Nike has sparked outrage this week after it announced the men’s England football team’s official 2024 home kit. If you thought wokery could not get any worse, it just has. The new shirt features a flag on the back of the collar. However, it is not the traditional St. George’s flag as the horizontal line has been changed from red to purple, navy blue and pink in what is clearly a homage to the LGBT rainbow. The England squad will officially wear this on Saturday when they face Brazil in a friendly and will continue to wear it throughout the 2024 Euros.
Nike claims that this is a “playful update” of the St. George’s flag on the collar and it is meant to “unite and inspire”. Not everyone agrees, obviously, including several former England players. There have been calls to boycott the new shirt, with #boycottNike trending on X. David Seaman, the former England goalkeeper who made 75 appearances, said: “It doesn’t need fixing. What’s next, are they going to change the Three Lions to three cats? Leave it alone.”