:Sheep shagger
{{Short description|Pejorative term for people of Welsh descent}}
{{italic title}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=October 2017}}
File:Australian accent strikes again.png cartoon referencing the insult, in this instance aimed at New Zealanders ]]
Sheep-shagger (also spelt sheepshagger or sheep shagger) is a derogatory term, most often used to refer to Welsh people, implying that the subject has sex with sheep.{{cite book | first =Eric | last =Partridge | author-link=Eric Partridge | title = The New Partridge Dictionary of Slang and Unconventional English: J-Z| publisher =Burlington Publishing | location =Taylor & Francis | year = 2006| isbn = 0-415-25938-X | page = 1712}} In a court case in Wales, the use of the term directed at a Welsh person was ruled to be a "racially aggravating" factor in a disorderly conduct offence.{{cite news|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/law-and-order/10023732/Man-fined-for-racism-after-Welsh-sheep-slur.html |title=Man fined for racism after Welsh sheep slur |date=28 April 2013 |newspaper=The Daily Telegraph |access-date=21 April 2016 }} It has been used in South Africa to refer to Australians and by Australians and New Zealanders to refer to one another.{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=sZTLigR2t5UC&pg=PA285 |title=The Art of the South African Insult |author=Sarah Britten|year=2006 |publisher=30° South |isbn=978-1-920143-05-3 |access-date=10 October 2018}}
History
The use of the term sheep-shagger to refer to a Welsh person has arisen from the prevalence of sheep and sheep farming in Wales. It is often viewed as offensive in Wales,{{cn|date=April 2016}} for the same reason{{cite web|url=http://www.foxsports.com.au/cricket/australia/cricket-world-cup-2015-australias-triumph-inspires-respect-but-no-love-after-our-boys-antics/news-story/a76fc82083832f7a6b2795175f8a56c1?nk=26704e0a7e4630285265caeaaf5dcb94-1459849248 |title=Australia's triumph inspires respect but no love after our boys antics |work=Fox Sports |date=31 March 2015 |access-date=5 April 2016}}{{cite web|url=http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/news/world/times-running-out-for-those-sheep-jokes/2009/03/04/1235842475470.html |title=Time's running out for 'those' sheep jokes |work=Brisbane Times |date=4 March 2009 |access-date=5 April 2016}} as it is in South Africa to refer to Australians.{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=sZTLigR2t5UC&pg=PA285 |title=The Art of the South African Insult |author=Sarah Britten|year=2006 |publisher=30° South |isbn=978-1-920143-05-3 |access-date=10 October 2018}} In response to complaints over the use of phrase, in an Australian television advertisement for Toyota, the New Zealand Advertising Standards Authority determined the phrase was not viewed as offensive by the majority of New Zealanders.{{cite web|url=https://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P2-10010946.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160505040749/https://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P2-10010946.html |url-status=dead |archive-date=5 May 2016 |title=Lions Diary |work=The Sunday Herald |quote= 'Their judgment was another setback for Donald. It is official: in New Zealand, the term "sheep shagger" is not offensive. You may speculate just why that might be.'|date=10 July 2005 |access-date=5 April 2016}}{{cite web|url=http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10334691|title='Sheep shagger' not offensive says ad board|date=25 August 2005|newspaper=The New Zealand Herald|access-date=15 April 2016}}
=Football=
At football matches in England, supporters of Welsh teams as well as Welsh players are often called sheep shaggers in football chants from opposing fans.{{cite web|url=http://www.spectator.co.uk/2014/05/i-love-everything-about-supporting-qpr-except-watching-them-play/|title=I Love Everything About Supporting QPR Except Watching Them Play|author=Toby Young|website=Spectator.co.uk|access-date=10 October 2018}}{{cite web |url=https://www.nzherald.co.nz/sport/ipaul-lewisi-aussies-fall-short-on-race/EHZHJLXWTZHQEEXJE2ZDYYY5XE/ |title=Paul Lewis: Aussies Fall Short on Race|date=20 June 2010|access-date=22 November 2021 |publisher=New Zealand Herald}} It is also used in Scotland to refer to supporters of Aberdeen.{{cite journal |url=https://ojs.st-andrews.ac.uk/index.php/SAEE/article/download/556/495 |title=Aberdeen football fans: The 'glory hunter', the 'true fan' and the motivational role of the'12th man' |journal=Ethnographic Encounters |volume=3 |issue=1 |year=2013 |publisher=St. Andrew's University |access-date=22 November 2021 |type=pdf |quote=Aberdeen fans are known as ‘sheep shaggers’ by fans of southern teams.}} In 2001, Cardiff City signed English player Spencer Prior and jokingly included a contract clause that he would be obliged "to have a physical liaison with a sheep", in response to their fans being called sheep shaggers.{{cite web|url=https://www.theregister.co.uk/2001/06/29/cardiff_city_ace_in_sheep/ |title=Cardiff City ace in "sheep shagging" contract |work=The Register |date=29 June 2001 |access-date=5 April 2016}}
The name "Sheep Shaggers" has been used for at least two football fanzines – those for Bedford Town and for football in Western England.{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=z9eJAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA122 |title=Post-Fandom and the Millennial Blues: The Transformation of Soccer Culture |author-link1=Steve Redhead |first1=Steve |last1=Redhead |location=London New York |publisher=Routledge |date=2002 |isbn=978-1-134-82114-3 |access-date=16 April 2016}}
=Music=
Manic Street Preachers frontman James Dean Bradfield routinely dealt with sheep-related heckles from gig audiences (including shouts of "sheep shagger", bleats and stuffed toy sheep thrown onstage) with the stock response ‘Yeah, we shag ‘em, then you eat ‘em!" Everything- A Book About The Manic Street Preachers, Simon Price, Virgin Books 1999 p24
Court case
In Prestatyn, the phrase was the subject of a 2013 court case, after Anthony Taaffe of Bolton, Greater Manchester, when staying at a holiday park in Gronant called an off-duty policeman and security staff "a bunch of sheep-shaggers". Taaffe asserted that the phrase was simply "a term for people living in the countryside", but pleaded guilty to racially aggravated disorderly behaviour and to a second, similar offence, when he called a police officer a "Welsh sheep shagger". He was fined £150.{{cite web|first=David |last=Mitchell |author-link=David Mitchell (comedian) |url=https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2013/may/05/david-mitchell-racism-insults-wales |title='Welsh sheep-shagger'? I can hardly think of a less hurtful remark |work=The Guardian |date=13 March 2014 |access-date=5 April 2016}}
See also
References
{{reflist|30em}}
External links
- [http://www.welshsheepshaggers.com/ "Welsh Sheep Shaggers : An English Establishment Lie...?"]
{{Ethnic slurs}}
Category:Pejorative terms for European people