Why English Rugby & Football is Wrong...

I'm just going to ask a question today.

Why is it that the English rugby and football national teams do not sing the English national anthem?

The English national anthem is Land of Hope and Glory. The English teams sing the 'British national anthem' God Save the Queen (as does the Northern Irish football team).

Does it strike anyone else as bizarre that the English national team (not a British team) doesn't sing its own country's anthem? Never mind all the pundits and talking heads who mistakenly refer to the song as the English national anthem...

Is it symptomatic of English national identity being synonymous with a British identity (in the way that English/British and Empire were synonymous to many before WW2) or is it simply ignorance?

Sorry there's nothing more controversial today (re.G20 etc.) but your intrepid writer still has the flu -- man flu, so I'm close to dying as far as Mrs FC is concerned ;-)

Feel free to take part in the 48 hour poll on the G20 protests though...