How many countries are in the United Kingdom?

As far as the Olympics Games is concerned,  the UK is one contestant although for some reason we call it Team GB. As far as football’s World Cup is concerned, we have four teams – England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland – but we still do terribly.

Now, when it comes to the Commonwealth Games which opened in Glasgow today, the UK has seven entrants: England, Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland, Jersey, Guernsey, and the Isle of Man.  Is this crazy or what?

This entry was posted on Wednesday, July 23rd, 2014 at 10:03 pm and is filed under British current affairs. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.

2 Comments

  • Nadine Wiseman
    July 24th, 2014 at 8:57 am

    Here’s what my husband Howard has to say – he’s interested in borders, boundaries, names, that sort of thing, though not particularly sports.

    “It’s not as crazy as it sound. It’s not as if there are 3 more countries invented for the Commwealth games. It’s that those 3 (Man, Jersey and Guernsey) don’t have strong enough football teams to enter into the World Cup qualifiers.

    The UK includes only England, NI, Scotland and Wales.

    “Team GB” includes both the UK and those 3 surrounding Island dependencies, and other overseas dependencies.

    The only really “crazy” part is the name “Team GB” since it doesn’t even acknowledge Northern Ireland, let alone the dependencies.”

    Personally I expect the “Team GB” branding is a PR thing, about the assonance of the words, and rapid recognition.

    Anyway, Go Team Whatchamacallit!

    Nadine

  • Roger Darlington
    July 24th, 2014 at 10:13 am

    So one day the Isle of Man might beat England in the World Cup!