News - Scotland in Eurovision: Online petition makes waves | Eurovision Song Contest News - 2009 Moscow, Russia 

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Stella Floras

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1/Jul at 17:12

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esctoday.com, eurovision.tv, scotsman.com

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EBU follows with great interest

Scotland in Eurovision: Online petition makes waves

A fan generated online petition has been launched trying to raise support for Scotland representing the United Kingdom in the Eurovision Song Contest, potentially taking turns with Wales, Northern Ireland and England. EBU Director Bjørn Erichsen has commented that the EBU follows Scottish initiative with "great interest".

Motivated by the rather unsuccessful placings of the UK entrants in latter years, a group of Eurovision fans, supported by Alyn Smith, MEP, have proceeded to launch an online campaign through Facebook and their website to persuade the Scottish broadcaster to make a bid to represent the UK in the Eurovision Song Contest. David McDonald, spokesman for the group told Scotsman.com: "Eurovision is about the nations of Europe and a wee bit wider getting together and having fun, and it is clear that Scotland could do better representing ourselves than the UK."

The issue of Scotland getting to represent the United Kingdom in the Eurovision Song Contest is strongly supported by Nationalist Euro MP Alyn Smith. Mr Smith claims that it is possible for Scottish Television (STV) to bid to produce the contest, opening, thus,  the way to a Scots entry. "I would like to see Scotland enter as an independent state, but we're not an independent state yet. Meantime, I've come up with the 'UEFA compromise' whereby Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland and England could take it in turns to organise the UK's entry." says Mr Smith.On the other hand, STV stated last night that they have no plans to submit a bid.

The European Broadcasting Union is following the developments with great interest. In response to the media reports, Director Bjørn Erichsen says: We are delighted to see the growing interest in Scotland to join the Eurovision Song Contest. It shows that, despite the emotions that came with the UK's disappointing results over the past years, there is still a strong following for the contest”. And he concludes: “Whatever scenario the BBC prefers, now and in the future, we are always open for a constructive dialogue that leads to a stronger Eurovision Song Contest, both with our Members, as well as with the public. But at the end of the day it is up to the BBC to decide”.



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Vincent Barbarino [38148]
Tue 8 Jul 2008 16:23:40

lo..it is funny that the ESC raises patriotic feelings..like football..only becuase of a flag!


Owen Williams [36362]
Mon 7 Jul 2008 23:31:31

For once I agree with you BURR

Scotland isn't independent and probably won't be for a very long time therefore it should not be allowed into ESC as a separate entity, if Scotland is allowed to do it then Kosovo, Bavaria, Catalonia, Brittany, Chechnya, North Cyprus, and Transnistria should all be allowed to join as well, which would make the contest far more political than it should be! not to mention more complex!


BURR [36045]
Mon 7 Jul 2008 19:11:15

Montenegro, for example, could not participate in ESCS until it became and independent and internationally recognised state.
What Scotland should do first before claiming a berth in ESC - is to declare it's it's full independence from the UK and get international recognition!


Owen Williams [36362]
Mon 7 Jul 2008 17:03:37

BURR
Britain invented the RULES not the actual sport, people had been kicking a ball around with slight variations to the rule for centuries before they were consolidated by the British in their game which have been adopted around the world. The British don't and never have taken the responsibility of being the first country to kick a ball into a net, its just we invented the rules which are used world-wide at present.

I don't know why England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland play separately in football, rugby and a few other sports, its probably down to the British commonwealth, where we compete separately in the commonwealth games because we are actually different dependent nations united under one flag, monarch and to some extent government, we are actually different countries in a political union. I don't know why we compete separately in some sports and not in others and why countries can't do what we do.


Jacques Dusart [34344]
Mon 7 Jul 2008 16:51:14

Me I will be rather of agreement for a petition for Wallonia takes part each year, that would avoid all the crap songs that the Flanders sending each year...


BURR [36045]
Mon 7 Jul 2008 04:15:31

Football (soccer) was supposedly invented by the British or at least presented to the old world as theк i invention more than a century ago.
At that time no one new of the sport ? so to creation they needed more countries – that’s probably why The UK is represented by it’s four regions.
Then, the same thing we see nowadays in Rugby – again allegedly a British invention few want to play – they attract the same four UK region to make a federation!!!
NOW, the scotch initiative!!
They either must have drunk too much scotch or the UK pushes for its big and untalented and dull thing again !
And more votes indeed!!!
UK - supposed they send Javine, Daz, Scootch or Andy - will have the same votes plus ONE!!!
These are just technicalities -- the whole Europe including Russia’s 89 entities will require participation without sovereignty - and unlike Scotland - in their National Language - to sing!


BURR [36045]
Mon 7 Jul 2008 01:36:07

Why Scotland,
The Falklands have mush more rights and sovereignty to sing!!!!




Owen Williams [36362]
Sun 6 Jul 2008 12:42:18

I like the idea of each country taking turns to represent the whole country a bit like the Belgian way of doing things. HOWEVER I don't want Scotland to be represented as a separate entity, its not fair for one thing, Scotland is not independent and probably won't be for a very long time, no matter what the SNP want to believe (they only really got in because Labour have done nothing but lie to us, the Conservatives have never done well in Scotland and the Liberal democrats just weren't good enough). Its not even declared independence, unlike some other parts of Europe such as Kosovo or Transnistria.

Maybe to make the British songs more representative of the UK as a whole ( in the last ten years every entry has been from England except 2002 and 2004 who were from Wales), maybe each of the four countries should choose a song to represent them in a British final. So Wales would hold their own selection process and whoever wins that goes to the British final, and Scotland does the same, and maybe England could be split into North and South?.

Scotland shouldn't be allowed to be a separate entity in ESC! Its not independent, and it would be odd for Scotland to be represented separately from the rest of the UK, or even for each of the four British countries represented separately when we are not even a federal country like Germany whose states actually have much more independence than most of the countries of the UK or Spain which has loads of countries such as Catalonia or the Basque land which are far more in favour of separation from Spain than ANY of the British countries want to be from Britain!


Vincent Barbarino [38148]
Sat 5 Jul 2008 21:44:40

Marcin,

o now pretty well that she was waering a shiny lng blue night dress..i did not mean she was as if she herself were one of the contestants of the Miss Bikini..I said she would sing the interval act, not as a contestant, but as an entertainer..though the idea of Mina for Miss Solarium is not bad at all..:-) let me put it in other words: i did not like this entry not a bit, 4 my taste it was far too americanish


Mina Carnation [51405]
Sat 5 Jul 2008 15:30:38

I think by Miss Bikini he meant the tan...I could be wrong though.
lol


Marcin Paluszkiewicz [37269]
Sat 5 Jul 2008 15:18:07

Vincent:

interval of Miss Bikini 2008 contest????
Was Isis wearing a bikini??? Don't take those drugs anymore ok?
:P


Vincent Barbarino [38148]
Sat 5 Jul 2008 14:41:16

i really thought for some moments, watching the 1st national final, that Croatia would win the whole contest. It had a balkan melody, the old man singing and raping as a gimming and some neighbours also. About Poland i thought: Oh Geeee!!! am I in Florida right now, watching the interval of Miss Bikini 2008 contest?


Jonny K [46883]
Fri 4 Jul 2008 17:16:47

John Dunford - lol!! :D

Mina - I live about 50 miles south of London, so about 1400 miles! lol :D

Stockholm Calling - Thanks for the info, I hope something comes of it! :D

Ben Gray - Good point, if you can't beat them, join them!! :D


Mina Carnation [51405]
Fri 4 Jul 2008 14:15:13

Ben,

'''Can you honestly watch that show back and say Spain and Croatia were better than Poland and the UK --ON THE NIGHT''

Honestly? Well, I hated the Spanish 'song' so everything was better than it. The 16th position was way too much for it, in my opinion!
About Croatia, I kinda liked the song, it was romantic in an old fashioned way, and the music was nice.
I didn't like Poland, sorry...nice voice but Isis looked strange and the song...I really can't remember it.
The Uk was ok but indifferent. And anyway Croatia was 21st so not much different to the Uk's position.


''Do they actually pick these songs and think they're capable of WINNING? ''
Oh, I've wondered that same thing more times than I can remember! I wondered that about Ireland, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta and a few more this year..lol
Andorra's song wasn't bad, her performance/styling was ALL WRONG. If that song was presented by someone with a nice outfit, NO HORNS, and good vocals, I'm sure it would make it to the final!


Ben Gray [44512]
Fri 4 Jul 2008 13:51:04

@Mina

The songs, yes, but it is also about the stage performance, because Greece, Armenia and Norway wouldn't have got 3rd, 4th and 5th place respectively if it wasn't for the great acts they had to compliment their song, (that's how I see it anyway.)

I was thinking last night that if you watch the Eurovision shows back again (you can do so on eurovision.tv still!) the best stage performances that complimented the best songs really got the places they deserved.

Having said that, there are still some problems with cultural voting because Portugal, Iceland, Poland and the UK deserved better placings. Can you honestly watch that show back and say Spain and Croatia were better than Poland and the UK --ON THE NIGHT?--

I was also thinking that I don't know what goes through the minds of certain broadcasters, such as Andorra and the Netherlands, and the public of countries like Belarus and Belgium. Do they actually pick these songs and think they're capable of WINNING? You could listen to Andorra's song this year and immediately know it wasn't going to win. If you want to win this contest, you've got to really TRY! Send a song with that certain (dare I say) X Factor, like Portugal, Ukraine, Switzerland, Norway and Iceland did. But then again, its up to the broadcaster to give the public such a song to vote for. BBC, take note.


Mina Carnation [51405]
Fri 4 Jul 2008 12:52:17

Why wouldn't East Europe vote for the West? Everyone had voted for Finland and Norway this year got more points from the East than the West.

Now, if you mean the Uk specifically, I still don't see why they wouldn't vote for it, if they liked the song.
In 2002 Lithuania had given the Uk 8 points, Latvia 5 points, Estonia 6 points, Fyrom 4 points, Bosnia 7 points, and Slovenia 8 points, so it's not like they never vote for the Uk.
I really believe it's all about the songs.


Benjamin Johnson [10217]
Fri 4 Jul 2008 12:46:15

Why some people want a better song from UK? If UK had an out-standing song it still won't get any points from East Europe.


Marcus A [23635]
Fri 4 Jul 2008 12:43:28

Well, how convenient to blame your failure on others ("eastern" Europe)... It´s always somebody else´s fault, right? :D


Benjamin Johnson [10217]
Fri 4 Jul 2008 12:28:50

Would Scotland win over East Europe?


Telex Fan Club [32895]
Fri 4 Jul 2008 12:00:26

Get entrants from Wales, England, N. Ireland and Scotland to battle it out against each other in the NF with an international panel making the decision.


Marcus A [23635]
Fri 4 Jul 2008 11:01:32

Surely this has to be a joke? Doesn´t a MP have better or more important things to do?

Anyway, I hope that the UK stays exactly what UK means - united. But select better songs. ;)


Moray James [22319]
Fri 4 Jul 2008 05:23:21

No way would the BBC allow Scotland to take over for a year - they know what would happen.

Scotland would actually get up off their arse - unlike the BBC - and pick some decent songs for the NF - unlike the BBC.
A decent song would win - unlike the BBC - and we'd get the UK its best results since 2002 - unlike the BBC.
People would finally come to their senses, and call for the BBC to get up off their arses and put some effort into the contest.
The BBC has to write a very long statement to viewers which avoids answering anybody's questions but keeps people so confused that they stop complaining.

The BBC can't be bothered writing long statements that have nothing to do with anything - it cuts into precious cigarette breaks - so they are not going to allow Scotland to enter for the UK.
It seems we will just have to wait for independence.


Ben Gray [44512]
Fri 4 Jul 2008 02:51:58

@Jonny K

"But if we did it that way we would have friendly voting in our national final, Scotland would vote for NIreland, England would vote for Wales, and nobody would vote for England!! lol"

Exactly. We moan about all this political disapora voting, but if we did have a selection like that, we'd engage in it ourselves and think nothing of it.

I also agree with whoever said people are more likely to vote for a country they've heard of. I do find it odd how the UK's high points always head towards Turkey, Greece and Cyprus (The UK awarded 12 points to Cyprus in the semi final this year, and 10 points to them last year. However the UK also awarded 8 points to Lithuania in the semi final, so it's not entirely true.)


Stockholm calling [44413]
Fri 4 Jul 2008 01:17:18

Jonny:

"It would be a bit like melodifestivalen"

Last May a delegation from The UK visited Stockholm to attend the final of Melodifestivalen and to check out the MF format. Who knows what the BBC has in store for you :)


BURR [36045]
Thu 3 Jul 2008 23:08:32

@ Jonny K [46883]
Whatever shit you are sitting at
just enjoy it!


Mina Carnation [51405]
Thu 3 Jul 2008 23:03:46

Jonny,
1486 miles if you're in London :P


John Dunford [45152]
Thu 3 Jul 2008 23:02:15

@jonny

and a very long tongue lol


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