London.
Also the usual comment "the UK has gone to the dogs". I generally hear this from Scousers - like you mentioned.
In same ways, I completely agree, how can a country now without a real Empire match a country with an Empire with opportunity for all to live, work and experience overseas as if its a normal option. However in the past year or 2, I'd say the UK has improved drastically (based on my reading of the Telegraph in the past 3 years, employment data, housing, salaries, economic reports and whats going on in my sector of the job market).
Being born in the UK is one of the luckiest things anyone could have, it is also one of the greatest countries on this planet and arguably has had more of an impact on human history than any other country.

There are always people who will bitch about it, they have no idea how great the UK can be and the opportunities it has for travel, for work, for history, for education, for health, for sight-seeing. It has its gripes and issues, but so does probably every other country (with the exception of N. Korea )