Patriotism & Sport - what's the score?

I've been having a bit of a debate with myself and my aussie aquaintences recently regarding my tendancy to believe that whilst I live in Australia, being English I should not consider supporting Australia in any sport. I have always felt the aussies just take their sport far too seriously and lack that 'it's the taking part that counts' attitude!

My inclinations stem from a certain Rugby World Cup 2003 which, whilst I did get a bit patriotic during it, I didn't get too bothered about the actual sport or country rivalry... Until a post-world cup match when my newly found man (aka Dan) spent some time in a pub in Sydney to watch the first game post the world cup when England consequently got thrashed. My night was ruined. After getting all dolled up for a night at the casino, arriving at the pub to meet Dan and him subsequently retiring to bed at 9pm in the biggest mood I'd ever witnessed without speaking to a single sole. It was at this point that I realised just how serious the whole 'Australia v England' thing had become...

Dan seems to have erased this whole incident from his mind and now believes that as permanent residents of Australia we should support them, with the only exception being when they play England. I (with the scars of that night in Sydney still in my mind) disagree. I recently cheered for New Zealand against Australia in a pub full of aussies. I actually quite enjoyed being the under dog and could never deny my love for those tough guys doing the hakka in their all black outfits...

I was pretty set in my 'Never Support Australia in Any Sport' policy until just a couple of days ago when the Olympics got going. I've never been a particular Olympic fan (just talk to my mum, then you'll see where I get it from) but somehow the whole aussie love for sport has been gnawing at me... How can anyone resist getting behind the country when they give you this kind of advert?

I also felt myself in a bit of a predicament when my friend Philly's brother was representing Australia in the men's beach volleyball on Saturday - how can I not support a friends brother in the Olympics?!

Anyhow, this whole debate (plus a bottle of two of wine) has lead me to creating a protocol for my patriotic support of sporting teams, as follows...

Olympics
- Support Great Britain as priority
- Support Australia in games where friends brothers are competing (Philly Schact being the friend, Andrew Schact being the brother)
- Support Australia if Great Britain is absent from the game to be supported

Rugby- Support England as absolute priority
- Dilemmas in rugby –
Aus v New Zealand – support NZ as I like the Haka and black team colours
Aus v South Africa – A tricky one, and ideal situation is not to support either but if forced will support Australia
Aus v Wales – I would go with Wales as it’s close to Gloucester but Dan tells me it is an absolute no no to support Wales
Aus v Ireland – Support Ireland as I just love a man with an Irish accent

Football (aka Soccer)- At an international level, don’t support any team as the whole thing is a big pile of commercialised poo
- At a local level Dan supports Arsenal and if Becky were interested she would support Liverpool… but to support Dad and Bro it’d be Huddersfield Town I suppose

AFL (aka Football or Aussie Rules)

- Support Port Adelaide (Go the Power) as a priority - I love the teal and black and adore the beards, leather and harleys amongst the fans
- Never ever ever support the Adelaide Crows – bunch of middle class twits… the only exception to this rule is if the Adelaide Crows play Geelong – we would support the crows as we don’t like Geelong as they beat the Power in last years Grand Final

The debate will go on I'm sure... but for now, I'm a bit uninspired by the BBC advert for the Olympics... Come on British Broadcasting Association - give me some motivation!