Irish attitudes kick back, even regarding the World Cup

DUBLIN -- As James Joyce once observed about Davy Byrne's , Smyth's of Haddington Road is a moral pub.

They don't tolerate cursing or loud, rude talk. One of the regulars is a fellow named Shay, who is confined to a wheelchair, and everyone minds him, stands him a pint now and then, and greets him coming and going. Even England supporters over for the rugby matches at nearby Lansdowne Road stadium are treated with nothing but respect.

But if you're expecting the regulars in Smyth's to cheer on England in the World Cup, you're being a bit optimistic.

As Ireland has become an affluent, confident nation, Anglophobia has receded. After 800 years of a tortured relationship, dominated by an uneven balance of power between colonized and colonizer, the British and Irish have never been more fond of each other.

Still, when it comes to soccer, the Anglo-Irish perestroika is a work still in progress.

Last year, the British Council commissioned a poll to sample Irish attitudes toward their British neighbors. Given a list of five countries and asked which one they would support in an international sporting competition, the Irish ranked only Scotland higher than England, 32 percent to 24 percent. And more Irish said they would cheer England than Wales, France, and Germany, the survey found.

But, the flip side of that question found that when asked what team they were least likely to support, England and Germany tied for the least favorite team, at 32 percent.

``If Germany and England meet in the World Cup final, the Irish wouldn't know what to do," said Tony Reilly , the British Council director in Ireland. ``I think the `Anybody but England' sentiment is on the wane, but not completely over."

Indeed, on Tuesday afternoon, just hours before England took on Sweden in a World Cup match in Germany, as the Enterprise train rolled into Dublin's Connolly Station with passengers who boarded in Belfast two hours earlier, the conductor thanked them for choosing the Enterprise, told them to have a nice day, then added, in an unmistakable north side Dublin accent, ``C'mon, Sweden!"

Inside Smyth's, Maurice Manning, a political scientist at University College Dublin, kept an eye on the match and tried to analyze Irish attitudes about watching the English play soccer.

``If there is still a degree of `Anybody but England' around, I don't think it is a manifestation of bigotry as much as it is a reaction against the British press constantly hyping the England team beyond any reason," Manning said. ``If you listen to the British press, the England side is always one of the best in the world, when they patently are not. The Irish react against that hype by rooting against England."

Reilly said the Irish are similarly miffed at what they call Henmania -- the term given to the way the British press obsess over how England's best tennis player, Tim Henman, will perform at Wimbledon every year.

``I think the animosity that's still out there is about the media, not the England team itself," Reilly said.

He may be a tad optimistic.

``I am not a man with a bias," said Gerry Mulholland, a Dublin taxi driver. ``I have no preference on who gets to beat England."

Three women watching the match at Smyth's personified the diversity of Irish-based opinion. Katarzyna Glodowska-Brady , 33, a native of Poland who is married to an Irishman, was cheering for Sweden. Angela Mollo , 31, who is from New Zealand, supported England. And their boss at the financial services company where they work, Irish native Aileen O'Donoghue , 34, wanted Sweden to win for very selfish reasons.

``I bet on them," she said.

Glodowska-Brady's position was not based on Anglophobia. ``I can swear in Swedish," she noted.

Even Mollo's reasoning was nuanced. As a Kiwi, she said, ``I can't support Australia."

So England gets her nod by default.

In the end, it was a fairly uneventful match, a 2-2 draw. When Sweden scored, most of the crowd at Smyth's cheered and smiled. When England scored, most people said nothing and didn't smile.

Yet several of the regulars at Smyth's said they were glad that England reached the next round.

Manning, the political scientist, had a theory.

``They're saying that," he observed, ``because if England goes out in the next round, it's a bigger fall."