New movie out! 300 - Sparta vs Persia at Thermoplylae!

[Louis VI the Fat]

I am surprised nobody has opened a thread about this yet!

A great new movie got released: 300. It's based on a comic book and it's about the Spartans fighting for universal western freedom against the evil Persian empire and

Just kidding.
I was watching some old (association) football videos on YouTube. I stumbled upon a nice video of England winning the World Cup in 1966. Something extraodinary caught my attention: the people in the crowd were all waving Union Flags. Now, anybody familiar with contemporary England football, knows that it's all St. George's cross nowadays. Why is that?

A quick google shed no light on this. Does anybody of you fine gentlemen here know why or when this change occured? I'm quite intruiged by it. Is it limited to football, and sports in general? Is it the product of devolution? Are devolution and this change in flag both symptoms of a broader change in national identification in Britain, from the UK to it's constituent parts?

Compare:

1966:
Watching the higlights properly, maybe for my first time, I have to admit that this game truly is one of the all-time classics! Great England performance.
The linesman was asked some time after the game if he really believed that the ball had crossed the German goal-line. He replied with just a single word, uttered in a heavy Russian accent: Stalingrad...
They think it's all over and all that.

2006:
A random video of a random 2006 England game picked for no reason in particular:
Engerland! Engerland!

The first thirty seconds of both videos show what I'm talking about.

[InsaneApache]

Ahhh the old Union Jack thingy!

Summat to do with the Scots and the Welsh escaping from English hegemony.

IIRC the Euro 96 competition was one of the first times that the English flag was used extensively. Now, when I were a lad at footy matches in the '70s the Union flag was about the only flag you saw. You see everyone else on the planet thinks that the UK = England, and who are we to disappoint?

[English assassin]

A quick google shed no light on this. Does anybody of you fine gentlemen here know why or when this change occured? I'm quite intruiged by it. Is it limited to football, and sports in general?

I agree, early to mid 90s. And no, its general

Is it the product of devolution?

IMHO in part yes. English national identity has risen in large part because of scots gobbing off about how bloody oppressed they are, eg being forced to take more public spending and send more MPs to parliament than the English, and other such terrible outrages. Or maybe that's just Alex Salmond (SNP leader). Also we are jealous that (they wrongly think that) running about in kilts is lovable, whereas running about with a St George's cross marks you out as a nazi (well, maybe not any more).

Are devolution and this change in flag both symptoms of a broader change in national identification in Britain, from the UK to it's constituent parts?

Again IMHO yes. I would probably describe myself as English first and British second. As a teenager it would have been the other way around. (And I really could not care less if the scots become independent.) I'm probably most likely of all to describe myself as a Londoner though, as TBH they are a very funny lot out in the provinces. Independence for London, I say.

[Pannonian]

IIRC Euro 96 was the start of the St George fetishising.

[BDC]

Independence for London, I say.

London and the Home Counties leaving would result in the rest of England becoming a 3rd world country. They could hang around with Wales though, and Scotland once the oil runs out.

[Ja'chyra]

Ask them about the Scotland England game in 1967.

[InsaneApache]

London and the Home Counties leaving would result in the rest of England becoming a 3rd world country. They could hang around with Wales though, and Scotland once the oil runs out.

Stop it!....I'm laughing that hard my tummy hurts.