Hopman Cup

[matt_897]

imo the notion of Great Britain as a nation is a joke.

Australia competes as Australia at the Olympics, Commonwealth Games, and FIFA World Cup. Great Britain does not do likewise. Why does Andy Murray need to be referred to as British rather than Scottish? I checked some Brit forums and even some Englishmen hate the term British, they say they were born in England and are English not British.

Great Britain does compete at the Olympics

 

[Leo Barry You Star]

Great Britain does compete at the Olympics

Indeed, and boy did we have a whinge about it after they beat us in the Beijing medal tally

One sooky journo compared it to Australia competing with New Zealand. Never realised Australasia was a country!

 

[BobbyMorri]

Australasia was nearly a country, NZ are in the constitution if they ever want to become one. Likewise, around 1908 , we did compete with New Zealand in the Olympics, as Australasia.

Great Britain is the country. England and the like are just states, with more of a national identify than ordinary states. If we count England and the such as a country, why dont we count Castile/Aragon/etc in Spain as different country for example. They were also separate kingdoms during the middle ages, and also merged to become one through marriage. We dont, for a number of reasons.

And anyway, they were playing as part of the British team in this competition.

 

[that_dood]

No, England is a country. As is Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.

Great Britain is a kingdom, or a sovereign state. It's official name is the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland.

Why do people still keep calling the UK a country when it is not?

 

[Leo Barry You Star]

Why do people still keep calling the UK a country when it is not?

Cause it is. If it wasn't a country, it wouldn't be a member of the UN or EU. If it wasn't a country, peope in England wouldn't have a UK passport.

The Australian Government certainly consider it one
http://www.austrade.gov.au/UK-profile/default.aspx