There was much wailing and gnashing of teeth throughout the land as the good minded people and the professional troublemakers combined forces to analyse our national weaknesses and failings. Scotland is a racist country, we are told in no uncertain terms. We ought to be ashamed of ourselves. Go, stand in the corner with our collective head bowed; and don't forget to look suitably sheepish, ashamed and apologetic.

Yes. Well. If our entire society can accurately be described as being racist, then yes, we ought to be collectively ashamed of ourselves, and we really should take a good, long and hard look at where we are going wrong. This we ought to do if (and it is a very big if) our whole society is actually inherently racist. But is it? Describing the whole nation of Scotland as being racist because many Scots will not support England in the World Cup seems a bit excessive. Accusing all Scots of racism because a couple of Neanderthal thugs in two cities physically assaulted a boy and a disabled man because they were wearing England shirts in public is simply to obfuscate matters. What these thugs did was an inexcusable crime – and the perpetrators were probably motivated to some extent by irrational anti-English beliefs. They were both unprovoked assaults and all right-minded people will be delighted to see justice being done to them. However, to take these two incidents and imply they are evidence of innate Scottish anti-English racism is a bit of a stretch.

While not apologising for the motives that led these thugs to do what they did, I feel fairly safe in assuming that they were not the only violent attacks that took place in Scotland over the past two or three days – most of which were probably not football or England related. Are we to infer national attributes from two drunks fighting over a taxi after the pubs close - or do we only make these leaps if one of the drunks has an English accent? Thuggery is thuggery, and much as we would like it not to exist, it does, and we all have to suffer the social consequences. In the end, most people are decent and want to get on with the people whose paths they cross as they make their way through this life. That is a fact. As for the accusations against my fellow countrymen that we are inherently racist against the English; well, that cannot be allowed to stand unchallenged.

When we eliminate the more fanciful and exaggerated explanations for the often difficult relationship between us and our southern neighbours what are we left with? I suggest that there is a (sometimes) bitter rivalry, which gets accentuated at times like these. There are undoubtedly faults on both sides - we Scots are certainly not innocent. Yet, the English must also admit that they give at least as much as they get. They insult us, we insult them. Both sides are wrong - but are they innately racist towards each other? I seriously doubt it. We fought and died alongside each other in two world wars and in countless other conflicts before and since. We may be two nations, but we are one people.

By accusing us of being racist; or even declaring us to be anti-British simply because many of us choose not to support England in the World Cup is ridiculous. I don't support Rangers when they play in Europe, and I'm sure that most Man United fans will not support Liverpool, Arsenal or Chelsea. Why then must I support England? Because they are British? There is no Britain on the world football stage! I am Scottish, and I support Scotland. When Scotland fails to qualify for these tournaments, I will choose which team I shall support, and I will not be told by anyone else who that team should or should not be. England is Scotland's greatest rival - it is the Auld Enemie. I don't support England, and I won't support England, and yes, I like to see them being beaten (just as I like to see Rangers being beaten), and I really wish that it would happen more often, but that doesn't make me anti-English in anything other than a sporting sense. It certainly doesn't make me anti-British – I am British after all (it says so on my passport!).

I have no problem with English fans and the English nation getting behind their team. I am glad that they have rediscovered their own flag (and a fine flag it is too). Like most non-English living in my own country, I am sick and tired of the media coverage and the excesses of some of the commentators, and I am really, really tired of hearing about what happened in 1966. Yet, while the rampant English nationalism pollutes Scottish airwaves, there is an up-side that we too often forget: the inevitable crash and burn! While the constant discussion of Rooney's metatarsal is annoying; while the perpetual match post-mortems about whether Crouch or Lampard or Gerrard should play or whether Walcott should be in there can be grating at times; while the constant allusions in the national media to 'we' and 'us' (when 'we' and 'us' failed to qualify) is irritating; and while the constant playing of that dire anthem 'Three Lions' (and the even more awful 'World at Your Feet') is tiresome; they are all worth putting up with just to see Ian Wright's face and hear John Motson's voice when England are inevitably sent packing by a good team.

Força Portugal!