If you're born in Germany, you can be.

Doesn' matter, unless you have either paternal or maternal claim to citizenship, you need to apply after a number of years just like anyone else.

I know that, I was just responding to the quoted point.

Well, that's something that hasn't changed since the 1930s then.

*Ahem*

Beaten by Scotland!

One imagines they have connections to Ireland in order to allow them to represent that country (like Gabriel Agbonlahor nearly choosing to play for Scotland due to an Uncle or summat).

No if you're from Northern Ireland you are Northern Irish, unless you take Irish citizenship. I'm British, but I'm also English, saying someone from Northern Ireland is Irish is like saying I'm Scottish because I was born on the same land mass.

What country do you claim to be from?

Is that right?

Northern Irish are still Irish even though citizens of the UK and holding a British passport, which is mad because the complete group of islands are called the British Isles and technically therefore both Irish, Scots, Welsh and English are all commonly British regardless of where they live, whilst the Irish from Eire are also Irish but citizens of Eire and hold an Irish passport.... damn confusing

It's just that when it comes to rugby they more or less (they have to play two anthems before the matches to keep everybody happy) forget about politics (can you believe it? I suppose that beating England is a good enough prospect to forget about boundaries for an hour and a half ) and all the players of the island (how it is call? Ireland?) join to play for the same team.

By the way, people born in North Ireland are Irish even if they are British citizens instead of citizens of the Republic of Ireland. A Scottish person is as British as you are being English, the same can be said about a British person born in Ireland.

And then you have Cornwall, which arguably has as much right to be a country as Scotland and Wales.

Correct, there also used to be a time, that when filling in official documents, nationality had to be expressed as British/'Country of birth'. Not sure if this still holds true though.

That's Eire....



What? They're from Northern Ireland so they're Northern Irish, they aren't from Eire.

Also East Anglia, Yorkshire and that other place across the Pennines....

We have same as Italy? Damn! were awesome

As far as I know, we're a bit short on Grand Prix winners in East Anglia

We do have a World Sports Car Champion in Martin Brundle.

Having lived near Peterborough for most of my life..... I can see why.

Scotland is not a country. They may call themselves a country but they aren't. They don't even speak their own language anymore.

But if you want to count autonomous regions or former countries, then Asturias beats Scotland.

I dunno, Lotus won a few.

Just to split up the numbers.

133 England
65 Scotland
9 N.Ireland

Oh and Scotland does have it's own language that is still spoken.

Asturian is still spoken too.

Alas for the Welsh, just 22 points and 1 pole position to thier name.

Shame they lost Tom Pryce,because i think he would have been a race winner and maybe WDC

If you compare wins 'per person who actually gave a shit at the time' per capita then Australia wins hands down!

I dont know what the problem is, while Scots scream "We Scots", Irish scream "We Irish" and the Welsh scream errr, well no one understands what the hell they say, the zealous English who continue to scream "we British" are still on top anyway...

133 England
106 Germany
100 Brazil
97 Schumacherland
79 France
65 Scotland
43 Finland
43 Italy
41 Austria
38 Argentina
33 USA
28 Australia (Spain 1980 included)
9 N.Ireland

That's true. Although I was thinking drivers.

We have the mighty Pacific as well.

What happened in Spain 1980?

It was a non-Championship event, but was scheduled to be a Championship event.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1980_Spanish_Grand_Prix

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1980_Spanish_Grand_Prix

Renault, Ferrari and Alfa pulled out of the race and Balestere declared it a non race.

Alan Jones won it.





It was always an official WCC and WDC race and on the calender etc. - the points were pulled after the race.

geez, Max doen't rate to some of the things Balestere did.

I count

132 England
66 Scotland

I think you must have briefly turned Innes Ireland English

My head hurts

Seeeee, your happy now to realise that England is the one on top, seperate from those other nasty little appendages bleeding off the mainland.

Scotland have 12.77 wins per million population.
Finland have 8.05 wins per million population.

Third place is Northern Ireland with 5.07 wins per million population.

Well, he was born in Yorkshire...but then again S.F. Edge would be an Aussie on that basis and Sir Henry Segrave - whisper it - a damn Yankee...

No! We can't let the 'mericans have Henry Segrave!

I hope the war which ensues will be of a good nature.

It'd be a piece of cake. The Scots would be arguing about who has to pay for the H-bombs whilst the Welsh would still be trying to work out whether it should be spelt nwk or newk.

*insert Sheep joke here*

Cross Thread Reference Alert...

... and there are some Americans who would happily take sides against the Scots at the moment.

Would that be a 'Dario' moment?

This is increasingly stupid but:

Asturias have 19.50 wins per million population.

Why exactly do you count Scotland but not Asturias? What's the difference?

It might be that Asturias is considered an 'autonomous community' and not a country. Other than that, I have no idea.

Per capita, Scotland has the most alcoholics in the uk, and one of the most in the world.

Per capita, Scotland also has the most heroin addicts in the uk, and one of the most in the world.

Should we make similar assumptions based on per capita statistics?

You calling scottracer a drunken heroin addict?

World Constructors Championships:
United Kingdom 34
Ferrari (aka Italy) 16
Matra (aka France) 1

I have of course reclaimed the two championships won by a certain British based team paid by the French. Should RBR overtake Brawn, I'll have to go and steal it back from the Austrians...

Historical reasons, Scotland was a separate kingdom until 1707, when idiot Scottish accountants and bankers bankrupted the country and it had to be bailed out by the English government. Some traditions die hard.

Asturias hasn't been a kingdom for over a thousand years. On that basis Cumbria would have a better claim to be treated separately.

I'm sure that Villeneuveland is in there somewhere

Oh yes, I remember. Feels like yesterday.

When was Nothern Ireland a separate kingdom then?



I haven't seen hundreds of Cumbrian flags in the races though. Do they have a flag? President? Parliament?





It's the Wales of Spain.

Not at all, (though who knows ). The point is that Nationality is bullshit regarding success.

Countries with small populations who have ANY succesfull sportsmen will have a high per capita success rate.

The only way that nationality determines more succesfull sportsmen is that people try their hand at sports they may not otherwise have done.

If Schumacher never appeared, we may not have seen Vettel even try F1.

If a Bishop from Vatican City won a race, Vatican city would be the number 1 per capita race winner.

Nationality is bullshit. Being British doesn't make you a better driver than being Saudi.

I am sure that per capita, Poland has more plumbers than any other nation. This doesn't mean that they are born better at fixing toilets, it just means that this is a profession where lots of their compatriots have achieved success, so more people try it.

Probably, due to Kubica, there will be more Polish F1 drivers in the future.

Will this mean that Polish people are great drivers as well as plumbers?

Gets a fair workout on here this:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sarcasm

Please don't spoil a good mindless conversation with reason.