A weird phenomenon in recent years has been the growing insistence that due to the supposedly swelling, vague “threat” of “political correctness”, English football fans will no longer be able to wear their England shirts/carry their England flags during international football events.
Because of those pesky Muslims, they say, you won’t be able to smear your bonce in dodgy red and white face paint that, due to the high levels of perspiration typically exuded during the viewing of a crucial Euro 2016 match, will wind up running down your cheeks making you look less like a die-hard patriot, and more like a particularly sad clown. “I’m not a racist, but…” they begin, screaming until they’re red in the face about this unequivocally untrue anti-England shirt law, before launching into an incomprehensible rant about immigration and halal meat.
Though this rumour has persisted for years, rearing its head whenever England take to the pitch because what is a football tournament with some good old-fashioned racial tension, it’s categorically incorrect. As pointed out by internet myth debunking site Snopes, the claim that police are banning England shirts is utter nonsense derived from a reactionary Facebook status first posted all the way back in 2010. Here’s the post in full, for those who haven’t had the pleasure of seeing it pop up on their Facebook timelines:
“POLICE ARE GOING AROUND PUBS AND CLUBS SAYING THAT WE CANT WEAR OUR ENGLAND TOPS 4 THE FOOTIE & GOTTA TAKE THE FLAGS DOWN AS IT IS UPSETTING THE PEOPLE THAT DONT COME FROM HERE !! NOW IM NOT RACIST , BUT THIS IS TAKING THE PISS! THIS IS OUR COUNTRY AND WE NEED 2 MAKE A STAND IF YOU/THEY DONT LIKE IT GO AWAY! WOULD YOU REMOVE UR TURBAN & BURKHA BECAUSE IT UPSETS ME, IF YOU AGREE POST THIS AS YOUR STATUS”
While many would have sensibly concluded that this was incorrect upon first reading it because, well, look at it, there are still some who are more than willing to accept this all-caps tirade as verbatim. Fortunately for those people, their England shirts are safe from the PC police, as this story was actually first vomited out by The Sun six years ago following a letter sent from London’s Metropolitan police to pub landlords in Croydon, which advised them to uphold dress code restrictions during the World Cup in South Africa, including a ban of football shirts.
Another England shirt that hasn’t been banned by Muslims.
The advice was intended to prevent crime around the region during the football tournament, though was in no way linked to “UPSETTING THE PEOPLE THAT DONT COME FROM HERE” – which is racist slang for “all people who aren’t white” – and was not legally enforced. Essentially, it was the police saying “we want to reduce drunken criminal activity during the course of this event, and we believe that pubs deciding to enforce dress codes upon their patrons will help us in this goal”. Whether or not you agree with that sentiment is up to you, but the fact remains that it was NOT a result of police worrying that England shirts would offend those with family heritage outside of England, which coincidentally is the vast majority of people currently living in England.
So there you have it. You’re free to wear your England shirt while watching England play in the Euro 2016 tournament, just like you always have been, regardless of what the angry Facebook racist has told you.
