Calls for a boycott of Nike are growing over a “woke” rainbow redesign of the England flag on the Euro 2024 football kit, with Rishi Sunak wading in to the row saying the company “shouldn’t mess” with the flag. The Mail has more.
Rishi Sunak today slammed Nike and the Football Association for changing the colours of the St. George’s Cross on the new England shirt, declaring: “When it comes to our national flags, we shouldn’t mess with them.”
The Prime Minister, a Southampton fan, said the English flag is already “perfect” after legends Peter Shilton and David Seaman decried the “woke” design and appalling £125 price tag.
As England fans today vowed to boycott Nike and their hated new shirt after they offended millions by redrawing the St. George’s Cross in blue and purple. MailOnline can reveal that Nike has not changed the flags on any other of its national kits.
Speaking in Derbyshire today, Mr. Sunak said: ‘Obviously I prefer the original, and my general view is that when it comes to our national flags, we shouldn’t mess with them.
“Because they are a source of pride, identity, who we are, and they’re perfect as they are.”
The new kit will be worn by the team at Euro 2024 but the row over changing the traditional red cross threatens to overshadow a tournament Gareth Southgate’s side are amongst the favourites to win.
England’s most capped men’s player, Peter Shilton, said today: “This is wrong on every level. I’m totally against it. Including the price that Nike are going to charge.
“I don’t agree with it. It’s woke. If you’re going to put the St George’s Cross on a kit, which obviously Nike have done, then just put it on with the traditional colours. Like the Three Lions, it’s traditional.”
Nike and the Football Association have failed to adequately explain why the flag is blue and purple rather than red and white – just calling it “playful” and a homage to the 1966 team’s training top.
Former Football Association boss Adrian Bevington today admitted that he would not have signed off on the new shirt and said: “It’s our flag. It’s a national identity and I just don’t really think it needs to be changed.”
Former England goalkeeper David Seaman, who played 75 times for his country, said he believed many in his generation of players would have refused to wear it.
He said this morning: “It doesn’t need fixing. What’s next, are they going to change the Three Lions to three cats? Leave it alone. It’s the St George’s Flag. Leave it alone. I’m sure that if they’d approached the lads and asked them about it, they would have said no. Just leave it alone.”
Culture Secretary Lucy Frazer tweeted: “Fans should always come first, and it’s clear that this is not what fans want. Our national heritage – including St George’s Cross – brings us together. Toying with it is pointless and unnecessary.”
More than 16,000 people have signed an online petition to scrap the new shirt and start again and an online campaign to boycott Nike is in full swing because critics are fed up with national pride being painted as a negative thing – or even equated with racism.
Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer has also criticised the decision, saying the original colours were “unifying” and questioning why they had been changed.
However, Nike appears to have no intention of changing it, saying it has “flown off the shelves” since its release on Monday.
The company says that “the trim on the cuffs takes its cues from the training gear worn by England’s 1966 heroes, with a gradient of blues and reds topped with purple. The same colours also feature an interpretation of the flag of St. George on the back of the collar.”
The FA is understood to “completely stand by” the design.
Worth reading in full.
Stop Press: The Telegraph website is displaying an image of an even more obviously woke flag design, located on the inside of the away kit. The stripes strongly resemble the colours added to the original pride flag in recent years to represent transgender and ethnic minority people (pictured below).
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