All aboard the banter wagon

The London Olympics is a fair way off, and as a Brit heading home from Australia I found this viral by Bullseye quite funny. I’m actually looking forward to seeing the greatest show on earth (sorry Madonna, it’s true) in my own fair (and damp) country. But apparently there are sections of the UK press that have gotten their knickers in a right twist about this, calling it "distinctly odd and morally dubious".



As a pom (POME/POHM - Prisoner of Mother England/Prisoner of Her Majesty) as British expats are referred to out here, I’m quite often at the receiving end of a fair bit of sporting banter, but you don’t moan about it, you play the culture card…. to which I often get the response “what’s that then, warm beer”…thank you Miss Yanco. Or you could point out a few other facts, take you pick:

1) The Wallabies haven’t beaten England in any MEANINGFUL game since before the 2003 World Cup….which we (the poms) won in your backyard
2) The English football team (the game you call soccer) has missed only a handful of World Cups since the comp began, The Socceroos have featured in just two
3) Great Britain finished fourth in the medal tally at Beijing, compared to Australia’s sixth place
4) We won’t mention the cricket……..

My Take - A bit of banter between the Brits and the Aussies is healthy and fun, so I say to the British press – don’t get mad, get even! I seem to remember a certain UK tabloid driving a truck around Sydney with the slogan “where the bloody hell were we? Above you in the medal tally”. It’s a bit different when the shoe is on the other foot isn’t it. But please, I beg you, stop the whining….we’re already referred to as whinging poms.