Scots about to become Slovenia fans? English to support Netherlands and USA if England knocked out

Online, June 22, 2010 (Newswire.com) - Will the next 24 hours see an upsurge in support for Slovenia in Scotland? And will English football fans transfer their support to the USA and Netherlands if England doesn't make it past the first round?

These are some of the trends captured on Shelter's World Cup House bling website, where thousands of people have taken the opportunity to virtually decorate buildings up and down the UK and beyond that are visible on Google Streetview with World Cup balloons, bunting, flags and even garden gnomes.

The initial batch of uploads and World Cup 'blings' also provide a visual representation to who people across the UK are supporting. For instance:

1 - Are the Scots about to become one day fans of Slovenia?

The old saying that the Scots will support anyone but England has been bourne out by Shelter's World Cup House bling site. In the first week of the World Cup, USA was the second most popular country for Scots to support, behind Brazil, and ahead of South Africa, England, Argentina and Mexico.

Similarly, Shelter is already seeing Scottish homes being blinged up in Slovenian colours in preparation for the key Slovenia match.

2 - The teams England will support if England gets knocked out? The USA and Netherlands

If Fabio Capello's men get knocked out of the World Cup on Wednesday, then expect support to gravitate to the USA and the Netherlands. These are the two most popular countries after England, and ahead of Germany and Italy, on the Shelter housebling site, based on English 'blings'. The English results also show that North Korea need not have bothered in getting Chinese volunteers to act as fans - they have quite a few over here as North Korea appears in the list of top ten teams that the English to support

3 - Brazil finds favour in London

While the Netherlands and USA are popular in England overall, in London it is in fact Brazil along with the Netherlands, that commands the highest level of support behind the English team.

Worldcup.housebling.org.uk is a great way to get into the World Cup spirit and champion your team by blinging your house or a chosen location worldwide. You can bling any location that is visible on Google Street View. For example you can make your mark by blinging famous landmarks, why not fly the English flag from the top of the Eiffel Tower or litter Trafalgar square with gnomes and bunting representing the 32 countries in the 2010 World Cup.

To bling, simply visit http://worldcup.housebling.org.uk, enter your chosen postcode and google streetview will track down your location so you can begin your transformation. Show your true colours using a variety of national flags, bunting, balloons and gnomes, then customise it with a 'breaking news style' message of your choice. Once you've finished, share your creation and encourage support for your team by sending it to fellow fans via email, twitter or facebook.

In the 90 minutes it takes to play a football match 39 households are threatened with homelessness. You can be the real winner this summer by making sure you click on the donate button when blinging and help the charity get the right result for thousands of homeless and badly housed families across the country.

World Cup Housebling is just one of the fantastic fundraising initiatives Shelter is doing during the 2010 World Cup. You can also get involved in this fiesta of fundraising fun by visiting Strip4Shelter (www.shelter.org.uk/strip4shelter) which gives a whole host of suggestions for football themed events, along with fundraising ideas and free materials.

The top ten teams supported in England, according to World Cup Housebling

1 - England
2 - USA
3 - Netherlands
4 - Germany
5 - Italy
6 - South Africa
7 - Mexico
8 - Spain
9 - North Korea
10 - Brazil