Red card to EU flag on England footie shirts by local MEP

An Irish Labour MEP has called for the EU flag to be on European nations’ football shirts in the World Cup and other sporting events which has outraged local MEP Emma McClarkin.

Nessa Childers, the socialist MEP who has proposed the move for the flag to be on national shirts, believes that sporting events have more potential “to unite ordinary Europeans and instil a sense of pride in Europe than all the treaties, directives and regulations put together”.

Consequently, she proposes that national football teams should include the EU flag on their jerseys for the World Cup and should also be on athletes’ sportswear at the Olympics in London 2012.

Emma McClarkin MEP, the Conservative spokesperson for sport, comments from Brussels:

“The idea that our players should have European flags imposed on them is outrageous.

“Ms Childers points to the Ryder Cup as an example of Europeans uniting under the European flag. This is an unusual case where the team is representative of Europe. It is a significant leap from the Ryder Cup to tournaments where individual nations are represented, such as the World Cup, and enforcing the EU nations to display the EU flag in these competitions.

“The huge number of St. George’s flags attached to cars and outside homes are a clear sign that the nation backs our English team.

“We are a proud nation and should be able to celebrate that.”