Worldflagshop News

• 14May

  South Africans get behind the flag

  Flags in the news 1 Comment

  (courtesy of Fifa.com)

  It will not only be in the stadiums that South Africans will be showing their support for the World Cup and the national team, Bafana Bafana. Already South African drivers are displaying their patriotism, with the national flags proudly displayed on cars around the country.

  Add to this the Football Friday campaign, which has seen South Africans don their national football jersey on the last working day of each week, turning the streets into a sea of green and gold, and it is easy to see that the country has united in celebration for the month long football feast.

  Some fans have gone far beyond the call of duty though, with just a jersey and a flag not offering enough of an outlet for their passion. Ran Neu Ner, the CEO of the Creative Counsel group, has decided to brand his black Mercedes SLK 350 convertible sports car in the colours of the South African flag.

  “I’m a soccer fanatic and a South Africa fanatic,” admits Ner. “I was just so excited by the idea of the World Cup coming here that I had to find a release, and do something radical. So I did this.”

  It took only a day for Ner to turn his car into a giant flag, and although the vinyl stickers are not permanent this can be taken under consideration. “If Bafana Bafana win the World Cup this year, I’ll make it permanent.”

  Ner, who is attending as many matches as humanly possible, is daring other South Africans to follow his lead.

  “I challenge anyone to beat what I have done… I am excited about the support, but we can do more. I’ve been around the world watching football and I can tell you that our supporters are some of the best; we are alive and have a great spirit in the stands. We must show this to the world.”

  For Ner the 2010 FIFA World Cup is something unique and should be embraced as such. “All the marketing tells us ‘The World Cup in South Africa is a once in a lifetime experience’, but it really is, never again will it come back here while we are alive. We need to get behind our people, our players and our country, to make this a World Cup to remember.”

  The International Marketing Council (IMC), which is charged with promoting South Africa abroad, is pleased by the increase in national spirit.

  “We have been calling on all South Africans to actively participate in campaigns like the Fly the Flag and Football Fridays,” said Miller Matola, CEO of the IMC. “We are thrilled with the response so far. South Africans are passionate about football and we anticipate support is likely to further increase the closer we get to kickoff.”

  Matola sees the tournament as an opportunity to build a greater sense of ‘South Africaness’, one that will last long after the final whistle has been blown.

  “With more and more South Africans flying the flag, wearing their football jerseys and proudly singing the national anthem, I have no doubt that the beautiful game will further build national pride and unity.”

  Tumelo Mbalati, from Johannebsurg has recently invested in a South African car flag and wears his yellow Bafana Bafana jersey religiously. He feels that flying his flag and wearing his national colours is the most effective manner of demonstrating his patriotism and his support, for both his team and the tournament.

  “I bought my South African car flag when my friends and I decided to attend Bafana Bafana’s friendly match against Namibia. On the spur of the moment, overcome by the excitement at the rare opportunity to watch the national team in action, we all went and purchased the flags,” said Mbalati.

  “For me, flying my country’s flag everywhere I go and wearing the Bafana jersey is the least I can do to show that I’m backing my country, through the national team, to succeed at the World Cup.”

  Brian Pale, who places great importance in wearing his national colours, shared the same enthusiasm. “I feel a sense of pride when I wear my Bafana jersey. I feel one with the team. I expect us to prove to all the sceptics that South Africa is more than capable of hosting an event as big as the World Cup.”

  With South African football fever growing every day, some fans know how hard it can be to find a suitably sized Bafana Bafana jersey. “This is an indication of the eagerness shown by South Africans to own a piece of the World Cup and support Bafana Bafana,” said Pale.

  Zobuzwe Ngobese, PR Manager at FIFA Partner adidas, confirmed that there has been great demand for the Bafana jersey at consumer level. “The orders that we have received from retailers have almost exceeded our expectations. But we had anticipated that with the launch of the Football Fridays and other campaigns the demand for merchandise would increase remarkably”.

  Whether you are a supporter of South Africa, or any other participating World Cup Team, make www.worldflagshop.com your place to stop and shop.

  With a huge selection of flags/banners and bunting, you will not be disappointed. Support your national team, and buy a flag… Stocks are limited so please hurry……………….

• 14May

  Village school banned from flying its own flag because it is ‘advertising’

  Articles 13 Comments

  St Mary’s Primary School in Beetley, near Dereham, Norfolk was told by Breckland District Council that the flag required planning consent.

  The specially-designed flag was funded by the Royal Marine Association in Norwich to mark the 65th anniversary of Victory in Europe.

  Children from the school, which has 204 pupils aged from four to 11, had created a new school badge which was being used as the basis of the design.

  Second World War veteran Len Bloomfield, 88, of Beetley, said he had wanted the school to have its own flag for years – and said many European schools proudly flew their own flags.

  He said: “I have felt for some time that the school should fly both its own and the Union flag and I think it helps to give the children genuine pride in their school.”

  Louise Bunning, a parent governor, said: “We have put such a lot of work into this project and we were keen to fly it to say that we are proud of St Mary’s school.”

  However, Ralph Hedley, acting headmaster at the school, was unwilling to give way.

  He said: “Breckland Council told us that we needed to get permission from the Flags Commission. We understand that because the flag has the school’s name on it it is deemed to be advertising.

  “We have applied to the Flags Commission and called time and again but they haven’t got back to us. To be honest once the flag is made we’ll just fly it and if they ask us to take it down we’ll take it down.”

  Last month a vicar was warned by council officials about flying a flag depicting Jesus outside his church because it was “religious advertising”.

  Rev Mark Binney, the vicar of St Andrew’s Church in Hampton, Worcs, said he had been told he would need planning permission in future.

  The flag was flown in the week preceding Easter Sunday. Wychavon council said it would consider allowing the flag to be flown in future if approached by the church.

  A spokesman for Breckland District Council said: “Flags used for advertising and promotional purposes are controlled under Advertisement Regulations and would require consent from the council.

  “Planning permission will be required if you intend to fly flags used for advertising, in all likelihood the flying of the school flag will be acceptable to the planning committee.”

  A spokesman for Norfolk County Council said: “It seems there’s a commission for everything.” (article courtesy of telegraph.co.uk)

• 30Apr

  Church warned that flag of Jesus is ‘religious advertising’

  Flags in the news 2 Comments

  Has the world gone mad? Surely you shouldn’t need permission to fly a flag other than your national, county or patron saint flag?

  If you wish to defy this notion and fly your Christian, Jesus or any other flag for that matter, then visit www.worldflagshop.com to make your purchase today!

  Planning permission? I’ll tell you where you can stick that…………….

  Rev Mark Binney, vicar of St Andrew’s Church, Hampton, Worcs, said he had been told he needed planning permission if he wanted to fly a flag “advertising Christianity” in future.

  The flag was put up outside the church in the week preceding Easter Sunday displaying the words ‘This is Holy Week’ and an image of Jesus on the cross.

  Mr Binney said the warning was “appalling”, and he felt it was part of a gradual erosion of Christianity in Britain.

  Wychavon council said it investigated a complaint from a member of the public and decided no consent was required.

  A spokesman said flags other than national flags, county flags, or flags for patron saints, required advertisement consent if they were flown from a vertical freestanding flagpole.

  He said the council would consider allowing the flag to be flown for a week in future if it was approached by the church

  (article courtesy of telegraph.co.uk)

• 23Apr

  Fly the flag of St George and celebrate English patron saint, urges the Archbishop of York

  Miscellaneous No Comments

  The Archbishop of York has called for a display of patriotism today, St George’s Day(courtesy of The Mail Online).

  Failure to celebrate the English patron saint is a sign of ingratitude for the country’s heritage and a mark of cynicism, said Dr John Sentamu.

  He added that it was time for the English ‘to rejoice in the land that we live in.’

  Uganda-born Dr Sentamu, second only to the Archbishop of Canterbury in the hierarchy of the Church of England, made his plea for patriotism after a survey showed that many believe England has lost its national identity and feel ashamed of their nationality.

  The Archbishop has long been an opponent of the multiculturalism fashionable among some of his C of E colleagues, which sees English history as disreputable and English patriotism as sinister.

  He announced that he will fly the red cross of St George from his palace at Bishopthorpe in York today.

  A group of schoolchildren have been invited to play rounders on the palace lawn as part of a day of celebration.

  Dr Sentamu said: ‘To be patriotic is to appreciate and be grateful for all that is valuable in the country you live in. It does not require you to be a xenophobe or a blinkered nationalist.

  Patriotic: The George and Dragon pub Snailwell, Cambridgeshire with flags out

  ‘The failure to recognise and appreciate the goodly heritage of one’s country of residence is a sign of all-round ingratitude. Ingratitude in turn breeds cynicism.’

  This week a poll by the magazine This England rated England as the least patriotic country in Europe and said that many believed if they tried to fly a St George’s flag from their house they would be told to take it down.

  Do you want to be Patriotic? Are you scared to fly your own National Flag?

  Get all of your St Georges Day Flags and Bunting from www.worldflagshop.com - Also available, England World Cup 2 and 4 Lions Flags, English patriotic and historical flags.. Get them now!!!

• 22Apr

  France urges prosecution for flag bottom-wiping

  Flags in the news 9 Comments

  Are they really being serious? Is this Frenchman trying to make an ar*e of himself?

  PARIS — A photograph of a man wiping his bottom with the French flag prompted the government on Wednesday to demand criminal proceedings against the artist that produced it.

  The image, one of the winners in a photo contest organised by the book and record shop FNAC in the southern city of Nice, sparked a controversy after it appeared last month in a free national newspaper, Metro.

  Justice Minister Michele Alliot-Marie “has demanded that criminal proceedings be launched against this unacceptable act,” said justice ministry spokesman Guillaume Didier.

  “Presumably the law has the legal means to punish such an intolerable act against the French flag,” he added. “If the existing law proves incomplete in this regard, it should be revised.”

  The decision was made after the ministry received a letter from Eric Ciotti, a deputy from President Nicolas Sarkozy’s UMP party and president of the Alpes-Maritime region, who deemed the image “offensive” and called for an investigation.

  “I want the person who committed this outrage to be punished, and possibly those who published it,” he wrote in his letter, adding that he had received numerous complaints from war veterans and other shocked constituents.

  The state prosecutor in Nice, Eric de Mongolfier, told AFP he had examined the case last month at the ministry’s request and ruled the photograph did not constitute an offence since it was done in a “creative spirit”.

  FNAC said it had quickly taken measures to counter the controversy.

  “As soon as we saw that people were shocked by the image, we withdrew it from the list of winners, with the photographer’s consent, and we have not exhibited it,” said a FNAC spokeswoman.

  The newspaper defended itself saying it had merely “covered a local event” that it “did not sponsor”.

  “It is a question of knowing what the limits of art, provocation and freedom of speech are,” Metro France’s chief editor Frederic Vezard told AFP.

  Under France’s penal code, insulting the French national anthem or the tricolor flag during a publicly organised event is punishable by up to six months’ imprisonment and a fine of 7,500 euros (10,045 dollars)

  Mongolfier said that to make it an offence, “the insult must be committed during an event organised or regulated by the public authorities, which is not the case” with the offending photograph.

  What can I say? If you want a flag either to fly or wipe your backside with, then please visit www.worldflagshop.com for a fantastic selection of International and Collectors Flags.

  I raise my glass to you Mr Frenchman. Bottoms up!!!

• 19Apr

  Big Ticket Matches for Jamaican Coca-Cola Flag Bearers

  Articles 5 Comments

  (Courtesy of the Jamaica Observer)

  The 12 teens who win the trip of a lifetime to the 2010 FIFA World Cup Finals in South Africa will parade the flags of the nations of Brazil, Italy, the Ivory Coast, and Slovakia when they take up official FIFA Flag Bearer duties in the first round of matches during the competition.

  The teens will perform their functions at matches 29 and 41, respectively, when Italy will take on Slovakia and football heavyweights Brazil tackle the Ivory Coast. The matches are in groups F and G, respectively.

  During the 18 FIFA World Cup tournaments that have been held, seven nations have won the title, and Brazil are the only team to have played in every tournament and have won the World Cup a record five times. The Italians are the current champions and have won four titles.

  The teens will also be a part of history when they parade Slovakia’s flag, as this is the first time the nation has qualified for an international tournament. A fairytale run during the Qualifying campaign for South Africa saw the Slovaks defeat arch rivals the Czech Republic in Prague 2-1, and impressive wins home and away to Poland made certain that the Slovaks would make it to South Africa for their first major tournament as an independent nation.

  Older and wiser than at the last World Cup, Ivory Coast could become the first African team to be a genuine threat for the trophy in 2010. Already their qualification has united a nation deeply divided by religious and ideological strife and tension, and Les Elephants, as the team is called, are raring to show the world their mastery of football.

  Country manager for Coca-Cola in Jamaica, Chris Hardy, says that the matches were sure to be exciting encounters and that “the 12 teens who are eventually selected are sure to have the time of their lives. They will be carrying the flags of champions”. He added that the experience for the teens will not end after they have paraded flags on the football field.

  “It’s not a case where after their flag-bearing duties are finished we will whisk them back to the hotel. The teens will be able to actually watch the match from VIP seats in the stadium, which in and of itself is a fantastic experience. How many of their friends will be able to say that they watched a Brazil match live and in living colour?”

  The Coca-Cola Flag Bearer competition is open to Jamaicans between the ages of 12-16, who must be a registered student in a Jamaican high school. To enter the competition, persons will have to write their names on the back of a label of a Coca-Cola product along with their age and the name of the host country for the 2010 FIFA World Cup. The completed label must be put in a drop box at a participating secondary school.

  Coca-Cola has been associated with FIFA and the World Cup since the 1950s and they are the one and only beverage partner for the event.

  “Coca-Cola is not only a global partner with FIFA but we are also the longest running partner with FIFA. As a brand, we are committed to making people happy all over the world,” Hardy explained.

  The Coca-Cola Company has had a formal association with FIFA since 1974 and an official sponsorship of FIFA World Cupª that began in 1978. The beverage company has had stadium advertising at every FIFA World Cupª since 1950 and is a long-time supporter of football at all levels

  For all your World Cup National Flags and bunting, please visit www.worldflagshop.com or place your order by telephone on 0044 1560 480 333.

• 16Apr

  Burned Rainbow Flag Found at LGBT Centre

  Flags in the news No Comments

  Yesterday staff at the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual & Transgender Community Center in Manhattan were greeted by a burned rainbow flag hanging outside as they arrived at work. The NYC Anti-Violence Project (AVP) tells us the NYPD were contacted immediately and their Hate Crimes unit is now handling the investigation, with help from the AVP.

  The LGBT’s Glennda Testone said in a statement: “We at the Center will not stand for anyone who thinks they can come into our community and try to intimidate us. We work hard to create a safe environment and provide a safe space for all LGBT New Yorkers. Hate and intolerance against us will not be accepted in New York, and it is so important the Center is a safe space in our city. It is sad that such incidents still happen in this day and age.” Manhattan Borough President Scott M. Stringer also addressed the hate crime, which he called “a cowardly attempt at intimidation,” saying such acts would not be tolerated.

  The flag burner was caught on their surveillance video, but they are also asking for additional tips, which can be directed to the police(article courtesy of www.gothamist.com). 

  Worldwide Flags currently has a large selection of Gay Pride Flags including; Bi-Pride, Gay Pride Bear, Rainbow Smile, Rainbow Peace and many more….. These can be viewed at www.worldflagshop.com

• 16Apr

  25 years under the Guernsey flag

  Flags in the news No Comments

  Guernsey’s flag is something everyone on the island is familiar with as it is flown from many buildings and the mast that stands on the weighbridge.

  But until 1985 this was not the case as before then Guernsey used the cross of St George, the same as England.

  The flag was adopted to mark the 40th anniversary of Guernsey’s liberation from German Occupation during WWII.

  As well as the red Cross of St George the flag also features the gold cross of William the Conqueror.

  Bailiff of Guernsey, Sir Geoffrey Rowland, said: “It ties us back into our constitutional roots… here we are of Norman stock but linked indissolubly to the English crown.”

  The Guernsey flag flies outside the Royal Court everyday

  One of the motivating reasons behind the creation of a flag for Guernsey was the confusion that was caused by using the same flag as England.

  The example of this cited in the Guernsey Tourist Board’s 1995 History of the Guernsey Flag was the Commonwealth Games where many competitors came away with the opinion that England was somehow fielding two teams.

  The flag was designed, after much research, by the Guernsey Flag Investigation Committee chaired by the then Deputy Bailiff Sir Graham Dorey.

  David Le Conte, who was secretary of the committee, said: “It was the end of a process that lasted maybe 100 years discussing what the Guernsey flag should be.”

  The Guernsey Ensign, flown from local ships, also features the gold cross

  He explained that they “looked at many different designs” before settling on the one we know and added: “It’s become an iconic symbol of Guernsey.”

  The flag became official as it was granted a Royal Warrant by Her Majesty The Queen and it was first flown on Liberation Day, 9 May 1985.

  Culture and Leisure Minister, Mike O’Hara, said: “The population have really taken the flag to heart and its become part of our heritage.”

  Like the Guernsey flag, Sark and Alderney’s banners also feature the Cross of St George with additions so all the flags of the Bailiwick follow a similar theme.

  Alderney’s flag features the red cross with the island arms, a lion rearing on its hind legs, while the Sark flag was originally the standard of Dame Sibyl Hathaway and features a red canton with two yellow lions(article courtesy of BBC Guernsey).

  If you would like to have your own Guernsey flag or even Alderney and Sark, then please visit our website on  www.worldflagshop.com or even call us to the office on 0044 1560 480 333 where we will be more than happy to assist!

• 13Apr

  New flag wanted for Leighton Buzzard Town Hall

  Articles No Comments

  Leighton Buzzard resident Michael Bishop has contacted BBC Three Counties Radio about the state of the Union Flag flying from the Town Hall.

  Michael says the flag is tatty and an embarrassment for the town’s residents.

  He has suggested a flag fund be set up to get a replacement for Leighton Buzzard.

  “I have passed the flag in that condition for about six months, and I thought I should try and do something about it,” said Michael.

  It’s our Union Flag, we should be proud of it.

  “It’s probably one of those small things that gets overlooked by the council, but it really is quite embarrassing,” said Michael.

  Pat Kingsworth, Town Clerk at Leighton Linslade Council, told the BBC that the council were aware of the condition of the flag.

  “There is a new flag currently on order which should hopefully be up by the end of the week(story courtesy of  BBC News).

• 08Apr

  Damage Forces Flag to come down

  Flags in the news No Comments

  THE flag of St George will be absent from a church rooftop in Windsor for the first time in 180 years.

  After decades of proudly flying the English flag every St George’s Day, the Parish Church of St John the Baptist, based in the High Street, has been forced to abandon the patriotic act because of suspected structural damage to the building.

  Recent inspections of the church tower have indicated the natural movement of the flag pole over the years has probably caused movement of the parapet brickwork, which could set the church back £45,000.

  Specialist restoration workers from Cliveden Conservation Workshop, which has carried out work at Windsor Castle, will now carry out a full survey.

  David Shaw, chairman of the church management group, said: “We would like to assure everyone that this is just a precautionary measure and there is no danger to the public.

  “It is disappointing that we will not be able to fly the flag but it is important that this work is carried out.”

  The survey, which will cost £10,000, will start on April 12 with high level scaffolding being set around the top of the tower. Cliveden has said that any restoration work could add up to an additional £36,000.

  For all England and St Georges Day Flags and Bunting, then please visit www.worldflagshop.com

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