England radio bans England

Wherein this is the kind of crap you get if you start allowing offensive speech laws


Radio 1 bans use of England:

RADIO 1 have banned World Cup songs that contain the word "England".

A Radio 1 insider said: "We've been told songs that contain the word England repeatedly can't be put on the playlist because we don't want to upset anyone who isn't English."

But the main factor in deciding to playlist a song is musical merit.":

Radio 1 has banned World Cup songs that mention England - in case they upset Welsh, Scots or Irish listeners.

Bands who use the E word will get the red card from the station's all-important playlist.

But they claim no official ban:

The BBC Radio 1 controller, Andy Parfitt, has denied that his station has banned World Cup songs that mention England.
The Daily Mirror reported this morning that the station had banned England songs so as not to upset listeners in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.

The station's all-important playlist, which lists the songs that can be played during daytime, does not feature any World Cup songs that mention England, despite there being two currently in the Top 40.

As far as speech laws go, Germany is much worse outlawing anything to do with the Third Reich. Throwing Things links to a story about England fans waving inflatable Spitfires and even John Cleese is campaigning against fans using his Basil Fawlty impersonation. England may be known for its hooligans, but most of Europe (at least Spain, Italy, and Eastern Europe) has the most vile, racist fans around. So I'm not getting too worked up about Englanders chanting "2 World Wars, 1 World Cup." Doesn't even approach the level of throwing bananas at black players. Here's a couple links I added in the comments.

The Sun:

DECENT soccer fans fired a broadside at the sick senors of Spain last night over disgraceful racist taunts aimed at black England players.

Stars Ashley Cole, Shaun Wright-Phillips and Jermaine Jenas endured vile monkey chants as England lost 1-0 to Spain in a “friendly” in Madrid on Wednesday.

But yesterday England fans threw the taunts back in Spain’s face and sang: “One Armada and NO World Cups.”

It was an ironic twist on the terrace chant aimed at German rivals - “Two World Wars and one World Cup”.

The Guardian:

"Dream on, ambassador. No one who has ever been to an England v Germany game - with its incessant singing of the Dambusters march and its What's It Like to Lose a War? chants - is likely to share that optimism. It is a fortnight since the Beckhams, no less, were compelled to cancel an RAF Spitfire and Hurricane flypast at their pre-tournament party. The other day the Daily Mail dubbed the England team's Baden-Baden headquarters "Stalag Sven". A new era in Anglo-German sensitivities? I don't think so."

The Star:

An England soccer supporters group said Thursday that citizens of World Cup host Germany won't get offended if they hear fans singing about World War II.

England coach Sven-Goran Eriksson has asked England fans not to sing soccer chants that reference the "The Dam Busters'', a 1954 film based on real-life incidents of British planes bombing Germany during the war.

Bonus Link: For an example of where an overemphasis on not being offensive gets us, read the Done With Mirrors post and comments, Picture This.