Arsenal ban national flags
Posted by Martin in Arsenal | 18 December 2006
Apologies if you've already seen this in the media. I have to say that it was news to me. It appears that a because a single person flew a Turkish Cypriot flag at a recent game, upsetting the Greek Cypriot community, Arsenal are considering banning all national flags. This would prevent the flying of the Union Jack & St Georges cross.
The post on "Flagman's world of flags" gives a good insight into the whole saga and if you look at the comments you get a feel for the general reaction.
Personally I agree with Flagman, Arsenal have over reacted. It would be great to see fans flying a plethora of national flags, visible for the world to see!
Comments
Bloody ridiculous. Everyone's so scared of offending someone that no-one will be allowed to do anything soon.
a disgrcaeful act of xenophobia, racism and hypocrisy
Guys, this should be put into context. Although I personally believe this is an overreaction by Arsenal, the fans who are or have family who are refugees would react akin to a swastika being flown in the stadium when this flag was flown, hence the complaints. It is not a political issue, it is a matter of human rights for those who have lost their land, whatever the errors of all governments involved. Arsenal have found this solution which cracks a nut with a grenade I'm afraid. But talk of xenophobia is off the mark.
Arsenal football club is located in London which happens to be the capital city of England the last time I checked. The club is bound by the laws of the land and it`s constitutions. Banning the flying of the Union Jack or St.George Cross anywhere on English soil may actually be against the law? It`s enough that the English don`t get to play at Arsenal anymore but this is ridiculous, arrogant and frankly not suprising.I am a tolerant man but this is piss taking to the extreme. Time someone placed their boot firmly up Wengers arse,pay his taxi fair to Heathrow and give the club back to the English before he bans fish & chips and cups of tea from the club menu too.
An interesting comment from Martin, however, I don't think we can really blame this one on Wenger!
Personally I'm not er .. what's the word .. oh yes .. patriotic.
Frankly I couldn't give 2 ducks about England. I love London. It's pigging great!
I'm English BTW.
I don't get why people get so proud of being from somewhere (whether it's England or not) that they feel the need to display it with a flag.
I would love seeing Arsenal flags flying, that'd be flipping brilliant.
Incidentally - I'm club over country everytime. Generally because the quality of football is better at club level. IMHO
(crikey I had to edit out a lot of swearing there)
The national flag ban at Arsenal comes on the back of a Turkish Cypriot fan flying a flag which represents the illegal Turkish occupation of Cyprus. Hence the flag being flown is more of a political flag then a national flag, seeing as no country (apart from Turkey of course) in the world officially recognises the so-called 'Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus'. As the illegal Turkish state was set up on the back of the ethnic cleansing of the indigenous Greek Cypriot population in the Cyprus' north during Turkey's invasion, then hopefully you can see why Greek Cypriot Arsenal fans, many of which are refugees of the Turkish invasion, feel a lot of distress when reminded of the pain they have suffered while wanting to enjoy a simple non-political football match. Im sure if someone flew a BNP or Nazi flag at Arsenal, the flag would be taken down straight away. Unfortunatly there is a lack of understanding by many non Cypriot / Greek / Turkish Arsenal fans and the Greek Cypriot point of view is not understood. It was not the intention of the people who signed the petition to remove this political flag from our terraces, to infact have a total blanket ban on all national flags from the stadium. As a life long Greek Cypriot Arsenal fan, I think it is ridiculous for fans not to be able to fly the national flag of England at an English football ground. What I dont want is politics to be brought into the stadium and subsequently having to reconsider If I want to support the club at home matches If I am going to be reminded this painful issue everytime I watch a game. The Turkish Cypriot flag which caused this offense is NOT a national flag, it is a political one which has many unethical conotations behind it and it is of my own belief that the person who brought this flag into the ground did so to purpously cause such offense and make a political statement.
Im sorry to put a political slant on this blog but I just wanted to spread some understanding amongst Arsenal fans.
COME ON THE GOONERS!
Disappointed nobody's written - "It's political correctness gone mad". Surely someone can be relied upon to come out with the cliche.
For what it's worth, Arsenal have three choices. 1 - allow all flags (so, swastikas would be allowed). 2 - ban all flags (no St. George/Union Flags then). 3 - define which flags are allowed and which are banned. Now who fancies that job?
Not such an easy answer after all.
thanks Palmers Green Gooner for a very enlightening comment - i hadn't realised it wasn't a national flag but rather a political one.
I understand why the flag would therefore be offensive and why fans want it banned.
I would still have an issue with a blanket ban - just tackle each problem as it arises.
Someone HAS said "it's political correctness gone mad"!- the Campaign for an English Parliament. OK, it's a cliche. But it's also true. The CEP condemned the decision, and said the fans won't put up with it.
Nice one!
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