I’m not referring to anyone who thinks it’s cynical for those reasons. They want the shirt to sell, and I don’t doubt they’ll sell more with all this publicity. I agree that it’s a pretty much an exercise in “pot stirring”.
I’m talking about the other ones that are actually, genuinely, upset and calling it a “disgrace”. I just think it’s a bit pitiful tbh. They’re scrabbling over themselves to try and find a “woke” explanation as to why it’s changed; it’s a bit garish, but if there was a legitimate PR reason behind the pattern, they’d be signposting it directly.
The Scotland example is a bit of a false equivalency. It would be really weird if we had the Irish flag randomly plastered on our kit too. I’m sure there are loads of examples of flags being messed with for the aesthetic. The Brazil kit from last year did the exact same thing, and there’s a Scotland kit with a giant teal cross on the front from like 15 years ago too.
As
@SlowDownDerek points out, this is a very British attitude it seems. Calling things woke is just the meta of today. It’s completely inconsequential at the end of the day, if you don’t like it then don’t buy it. It’s got the badge on it still, and kits haven’t had the cross on it in quite a long time.