The Archbishop of York, as such, is a Member of Parliament and a Privy Counsellor, so it is preposterous to suggest that he ought not to comment on certain issues. Until Euro 96, only the Church of England flew Saint George’s Flag with any regularity. Before that, although nearly everyone incorrectly called it something else, the English regarded the Union Flag as their national flag without complication. Look up the 1966 World Cup Final.
The present Medieval revival began 30 years later, to sell new beer to new football fans, who took up both the beer and the Flag with tremendous enthusiasm. Not least because banners bearing the Three Lions are also now appearing at demonstrations, it is high time for the English national football teams to decry the misappropriation of a central part of the culture of players who had been born in the 1990s or in the twenty-first century.
Funny no one is asking His Grace about how York is the headquarters of Flag Force UK.
ReplyDeleteThat has a highly questionable background. Watch this space.
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