You may have read a BBC report about the police visiting the premises of Slanj Ltd, a kilt firm who also do a line in amusing t-shirts. In this instance, the police popped round on their own initiative, to warn the company that their “Anyone But England” shirts… well, read it for yourself!
A company selling “Anyone but England” T-shirts for this year’s World Cup has rejected suggestions it is racist after police in Aberdeen visited its store.
Police warned Slanj, which also has stores in Glasgow and Edinburgh, that a window display featuring the shirt could cause offence.
The same article describes staff as “flabbergasted.” So am I. The people to ask about offence here are surely the English living in Scotland – well, that’s me, and I’m not offended. Indeed, I’ve contacted Slanj to ask if they’d consider making another shirt, this one for England fans watching the World Cup in Scotland.
I’ll let you know how they respond, but in the meantime, this kind of nonsense has gone far enough. Show your support for Slanj and common sense by buying a t-shirt.
nice one – well said
I agree. It is, after all, a t-shirt. Let them wear it if they so wish. It is a bit of banter.
However, I’d guess there’d be a bigger backlash if I wore an England football shirt in a Scottish pub than this shirt in an English one… which probably says more about the publics in both countries than the shirt.
That said, it COULD cause offence. Some sensitive souls may be offended by it. So? I could be offended by any number of things. Hell, I’m offended by people holding their knife and fork incorrectly. However, the fact that I am offended isn’t enough, really. Was the offence intended? Was it widespread? Was it offensive ”enough” to warrant further action?
On races: I don’t believe the human species can be divided into races. Even if I did, I wouldn’t think England and Scotland were separate races. Tellingly, the nonsense around Rangers fans’ sectarian singing of the ‘Famine Song’ should have been viewed in the same light. It was, of course, deemed racist.
The Irish are not a race. I’m not denying the song is crass, bigoted, sectarian and offensive but racist? Clearly not.
That isn’t to say that anti-Anglo abuse shouldn’t be taken seriously and, perhaps, there is an argument to say that low-level anti-Englishness like this does create an environment for more violent/upsetting/offensive behaviour. I see the argument but view it as, well, tosh.
RCM
How about a t-shirt that reads “Offended? Fuck off.”
Well I am offended! I’m fed up of this stupid childish banter. We should live in harmony as neighbours. What is so wrong about Scottish folks supporting England in the World Cup & vice versa? I certainly would like Scotland to win any games they are playing. At least my intelligent Scottish friends don’t hold these outmoded views!
Sorry Karen, you are SO naive that you probably don’t think it spells Evian backwards! The Sweaties are much like the Taffies and the Paddies, they have an enormous inferiority complex, with good reason, they’re inferior. Now what would happen if I were to open a shop selling T-shirts in England saying something like “Fuck the Sweaties”, “Twank the Taffs”, “Poke a Paddy”? The problem is that because the English are SO superior to the rest of the occupants of the English isles that the powers that be believe they have to protect them, but they know that they don’t need to at all because they are also aware that they are all like just so many pieces of shit on our shoes and isn’t really that much of a problem, we just hold our noses, scrape them on the kerbside and move on. We’ll never have to support any of them in the World cup anyway because they never get there! :O))
I’m a Scot living in England. I’m going to wear one down here – I’ll let you know if the locals really do have a sense of humour.