Why all the Union Jacks?
Why all the Union Jacks?
It was England playing.
Watch a DVD of the '66 World Cup Final if you get the chance. Most of the flags waved by England supporters were Union Jacks (although there are one or two 'Cross of St.George' flags knocking about too). As far as I remember the Cross of St.George only really became hugely popular at the time of the 1996 European Championships and it has retained it's popularity in the face of devolution and the slow but seemingly inexorable break-up of the union. In '66 England fans were generally more than happy to wave the Union flag in support of their team...sadly not too many are today.
AndyG
[deleted]
What he said.
Also if you look at videos of English teams in Europe in the 80's you'll notice most of the flags are Union Jacks.
[deleted]
National side wise...
England will wave their flag
whilst Scotland will wave the st andrews cross
but my team Rangers will wave the union jack FTP
though our rivals Celtic will wave the irish flag
Two of Scotland's biggest teams and it is very rare to see the Saltire flown at these games
Rangers F.C
True Blue
51 Nd Countin
Yes, but that's a club thing, with a bit of religious bigotry thrown in. I'm sure those same fans will wave the Saltire at Scotland games - they certainly won't carry the Union Flag!
share
And don't forget that it was only 20 years since the end of WWII, and England were playing West Germany, so it was also a post war thing as well.
Got to beat the Hun again!
FTQ
''All those moments will be lost in time, like tears in rain.
.... Time to die''.
I see what you're saying but Union Jacks (and not St George's cross) flags would have been waved no matter who we were playing. Until very very recently, football fans, and sport fans in general, whether at an England game or a club game, would have union jacks and if it was a club team, the name would be stitched across the middle.
I'm not sure why there was a break from union flags exactly, but it happened very quickly, although the odd one can still be seen in crowds.
With the declining intelligence amongst many football fans, it was deemed too tricky to paint the union jack on their faces. With the flag of St George it is not even necessary to have the money to buy paint, they simply apply sun tan lotion in quarters on their face and they are done for the summer.
In '66 England fans were generally more than happy to wave the Union flag in support of their team...sadly not too many are today.
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But Scotland,Wales and Northern Ireland have their own teams. It doesn't make sense to be waving the flag for the UK when it isn't the UK playing, it is England, so we wave St Georges cross because it's our flag, we aren't supporting any of the other countries of the UK. We certainly wouldn't be waving the Union Jack in the weird occurrence that we, along with say Scotland, made it to the finals.
Bring back The Class...and Addison!
Funnily enough, neither England, Scotland, Wales or Northern Ireland are real countries in their own right anyway. It would make more sense to have a UK team instead, but I can't think of a more unpopular suggestion.
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"Funnily enough, neither England, Scotland, Wales or Northern Ireland are real countries in their own right anyway."
That'll be news to a lot of the English, Welsh, Scots and Irish reading this forum. :)
I'm sure you're right
Still true though.
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No it isn't.
I think what you might mean is that none of those countries is a separate, autonomous, state. Which is not the same thing at all.
They are indeed countries, but they're not independent countries. Though that does make you wonder what the point of a dependent country is. I don't know exactly what defines a country when it's not independent, but for the most part with this lot, it's pointless self important posturing rather than any useful necessity. Why is Wales a country rather than a county? What use is that?
Now let's go bury this dead hooker.
thats so true, its only Olympics and commonwealth games that you'll get a UK team, practically every other sport will have England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland with their own teams. (I still don't understand why though)
shareScotland is a "real country in its own right", and you can GTF!!!
"It would make more sense to have a UK team instead"
Well, after conquering Wales and Ireland, and then annexing Scotland, I suppose this might be a logical step for England...
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It's not "Sci-Fi", it's SF!
"Calvinism is a very liberal religious ethos." - Truekiwijoker