Nike’s update to the St George’s cross on the new England kit, with criticism from some quarters, including former Premier League midfielder Joey Barton.
However, both Nike and the Football Association are asserting that the kit will not be recalled despite the backlash.
Barton wrote:
‘Proper England fans should boycott it until they put our national flag back the way it should be and has been for centuries.
Embarrassing. Can’t believe the FA signed it off.’
‘Don’t worry there will be gay or lesbian lion soon. Virtue signalling to the max.
Who knows one day, one might turn into a lioness. Go woke, go broke.
‘Won’t be buying my sons the shirt that disrespects our country’s flag.
Might as well put a Rainbow/Palestine/Ukraine flag on it for all those virtue signalling characters who lap this nonsense up. Fix it Nike.’
Simon Jordan, the former Crystal Palace owner and current talkSPORT presenter, also accused the FA of being ‘virtue-signalling’ and claims no other country would accept its flag being altered.
‘I don’t quite understand why Nike want to have a playful brief on our identity,’ Jordan said.
‘Is our national identity a joke, is it something we’re ashamed of? I think our national identity is something we should be proud of. I don’t find it offensive, I find it unnecessary.
‘Rather than reclaim it, what we’ll do is put up a meaningless cross that has no value to it and represents nobody.
‘No other country would allow this to happen, they wouldn’t allow it to be done on their national shirt.
‘This is the same Nike that couldn’t even be bothered to produce Mary Earps shirts.
I don’t think we should be taking lessons from Nike on the values of this country.
‘And the FA are absolutely complicit in this. The FA will have their virtue-signalling fingers all over this.’
Despite the criticism, both the FA and Nike are not planning to change the St George’s cross on the new kits.
According to MailOnline, the FA ‘completely stand by it’, while the shirt is said to have ‘flown off the shelves’ since it was unveiled on Monday.
England will debut the new Nike kits in their upcoming friendlies against Brazil and Belgium at Wembley.
The home and away shirts are now available to buy, priced at £124.99 for the ‘authentic’ version and £84.99 for the ‘stadium’ version.
