Barrow Fans' Flag Rejected by FIFA Over Submarine Image
England fans from Barrow have been left shaking their heads after World Cup organisers blocked their flag – because it features a submarine.
The group of supporters had created a St George’s flag bearing the Barrow AFC badge and an extra silhouette of a submarine, a nod to the Cumbrian town’s long association with shipbuilding and naval vessels. For them, it was a piece of home to hang in the stands.
For Fifa, it was a step too far.
When the fans submitted the design for approval – a requirement for anyone wanting to display flags inside World Cup stadiums – the governing body rejected it on the grounds that it contained “imagery of weapons or military (submarine).”
Under Fifa’s stadium rules, flags must not include references to weapons or the military. Guns, knives, tanks – and, as it turns out, submarines.
Barrow fan John Little, preparing to travel to Boston for England’s match against Ghana on Tuesday, was stunned.
“I couldn’t believe it really, it’s a little bit harsh that they’ve done it for something like that,” he said. “I could understand like guns and knives and what have you, but not a submarine.
“It’s not like you can go down to the local Walmart and buy a submarine is it.”
What was meant as a proud, quirky symbol of a working town has instead become the latest flashpoint in Fifa’s tight control over what appears on television screens and inside its showpiece tournament. The submarine, part civic emblem and part local in-joke, has been treated the same as overtly militaristic imagery.
The response sent to the group, seen by the BBC, left little room for debate.
“The application was rejected because the item includes imagery of weapons or military (submarine). These are not permitted under FIFA policy. We would be happy to approve, if you were willing and able to submit again with the imagery covered up.”
So the fans now face a choice: alter the flag or leave it at home. Fifa has told them they can cover up the submarine and resubmit the application, and Little says they will try to do exactly that.
Among supporters, the decision has been met with ridicule rather than resignation. “People are just saying how ridiculous it is that they’re not allowing the flag,” Little said.
In a tournament where every banner, chant and colour is part of the spectacle, a small group from Barrow have discovered the hard way that even a silhouette on a flag can sink under Fifa’s regulations.
