Last week Nike unveiled England’s new kits for the UEFA Euro 2024 tournament. Nike made a “playful update” to the cross of St. George by layering pink-purple and blue stripes into one band of the cross to “unite and inspire,” instead of keeping the traditional red cross against a white background on the English flag. This one detail in the new design ignited controversy leading to calls for change from some on social media and even the U.K. Prime Minister Rishi Sunak speaking out about the redesign.
Fans have left thousands of comments on Nike’s announcement of the design on X (formerly Twitter), criticising the company for being too “woke” and calling to #BoycottNike. UK Prime Minister, Rishi Sunak told Sky News that he prefers the original cross of St. George and Nike shouldn’t mess with flags.
“When it comes to our national flags, we shouldn’t mess with them because they’re a source of pride, identity, who we are, and they’re perfect as they are.” Rishi Sunak
Culture Secretary Lucy Frazer said in a post on X: “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.” Another prominent politician, leader of the Labour Party Keir Starmer said it was wrong for Nike to change the cross and should change it back.
“The flag is used by everybody, it is a unifier, it doesn’t need to be changed. We just need to be proud of it. So I think they should just reconsider this and change it back.”
Keir Starmer
Although calls for change were made, The Football Association (FA) and Nike provided some rationale for the design stating that “The new England 2024 ‘Home’ kit has a number of design elements which were meant as a tribute to the 1966 World Cup winning team. The coloured trim on the cuffs is inspired by the training gear worn by England’s 1966 heroes, and the same colours also feature on the design on the back of the collar. It is not the first time that different coloured St George’s cross-inspired designs have been used on England shirts.”
The playful update may have been unnecessary and naive, but the uproar is pretty laughable. With bigger societal issues at hand which garner nothing close to the same coverage from the people in power, the uproar over this matter is gratuitous. We’re seeing players speaking on more pressing issues and trying to use their platform to advocate for political and social justice mainly due to the fact that MPs aren’t saying or doing much around these matters. The media should be pushing for those in power to answer more important questions rather than their thoughts on a jersey. If anything, the uproar should be more on the prices of the jerseys doubling during the current cost of living crisis.
This controversy goes to show that fans truly have short term memories and people like to engage in pointless culture wars. In 2010, when world-renowned designer Peter Saville designed the 2010 England home kit, the flag was also “played” with, while mostly white, it had small red and blue crosses in a pattern across the shoulders and in the 2011 away goalkeeper kit’s pattern was made up almost entirely of interlocking crosses of different shades of green.
Football and societal issues can’t be kept separate as football has always been used as a force for good and to push society forward but it’s clear that the politicians speaking out are doing so purely for political gain. Nike have said it was a playful update but some still assume the graphic is a nod to the LGBT flag and accuse Nike of being “too woke”. With the current times we’re in, anything can spark some sort of uproar and brands are extremely vulnerable to backlash. It’s good to see Nike and The FA stand their ground and not entertain these narratives that only cause more divide amongst the nation.
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