Olympic Athletes Flying The Flag......Upside Down

[Gentile]

It's a small point, but I can't help noticing that there are more than a few British athletes at the Olympics that don't know which way up the Union Flag should go. E.g. :

Chris Hoy


Mo Farah


Bradley Wiggins

It's understandable in Bradley and Mo's cases since they weren't born in the UK, but Chris Hoy? You held the bloody flag at the opening ceremony whilst you were leading the team round, FFS, surely you got a good look at the bloody thing? And even if you didn't know the old "broad side white and top" phrase for remembering which way up it should go, surely the fact that there are eyeholes on one side should have given you a bit of a clue?

At least Jessica Ennis got it right. Although I suspect the fact that her name was written on it may have helped:

[BrilloPad]

They can fly it upside down if in distress. And after competing they should be in distress as they will have been doing their best!

[Old Greg]

I wouldn't have a clue which way is the right way. The obvious solution is to get a design consultancy in and get then to design a symmetric flag.

[escapeUK]

They can fly it upside down if in distress. And after competing they should be in distress as they will have been doing their best!

If this was GLP, id take that as a sign of impending doom!

[Bunk]

I think you'll find Hoy and Mo aren't holding it upside down. You're just seeing the reverse side of the flag. For the people standing behind them it'll look perfect.

[Gentile]

I wouldn't have a clue which way is the right way. The obvious solution is to get a design consultancy in and get then to design a symmetric flag.

It's to do with whether the Irish or Scots crosses should go on top, isn't it? The original Union Flag didn't have an Irish Cross of St Patrick, it just looked like this:

And then when the Irish CoSP was to be added, by convention it should have gone behind all the other existing symbols, but if it had it would have been completely obscured by the existing, thicker St Andrew's cross. So instead they made half of each quadrant have the St Andrew's cross on top, and the other half the Cross of St Patrick was on top (but you could still see some of the St Andrew's cross behind it), making for a pretty odd design.

Nobody ever seems to notice or mind that there's no Welsh element to the design, though.

[Gentile]

I think you'll find Hoy and Mo aren't holding it upside down. You're just seeing the reverse side of the flag. For the people standing behind them it'll look perfect.

Yeah, I though someone might try to say that. Find me even a single photo of an American holding their flag in this way, where the blue quadrant of the Stars and Stripes is in their left hand (making the flag the "right way up" if viewed from behind the holder), and then we'll talk.

Edit: here's some photos to get you started.

Another Edit: forget that, it looks like they've got numpties too! :

[escapeUK]

Yeah, I though someone might try to say that. Find me even a single photo of an American holding their flag in this way, where the blue quadrant of the Stars and Stripes is in their left hand (making the flag the "right way up" if viewed from behind the holder), and then we'll talk.

Edit: here's some photos to get you started.

Americans are proud of their flag. Ive been indoctrinated to think our flag is a sign of racism and BNP membership. Thanks BBC.

[Gentile]

Oh, fer Gawd's sake:



I can only imagine that it looks the right way up before they flick it over their heads, and it becomes back-to-front/upside-down.

[MarillionFan]

Oh, fer Gawd's sake:



I can only imagine that it looks the right way up before they flick it over their heads, and it becomes back-to-front/upside-down.

Sheesh.

Gentile, have you ever met?

I think this could be a match in heaven.