All eyes will be on the collars of England players as they take on Brazil tonight amid questions whether they will revolt against Nike’s ‘woke rainbow’ rehash of the St George’s cross.
Many supporters were outraged when the kit designer revealed this week that it had replaced the horizonal line on the traditional red cross with a navy blue, light blue and pink one.
The questions surrounding tonight’s game come after under-21 player Harvey Elliott ‘hid’ the new cross by keeping his collar up for his team’s fixture against Azerbaijan yesterday.
England legend David Seaman has also claimed players would have ‘said no’ to Nike’s altered version of the St George’s flag had they been consulted.
‘It’s not broken, it doesn’t need fixing. What’s next, are we going to change the three lions to three cats? Leave it alone,’ Seaman told talkSPORT.
Whether Elliott kept the cross out of sight in response to the fiasco or as a preference on how he wants to wear the kit is unclear.
But England insiders have suggested that the move was not deliberate and that the 20-year-old just has a bit of ‘swagger about him’.
England boss Gareth Southgate has also hinted he isn’t a fan of the controversial new home kit.
He insisted last night that the logo on the collar is not a St George’s flag, claiming it is merely a ‘quirky design feature’.
‘I think they can put a quirky design together but you can’t say it’s the flag of St George because it isn’t. It’s therefore something else,’ said Southgate.
‘The most important thing on the England shirt is the Three Lions. That is the thing that is iconic, that differentiates us even from the England rugby team or the England cricket team.’
He added: ‘I am a huge patriot. I believe we should celebrate St George’s Day more than we do.
‘But the bit I understand is people don’t think we should have changed the flag of St George.’
Nike launched the new strip on Monday ahead of the Euros this summer with the promise to ‘celebrate football heroes of the past with a modern twist’.
The sportswear brand also made a specific reference to the flag, saying: ‘A playful update to the St. George appears on the collar to unite and inspire.’
But a number of fans, including politicians Nigel Farage and Brendan Clarke Smith, were enraged at the new design bearing no resemblance to the original cross, while Reform UK MP Lee Anderson described the move as ‘virtue signaling woke nonsense’.
Speaking to the Daily Express, Mr Anderson said: ‘The left have a nerve to ask me why I want my country back.
‘This virtue signalling, namby-pamby, pearl-clutching woke nonsense must stop. Any more of this and I’ll be on the first flight to Rwanda.’
Mr Farage said the new kits were an ‘absolute joke’ ahead of their first use by Gareth Southgate’s side tonight when they play the South American side at at Wembley.
He added: ‘That’s it, it’s a multicoloured cross, it bears no relationship to the St George’s Cross whatsoever.
‘If the England football team think that’s acceptable well why on earth would you be apologetic about Englishness if you’re going to play for England in the European football finals. I think it’s an absolute joke.’
The new kit also attracted a lot of online attention as fans rushed to voice their concerns on the updated flag.
Comedian Jason Manford wrote: ‘Oh dear…this is not gonna go down well! what a weird thing to do tho!
‘A US company having a cheeky play with another countries flag, let’s go back to Umbro I say, we won the World Cup in that kit.’
Another X user added: ‘Disgraceful. The St George’s Cross is the sacred icon of the English nation & people.
‘Why have we allowed Nike, a US brand that produces these shirts with sweatshop labour, to defile our national flag? Why is England so ashamed of itself that it won’t get into uproar about this?’
It was revealed today that Nike is not the first company to alter a St George’s flag on England kit and that Umbro also tampered with the flag on their 2011/12 strip.
Umbro created a special edition version of the home kit with multi-colour crosses scattered across the shirt.
The idea behind it was to represent the country’s cultural diversity and it was met with very limited response from fans.