Gents, look, its like this:
I think Anikarob is just saying that there is a lot of rivalry between England and Australia, and when he says 'Australia hates England' its more of a rivalry thing between the two countries, in terms of sport. A lot of Aussies will say they 'hate' the Kiwis, but its just Aussie-speak for 'we hate to lose to them' or 'we hate how superior some of them feel compared to us.'
I'm working with a nice cross-section of Commonwealth people at the hospital (except, no Canadians) and I can tell you there is a lot of banter like what Anikarob mentioned, and although it sounds strong (like 'aah, he's just a Saffer, what are they good for') it isn't a real hatred, its just the way that some people express themselves. The same thing happened after SA won the rugby: the Aussies AND Kiwis at work siad they hated the Saffers. But we're all good mates in reality. When the Aussies play against SA and thrash us at cricket, I tell them at work that I hate them, but its just banter.
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Now, as regards the problem of who I would support if it was England vs Australia and the sport was cricket, Cyberus has made some good points there. The English haven't had a long history of success at cricket, like the Aussies. And despite Andrew 'Freddy' Flintoff's attitude fast approaching that of Shane Warne, who we all love to hate, I suppose I might have to concede that England is the lesser of the two evils. Nonetheless I would love to see a local side like Scotland beat England, even better a team from Lesotho or Malaysia. He he he
I suppose a little part of me felt sorry for the Aussies (I know, it was a moment of weakness) because they lost the rugby and were scowling for a week afterwards. But now I see that England deserves to win a few more cricket matches.
But, dammit, they've won enough rugby!!
