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‘Anyone but England’ T-shirts ‘could be racist’
Police warn Aberdeen store that window display could cause a disturbance
Scottish police have warned a store selling "Anyone but England" T-shirts in the run-up to the World Cup that its window display might be considered racist and should perhaps be removed. A spokesman for the Aberdeen store Slanj, which also has branches in Glasgow and Edinburgh, said staff were "flabbergasted".
"We have been selling this T-shirt for the past three months and we've had a great response," saud Ross Lyle of Slanj. "Even the English people who come into the store think it's a laugh and just a bit of tongue-in-cheek football banter.
"We're certainly not being racist. We are the same race as the English. It's just daft to say it's offensive."
But Pc McPlod begs to differ. A spokesman for the Grampian police said: "The primary role of any police force is to preserve the peace and we would be failing in our duty if we did not make people aware of the potential for disturbance such a window display could cause.
"The Grampian area, in common with the rest of the country, has recorded incidents relating to nationality and we have a responsibility to do our best to ensure that incidents of this nature are kept to a minimum. The public expect no less of us."
The Scottish, like the Welsh and the Irish, have no national team to support in South Africa. Only England made it through the qualifiers.
However, those countries have seen an upsurge in support for Algeria, the USA and Slovenia - England's opponents in the group stage of the tournament. ·
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Ahh Jack, Jack my last sentence cut deep. Don't worry you're part of the United Kingdom, a farce to be reckoned with globally ;-)
****ing Jocks not content with taking over parliament they just love to support any team but England no matter what the sport.
If Scotland is such a great place why is it that everywhere you go in the world you hear that whining grating accent from the expat Jock crying in his cups about his homeland, this usually just before starting a fight over the way someone looks at him, as for the women well Susan Boyd says it all.
Get yourselves a national team any sport will do that can compete on the world stage and then you can support them, I won't hold my breath though.
As an english person who lived in scotland for 20 years I would say that yes it is racist but there wont be any disturbances because the english in scotland are used to it and have enough dignity and humour to take it in good part. we dont feel that we need protecting from this kind of 'joking' even though quite a lot of scots are quite serious about their irrational hatred of 'the english' but paradoxically on a personal level are perfectly willing to like an english person.
We are not bitter about these shirts, bring it on!
Oh, and by the way, that British bloke 'Andy Murrey' is a Scot again today, until he wins his first 'Grand Slam' that is!
Here in Welsh Wales we will all be supporting our English Neighbours in their quest to win the World Cup AGAIN. However, we do share the same Football Association, so maybe thats why we feel more Nationalism.
No hard feelings at all, good luck for 2014....!
If the wee country stopped doing stuff like this I'd be worried, as it'd mean we weren't making them feel insecure anymore.
Ahh. Patrick Patrick. I suppose referring to an entire nation of people as small minded doesn't qualify as racist? So having deftly brandished all of us North of the border with same pejorative brush, perhaps you would kindly remind us what allegiance we are compelled to share with the likes of yourself.
i am ashamed to say i come from scotland when i see such rubbish like these teeshirts i have lived in england for 20 years and allways been treated very well by the english people and the english people i know allways support scotland when they play foriegn teams who ever designed thes teeshirts should be ashamed of them selfs we are all suppose to be british
Lingdada, it is people like you who have led to this moronic situation.
Supporting your football team or country is not racist, i have some amazing news for you. i can support my team without hating anyone. Most people are able to see these Tee shirts as a bit of humour. Must be very little crime in Aberdeen.
All Nationalism is intrinsically racist! We are better than you? Foreigners out? Foreigners don't understand us? My team is better than yours? Don't mention the war? I'm Proud to be... I was born here...
I see nothing wrong or racist about selling what-ever T-shirt. Any-one has the right to support any team he/she likes. I am an African and 'am in Africa but I never support any team in Africa I am a LIVERPOOL supporter and this team is in England
Well of course it's racist. But I hope that my fellow Englishfolk wouldn't have a sense of humour failure about it...there's far too much political correctness around.
Small minded.......but who, The police certainly but, also the people who automatically decide to support other nations with which they share no allegiance. Maybe it's to be expected; the smaller the nation the smaller the mindset.