British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak joined the queue on Friday over a new made-in-England football shirt sold by Nike that featured a different color of the St George's cross, saying the flag “should not be messed with”.
Ahead of Euro 2024, which starts in June, the American sportswear company has revealed that it has replaced England's flag, the cross, with purple and blue horizontal stripes in what it calls a “playful update.”
Nike and the Football Association said the color on the back of the collar differs from the traditional white red cross and was inspired by the training kit worn by England's 1966 World Cup winning team.
However, this decision sparked a fierce backlash from some fans and former players, and even influential politicians spoke out.
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Sunak, a fan of Championship side Southampton, said he preferred England's “original” kit.
“My general view is that we shouldn't mess with the flag,” he told reporters. “Because they are a source of pride, identity, and who we are, and they are perfect just the way they are.”
Culture Secretary Lucy Fraser, who has a mandate for sport, said the Football Association and its kit partners had not put supporters first.
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“The fans should always come first and it's clear that's not what they want,” she told X.
“Our national heritage, including the St. George's Cross, unites us. Toying with it is pointless and unnecessary.”
Keir Starmer, leader of Britain's main opposition Labor Party and an Arsenal supporter, called on Nike to “reconsider” its decision.
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“I'm a big football fan and I go to England matches, men's and women's matches, but this flag is used by everyone. It's unifying, there's no need to change it. We just need to be proud of that,'' Starmer told The Sun.
“So I think they should reconsider this and change it back. I don't even know if they can adequately explain why they thought it needed to be changed in the first place.”
But a Football Association spokesperson said the FA was proud of the kit design, which was “a tribute to the 1966 World Cup winning team”.
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“This is not the first time a multi-colored design inspired by St George's Cross has been used on an England shirt,” he said.
A Nike spokesperson previously told the media: “The England 2024 home kit is a modern take on a classic and a subversion of history.''
The debate over the new design comes as British politics is embroiled in so-called “culture wars”, with supporters of “traditionalist” values such as Sunak's Conservative Party, and those with more liberal People with “progressive” views are at odds.
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Former England goalkeeper Peter Shilton, England's most capped player, told the BBC he did not agree with the changes, describing himself as a “traditionalist”.
“There are so many changes to kit these days that fans have to buy new kit to keep up to date, and it's very expensive,” he told the BBC. “It’s a color difference, and I think it’s important.
“Once you start changing the colors, there's no end to it. There's no need to change the colors of the flag.”
But Shilton's former teammate John Barnes said he did not understand the fuss.
“I'm not involved in the culture wars anymore, but this whole uproar… I didn't even know there was a St George's Cross,” he told the PA news agency.
He added: “They haven't changed the color of their shirts. The lion is still there. If they're going to change England's flag and colors, that's a good argument.”
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