With the 21st FIFA Football World Cup just a matter of a few months away, great armies of fervent football fans will swarm on Russia with the main aim of supporting their beloved country and making sure everybody knows about it!
Inspiring support
As long as there has been sport, there has always been supporters and any professional sport, whether team or individual, usually attracts fans and supporters who want to nail their colours to the mast. Personalised flags have long been regarded as part of the furniture at football matches in particular. Anyone over 20 will recall the incredible sight of the old Wembley visibly swaying as all the fans passionately swayed their team flags and banners, creating a shimmering sea of their team’s colours. Genuinely quite an awe-inspiring sight, you can only imagine how inspiring it must have been for players… Actually, it still happens and still has the power to inspire. The only difference really nowadays is that people have so many different modes of choice in which to express their team support, leading to many nostalgic and crafty football clubs actually physically giving fans free flags on big matchdays to encourage that old-school effect. Let’s keep it simple, they seem to say. We play in blue, they play in red. They won’t like it if everything looks blue!
But why do we feel the need wave a team flag, or even personalise a flag? In an age when you can happily just shout your support from the terraces, or follow and defend your team on 243 different social media platforms, or call one of the many 24-hour radio stations to vociferously defend your team….Where does this need to physically display your support via a fabric flag come from? There’s no one clear answer but to get closer you’d need to look a bit deeper than just the notion of team support…
Tribal expression
Personalised or printed flags are one of the most simple yet clear methods to express yourself and your affinity with a team or group of any kind. It is almost as if the flag is an individual attempt to both make a statement about who you are and also to contribute with like-minded others in making more of an impact, together.
We see in all walks of life, from people of ages, a desire to just belong. From early childhood, as our personalities start to take shape, we look around society for things that resonate with us. The collective is stronger than the singular, people have always found strength in numbers and always will. It’s maybe the same reason that teenagers adorn their walls with posters of their favourite bands, play their music incessantly and wear T-shirts boasting the band’s logo. It is about identity, feeling that you’ve found something that feels right and represents you.
Ok, you may see the occasional loner at a rally waving his message flag that is seemingly at odds with everyone else, but that’s the self-expression side. For some flag-waving is more about this, the need to demonstrate your independence as opposed to find solidarity with others.
Customised football flags has always been a major part of the tribal culture of football. Theoretically, you are supposed to support the nearest professional team to where you were born. In reality, glamour clubs from all over tend to have an allure that seduces people, hence the vast numbers of Man Utd supporters spouting their love for the club in a thick Somerset accent and so on…Whatever the reason, football supporters share and thrive in the sense of tribal expression. They travel, drink, shout, cheer, encourage, vilify as one collective entity. Printed flags often serve to showcase which strand of the same supporter army they represent.
It has a darker history too. The bad memories of the hooliganism-riddled 1970’s & 1980’s club and international football scene often seemed signposted by extremist groups, far-right messages daubed across the Union Jack flag. Thankfully that element now feels like a relic, rightfully consigned to the dustbin. Thankfully nowadays many are being much more creative and personalising their team or national flags in a much more amusing way.
Make ‘em laugh….
Custom printed flags don’t have to be limited to St. George’s Cross flags customised with ‘Salford Red Devils’ etc…More and more football supporters are taking to having their team flag customised with some humorous comment or gag. Maybe they’re just trying to attract the TV cameras but it’s clearly a growing trend. Some young fans have flags printed with a plea for their team’s star player to donate them their shirt after the game – And it often works too!
There’s a famous permanent printed flag at Old Trafford that proudly (if a little dangerously) proclaims “United, Kids, Wife – In that order.” The Irish national team supporters have long made witty bespoke flags their speciality, from the famous one that informed (on camera at the World Cup) the supporter’s boss that he wouldn’t be in to work that day to clever and naughty)wordplay puns on players’ names – It’s a nice angle on personalised flags, all done in the right spirit.
Old-fashioned?
So in a world so increasingly (and sometimes infuriatingly) digital-obsessed, is there still a place for solid traditional supporting by methods such as such as custom printed flags for sport? Without a doubt. Just watch a game this week on TV or in person and you’ll see that it’s alive and well.
Human beings are naturally visual and reactive creatures – Visually displaying your support, whether on large personalised banners or custom printed flags, will never die – and for good reason. Nothing really hits home like a striking or humourous flag, or numerous team logo/colour flags creating that special blanket effect, or a huge canvas banner that screams ‘This is me. And this is my team!”
There’s something about football supporters that are unapologetically old school. In fact, it’s more a badge of honour. Walk to the local ground, pint on the way, another pint and a pie at half-time, some sweary shouting at the hapless referee and pop off home. Does any of that sound like it’s evolved at all from the 1970s? Not a bit. And maybe that’s the lure – It is unashamedly simple and therefore timeless. Fathers take their sons, it’s always been a rite of passage. As that son gets older, he wants to pledge his allegiance and does it with a printed team flag. Why not?
Anyway, far from being old-fashioned, what could be a more modern use of a personalised flag that uses a Twitter handle to mock the opposing manager? #youregettingsackedinthemorning indeed.
Support form the Terraces….!
Customised sports flags allow both your love for your team and your personal message to be flown from the rooftops! (or terraces, at least) Modern digital printing technology has made this a much cheaper process than usual so value-wise also, it’s an easy choice. A purchase of a custom-printed flag can last years, as their durability is one of their main assets. Made from professional standard 115gsm knitted polyester, the flags are very durable but crucially are also lightweight. These can be printed on one side or both and are available in a variety of flag sizes from 3ft x 2ft to 10ft x 6.5ft, meaning whatever space you have can be accounted for. After all, space at a packed football ground is at a premium! Different shaped custom printed flags add to the adaptability too, including Teardrop flags, Portrait flags, Feather flags, Paper hand flags and Fabric Hand flags.