Calcutta Cup of very little cheer

Eschewing sentimental cards and gaudy supermarket bouquets, my sons treats me each year to tickets for the Calcutta Cup as a Mother's Day gift. I love the occasion – the fast and furious competition on the pitch, the anthems, pipes and drums, flame-throwers, flyovers and this year, even the Highland dancers, although they did look a bit confused on the muddy pitch. I used to enjoy the mostly friendly rivalry in the crowd too. But not on Saturday.

The cold hostility to the English visitors in our normally friendly capital city was palpable. Inside Murrayfield the Scottish crowd made this old granny cringe with shame and embarrassment. Did their mothers never tell them that it is just crass to boo your opponents as they run onto the pitch? That it is the height of discourtesy to catcall their anthem? That it is boorish and rude to jeer and whistle as an opponent lines up the ball for a goal kick? And particularly mean-spirited and unsportsmanlike not to applaud good play by both teams? I couldn't help thinking that a good proportion of the Scottish support would have benefited from a good smacked bottom!

Is this increased venom and hostility a result of the pompous and populist posturing of our pathetic Nationalist government, playing power politics while pretending patriotism? Or are Scots just inherently rude and inhospitable? Either way, we should hang our heads in shame.

DOROTHY PHILLIPS

York Road

Edinburgh

I am neither Scottish nor English, but I was very disappointed to hear the amount of booing and whistling from the Murrayfield crowd when England players were taking penalties during the Calcutta Cup match on Saturday.

Such behaviour is unsporting and a disservice to the memory of Bill McLaren, who represented the highest standards of fairplay.

RT SMITH

Westerham Road

Sevenoaks

Kent