From: "Dave Coull" <d.y.coull-AT-dundee.ac.uk>
Date: Mon, 15 Feb 1999 14:32:23 GMT
Subject: Re: lingua franca/football


Andy wrote

>I'd forgotten the Scots had a football team of their own. 

Unlike other, more middle class sports, football was
originally a working class game, so there was never
the slightest suggestion that there could be such
a thing as a "British" team. The rivalry was just too
intense. The very first international football match ever 
was between Scotland and England. These two teams 
are therefore the oldest "national" sides there are. 
The entire structure of international football is simply 
what has been "added on" to the founder members. 


Dave