There is a phrase that gets dusted off every time England go deep into a tournament, and you hear it from Gretna to Wick before the Three Lions have even warmed up: anyone but England. Now, with Gareth Southgate's successors standing two matches away from ending six decades of hurt — or whatever the precise figure of suffering turns out to be — Scottish football fans are once again being asked to declare their allegiances.

England against Argentina in a World Cup semi-final is about as loaded a fixture as the sport can produce. For Scots, it carries an extra layer. On one side, the Auld Enemy. On the other, a country whose football rivalry with England has produced some of the most theatrical moments in World Cup history, and whose famous blue-and-white shirts have apparently been flying off the shelves in Glasgow this week. Three sports shops visited in the city by the BBC found Argentina strips in plentiful supply. England jerseys? Not a single one.

Big Brother Problems

Hamish Husband, a Tartan Army organiser who was partly brought up in England and has a soft spot for Carlisle United — which tells you something about the complexity of cross-border identity all on its own — says he simply does not watch England games. The guilt of wanting them to lose is too much. "England is our big brother," he explains, "and sometimes you don't want your big brother to do well, do you?"

His frustration is not really aimed at the players or the manager. It is, at its heart, a media grievance. He points out that Scottish viewers watch England games through an entirely English broadcast lens — commentators referring to "our nation" and "our country" — and argues that is a situation no other pair of neighbouring nations would readily accept. The Dutch, he notes, do not tune in to watch Germany play through German commentary teams.

That specific irritation is unlikely to fade whoever is holding the trophy come the final whistle on Sunday. But Husband is equally clear that Scotland supporters who dress up in sombreros or pull on Argentine shirts are being, in his own word, "churlish". Light-hearted jesting he can live with. Active cheerleading against England is a step too far.

Family Ties Cut Across It All

Not every Scot is reaching for the anti-England playbook, though. Robbie McSkimming, 30, born and raised in Dunfermline and a committed Scotland fan who has cheered on the Tartan Army against England at Hampden Park, will be supporting the Three Lions in this semi-final. Family connections that cross the border have made it natural for him to want England to do well in the latter stages of tournaments he cannot cheer Scotland through.

"Growing up there wasn't too much to cheer about for Scotland anyway," he says, with the kind of resigned cheerfulness that only a Tartan Army veteran can really pull off. "So when I was young and getting into football, having the choice to watch an England team that had all the players I was watching on Match of the Day was quite enticing."

He describes the anyone-but-England sentiment as "a bit of fun in football", nothing more sinister than that. And the numbers broadly support the idea that most Scots sit somewhere in the complicated middle. A YouGov poll conducted before the tournament found that roughly 31% of Scottish respondents wanted England to do badly — a significant chunk, but hardly a consensus. Around one in ten said they would actively support their southern neighbours, a figure that maps fairly neatly onto the proportion of people living in Scotland who were actually born in England, per the 2022 census.

A Rivalry as Old as the Game Itself

Scotland versus England, first played in 1872, is the oldest international fixture in football. Both nations claim a hand in inventing the sport. In the early years, Scotland dominated, their passing game setting a template the world would eventually follow. England won the World Cup in 1966. Scotland, qualifying for their first tournament since 1998 this summer, went out in the group stage — maintaining a tradition of heartbreak that is almost comforting in its consistency.

The Argentina connection goes back a long way too. When the two sides met in the 1998 World Cup knockouts, a factory in Ayrshire was busy manufacturing Argentina's blue-and-white kits. History, as ever in this corner of football, has a habit of looping back on itself.

Whatever happens in that semi-final, the debate north of the border will not be settled by the final whistle. It never is.

FAQs

Frequently asked

Why do Scottish fans often support whoever is playing against England?
The rivalry between Scotland and England is the oldest in international football, dating back to 1872, and carries a long cultural and historical weight. Many Scots see backing England as going against that tradition, though a significant number — particularly those with family ties south of the border — do support the Three Lions.
Did Scotland qualify for the 2026 World Cup?
Yes, Scotland qualified for the 2026 World Cup — their first since France 1998 — and played their group-stage matches in the United States, including games in Boston and Miami, before being eliminated in the group stage.
How many people in Scotland were born in England?
According to the 2022 census, just over 506,000 people living in Scotland were born in England, representing roughly one in ten of the population. This partly explains why a similar proportion of Scottish football fans say they support England in international tournaments.