England isn’t a serious country. Nike’s new Three Lions kit has become the target for a morally bankrupt and misguided mob of grifters, career politicians and bigoted media.

Earlier this week, England and Nike dropped their new home and away kits ahead of this summer’s Euro 2024 tournament in Germany. 

Overall, the home kit’s design was fairly traditional in its approach, with a white shirt and royal blue shirts both featuring updated tricolour hems. Yet it was the back of the shirt's collar that had people’s heads spinning. 

The slight alterations of the St. George’s Cross – specifically the use of colour i.e. red, blue and purple – were intended to be, according to Nike, a “playful update” designed to “unite and inspire”. Instead, the sportswear brand’s innocuous decision has caused a spike in toxicity, hatred and attempts at division from bad faith actors. 

Many have accused Nike of ‘redesigning’ of the Cross in a political way, in an attempt to make it look like the rainbow flag – a symbol synonymous with the LGBTQ+ community.

Thousands have since taken to X in an attempt to explain how a woke agenda is evidently being forced upon the good people of England by an American brand, not to mention how the very essence of what it means to be English is being dragged through the mud – despite the nation’s clear diverse history and rich cultural heritage.

But this isn’t actually the first time we’ve seen the St. George’s Cross be uplifted purely for design purposes.

Back in 2010, Umbro joined forces with English designer Peter Saville whose England home kit featured dozens of minuscule St. George’s Crosses in red, blue, green and purple. A decision the designer made so a “diverse cross-section of people could identify with the shirt.”

Nike has since come forth and provided rationale for the design, explaining the colour palette was a nod to the tracksuits worn by England players in 1966 - a year that saw the Three Lions lift the World Cup for the first time. A moment in English history all are proud of. 

They’ve also stated they will not be changing the design despite the public backlash. 

Now more than ever we live in an intolerant climate, one where people are routinely looking for excuses to kick off against anything remotely ideologically progressive. That includes adding a colour or two to the St. George’s Cross. 

National heritage, pride, and Englishness are guises in which those with power attempt to control the masses and mask their ineptitudes for solving real, tangible societal issues.

The likes of Keir Starmer and Rishi Sunak aren’t on a mission to protect English values, they're on a mission to manipulate them for political gain. 

When an England kit is co-opted for use as political propaganda, it’s now more than ever that football needs to stand firm in its beliefs of making this game a place that welcomes people of all cultures, faiths, ideologies and identity.

That can’t be measured by a motif that didn’t even feature on an England kit until the 2000s.

@AmiLouCri