England is/are playing?

Asked Oct 02 '15 at 07:13

Active Oct 02 '15 at 07:13

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I have this doubt when it comes to sports and teams. Is it England is playing or England are playing? Similarly, is it "Arsenal is playing..." or "Arsenal are playing..."?

asked Oct 02 '15 at 07:13

Aiyoyo

In Britain, with sports teams it is always are, England are, Arsenal are. Best let Americans speak for themselves, but I hear them saying is in many instances where we say are. – WS2 Oct 02 '15 at 07:18
See this answer by a BrEng speaker, WS2 This may not be the case in America where sports teams are always singular. 'Our team is winning'. But in Britain sports teams are always plural. ‘Arsenal are currently top of the Premier League’. 'The England cricket team are currently playing Australia in an Ashes series'. India are currently the undisputed leaders in world cricket. – Mari-Lou A Oct 02 '15 at 07:49
and see this post which (indirectly) answers your question: *"Arsenal" is the name of the football club, the club is considered a single thing that exists independently to the collection of players, staff, etc.
But people will often refer to "the gunners", in reference to the current Arsenal players of the team when they want to talk about the collection of players.*
– Mari-Lou A Oct 02 '15 at 07:56
And the same WS2 cited above: The Gunners(Arsenal) are second in the table to the Pensioners (Chelsea). The Magpies (Newcastle) have a slight edge on the Saints (Southampton). – Mari-Lou A Oct 02 '15 at 07:59

England is/are playing?

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