WATCHING the shenanigans at Stormont during the week, a casual observer might plausibly wonder if anything could ever unite the two traditions in Northern Ireland.
But this afternoon the unionists and nationalists will be at one at least for 90 minutes. When the whistle blows to start the England Scotland match at Wembley, interested observers on both the Shankill and the Falls will be praying that England lose.
The English football team taking the field is arguably the only sporting moment that truly unites a good proportion of people in the North. Rugby may claim to be a cross community game but the two communities it brings together are, with a few notable exceptions, posh Northern Protestants and Southern Catholics. The North's own football team, while reflecting both traditions in its make up, does not receive widespread support in many Catholic areas. But the desire to see England lose is almost ubiquitous.
Feelings are the same south of the border. During the qualifying tournament for the last World Cup finals, I watched the first England Holland game in a packed Dublin pub. When Holland equalised the place erupted. Two rather bemused Australian tourists asked me how come there was such a large Dutch community in Ireland.
It could be argued that the deep animosity towards the English football team is purely a product of colonisation but it is doubtful whether the Francophile nations in Africa will be cheering for Spain tomorrow when they play France.
The arrogance and bias of British television sports coverage also plays a part. When BBC and ITV pundits say the nation expects", they must mean the English nation, as those in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland have no desire to see England win. When, England reached the World Cup final in 1966, the Scottish international Denis Law, who lived in Manchester at the time, played golf rather than watch the game. As he walked up the 18th fairway, celebrating Englishmen came out of clubhouse and signalled to Law that their side had won 4-2. "It was the worst day of my life," Law later recalled without a hint of irony.
The hatred for the English team in Ireland, Scotland, and Wales extends to other sports but is more pronounced in football. The world over football is really the only game that matters. A rugby match has never started a war, people don't riot over hockey and if the well fancied English synchronised swimming side were hammered in Atlanta would anyone really care?
Football is the only global sport which has mass appeal and when nations meet it is about much more than attempting to put the ball in the opponent's net. In many countries the national side is the nation in its purest form. Italy has huge economic, political and regional differences, but when the Azzurri take the field the country comes together as one.
If proof were needed that football is about nationalism look no further than Croatia. Many of the players were part of the Yugoslav team, but say that when they pulled on the jersey of a Serb side, their heart wasn't really in it. Croatian midfield star Zvonimir Boban has told reporters that since his players did not fight inn the war, they can do their bit by winning games. When the Croats place their hands on their hearts for the national anthem, it is not some cheap stunt patriotic fervour is a key element in their desire to win.
Soccer helped start a war between El Salvador and Honduras, and past wars also have a large impact on the football, field. In 1988, when Holland beat Germany 2-1 in the semifinal of the European Championships nine million Dutch people (60 per cent of the entire country) took to the streets to celebrate in the largest public gathering in Holland since the Liberation after the second World War.
To many Dutch inhabitants the victory wiped away feelings of inferiority that lingered after the end of the war.a In Amsterdam, locals threw bicycles into the air and shouted "Hurray, we've got our bicycles back". During the occupation, the Germans had apparently confiscated all bikes in Holland. An Israeli reporter who was covering the 1988 game told a Dutch counterpart before kick off that he would cheering for the men in Orange. "You'll understand why," the Israeli reporter added.
The legacy of the war also slips effortlessly into British commentary on any games involving Germany. The Germans are always described as efficient well organised and ruthless in attack. Earlier this week a diving header by Mattias Sammer was said to be "torpedo like", while a couple of World Cups back Rodney Marsh famously likened the fluid German midfield to a Panzer division sweeping across Europe.
IRONICALLY, while racist neo nazi groups in many European countries attach themselves to football, national teams are for the most part a model of pluralism The football team is often the mirror of a nation, so in recent years sides have come to reflect the diverse ethnic make up of many modern countries. Many European states draw players from their former colonies, whereas Ireland draws players from the colonial power.
Despite the jibes from some quarters that the players don't know their own national anthem, it could be argued that it is fitting in some respects for the Republic's side to contain many second or third generation Irish. Emigration has played a large part in Irish society for generations and the national side reflects that.
The Republic is actually stricter than many other countries in defining who can play for the national side, as they have to have an Irish grandparent or sometimes great grandparent. But according to football's governing body, FIFA, any player who is a naturalised citizen of a country by virtue of that country's laws can play for the national side. The Slovenian Fredi Bobic plays for Germany, the Argentinian Juan Antonio Pizzi is on the Spanish side, and the vast majority of the Russian team are as Russian as cricket.
But the national prejudice and feelings that football excites are likely to remain no matter how diverse teams become. If England fielded a team of naturalised Irishmen to play against a Hitler Youth XI, we'd still be up for the nazis.