Great Brittain versus England

[AMDZen]

Question for all our neighbors across the pond. I don't really understand why you compete as different countries for most everything. Namely the world cup, where there is a team for Ireland, Scotland, England.

And then for the Olympics, you combine everything into Great Brittain and compete as one.

Actually I'm pretty sure I do know why you do this, I just want to see what others think or if there is a different reason altogether I don't know about

 

[olds]

What's so great about it?

 

[AstroManLuca]

Ireland is a completely different country.

Britain or Great Britain is the name of the island, not the country.

I know that the United Kingdom comprises Scotland, England, Wales, and Northern Ireland, but I'm not sure of the political distinctions between them. As far as I can tell, Scotland seems to be a bit more independent whereas England and Wales are often lumped together, but maybe not always. I'm not really sure.

 

[RbSX]

Ireland is a completely different country.

No... there are two DIFFERENT Irelands, one is a part of the UK, another is a separate country.

 

[AstroManLuca]

No... there are two DIFFERENT Irelands, one is a part of the UK, another is a separate country.

I know there's Northern Ireland but I wasn't aware that they had their own World Cup team named "Ireland." Guess you learn something new every day!

 

[HAL9000]

Question for all our neighbors across the pond. I don't really understand why you compete as different countries for most everything. Namely the world cup, where there is a team for Ireland, Scotland, England.

And then for the Olympics, you combine everything into Great Brittain and compete as one.

Actually I'm pretty sure I do know why you do this, I just want to see what others think or if there is a different reason altogether I don't know about

The reasons we compete as different countries is the same reason you and Canada compete as different countries, why we teamed up for the olympics is beyond me...