That is the problem - there are almost no symbols or activities that are quintessentially "English". We have infused the world with so much of our customs, sports, culture and so on that it is almost impossible to be distinctively English any more.
Jeremy Paxman - The English: A Portrait of a People: Amazon.co.uk: Jeremy Paxman: Books@@AMEPARAM@@http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51EPSN1VSJL.@@AMEPARAM@@51EPSN1VSJL
Quite a good book inwhich he tries to answer the question what differentiates the English from the Scots, Welsh and Irish.
same could be said of canada... Lacrosse is supposedly the "national game" but hockey would be more popular by far.
although still part of the commonwealth, the only link we have to the Uk is the governor-general, the Queen's PERSONAL representative, in canada... our military still play the pipes and drums, too!
PS> LOVE the pipes and drums, myself!
At the real version of football we've come first and second in the last two world cups.
Although watching the Aus v NZ game as I type it would need a miracle for us to d that well next year.