There has been uproar after the release of Nike’s new England kit, displaying an edited St George flag on the collar.
Not content with the classic red cross on white background that we’ve all been happy with for centuries, Nike have now changed the colour scheme, introducing purple, dark and light blue to the mix in what they descibe as a ‘playful update’.
“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,” said prime minister Rishi Sunak.
Labour leader Kier Starmer, keen to ensure he stays on the right side of the popular opinion ahead of a looming general election, added: “We just need to be proud of it. So I think they should just reconsider this and change it back.
“I’m not even sure they properly can explain why they thought they needed to change in the first place.”
Nike claim the colours were inspired by the training kit worn by England’s 1966 World Cup winners, but there was no purple in that, unless you washed it with the wife’s red knickers.
Nike are to blame for even attempting to change the colours of the national flag, but the FA are equally as culpable for signing off the new design. Imagine if France’s flag was changed to green/white/red, or Italy’s to blue/white/red, or Ireland’s to any of those colour schemes?
We expect it to be quickly redesigned, so if you’re a kit collector then make sure you grab one of them before they are taken off the shelves as they will be valuable in the future, maybe if we go on to win the tournament.