who is the french knight you talk off, was he around before or after King William Duke of Normandy a viking, Northman, Dane, (Normandy means Northmans land) they spoke a hybrid Norman/french dialect. the Norman conquest was both the end of and culmination of the Viking age.

This shouldn't even be a debate. Irish are not British. The team should be called British & Irish Lions.

There should be no national anthem either. Whether there is an Irish player or not would be absurd to have a team which claims to represent Ireland yet has an anthem singing about protecting the English Queen.

The union Lions don’t have a national anthem so I see no issue with us not having one either if it’s an issue, is it an issue? GB have played umpteen times in the past with Scots, Welsh, English and Irish in the team. As far as I know in over 100 years no player has taken issue with the anthem (don’t sing it if you don’t want) or the colour of the shirt (unless it was that awful 90s away kit that was like an explosion in a paint factory). If they don’t want to play for Great Britain then that’s up to them. If players demand that the anthem is dropped then we just follow the union precedent.

The arguments over the colour of the jersey are a bit OTT. The union Lions play in an all red shirt yet I see nobody protesting that it’s Wales-centric.

This is my hope too. Only time will tell though

Regards

King James

That's not a great example really. The RU Lions have red shirts for Wales, white shorts for England, navy blue socks for Scotland, with green trim for Ireland. People understand that you have to have some colours that are more prominent than others - unless you want a stripey monstrosity of a kit - but at least the RU Lions have made a deliberate attempt to represent everyone.

Are you sure that's right?

I'm surprised if that way of splitting the kit was agreed by the home nations.

Who told the Irish "Right lads you get to have a bit of green trim on the top of the socks!"??

Get rid of the Irish tag for me, it was only ever made that way so we could play Carney. It’s not like Ireland can/will offer much anyway..... tinpot sporting nation that has never achieved anything of note.

Nothing like Rugby League fans to be close minded.

Agree with what I think or your closed minded. Welcome to modern day GB.

Is that the official answer you'd give if asked by the press when the shirt is unveiled?

Blue and Green socks, white shorts.....but unlike league, they concentrate othe disliking the opposition rather than RL self hatred.....

Quote ="puroresu_boy"This shouldn't even be a debate. Irish are not British. The team should be called British & Irish Lions. There should be no national anthem either. Whether there is an Irish player or not would be absurd to have a team which claims to represent Ireland yet has an anthem singing about protecting the English Queen.'" Nonsense. When Ireland starts to include the UK then you'll have a point. PS the current Queen Elizabeth is the Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, and 'not' an 'English Queen'. The last Queen of England was Queen Anne.... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anne,_Que ... at_Britain

Quote ="puroresu_boy"This shouldn't even be a debate. Irish are not British. The team should be called British & Irish Lions. There should be no national anthem either. Whether there is an Irish player or not would be absurd to have a team which claims to represent Ireland yet has an anthem singing about protecting the English Queen.'" Nonsense. When Ireland starts to include the UK then you'll have a point. PS the current Queen Elizabeth is the Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, and 'not' an 'English Queen'. The last Queen of England was Queen Anne.... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anne,_Que ... at_Britain

accuracy Timothy......accuracy!

I know. If a sport ever lacked self esteem it's British RL.

Agree 100% but it doesn't need to be cloaked in jingoism. Keep the Blue and Red Chevron........it's iconic and as an irishman I am proud to day I own a version of what is a great sports shirt.........but don't drape yourselves in a brexit blanket of "we're great you're not" rubbish......blue and green sox and the British isles badge and we're done......just call us the lions!

What a waste of time, change an iconic near century old brand just so you and the other 3 ‘proud irishmen’ that care about rl can latch onto the the team ???

Bore off

GB played as England for the early decades of the game.

Changed to GB as more Welshmen got into the side and then a few Scots.

I've no issue with it if they had the British Isles badge. The Lion wasn't on the shirt until the 70s anyway.

What are you talking about? We're talking about a sports team that seemingly wants to call itself British and Irish Lions (or Great Britain and Irish Lions - I've seen both written recently) but then doesn't want to do very much to represent the Irishness of the team. It's supposed to be two nations coming together as one on an equal basis. Or four nations as one, if you take the view like the British Isles XIII badge does that it's England, Scotland, Wales and Ireland coming together. Either way, everyone is supposed to be equal.

If that's not the aim, then drop the charade about it being a British and Irish Lions, and let's just call it Great Britain and select players from England, Scotland and Wales and take the British Isles III badge off the shirt.

Having done that though, I would then argue that we should be playing as GB all the time.

So after all that you do agree with me. Cool.

On that point, yes. On the other point, no. As David Brent would say, different points to be made.

Would this kit please you?

Would look great without the green

If you're playing as the British and Irish Lions, having some green on the kit makes perfect sense. After all, it's not a national team - it's a team representing two nations, so you want to be as representative of those two nations as possible. The shirt needs the British Isles XIII badge too.

But the Lion is always associated with England and Scotland.

It has to be Great Britain only and leave Ireland out of it. That way GB could become as Team GB is at the Olympics - it would be the team that represents the UK. It would be our national team, so we can use the UK flag, play God Save the Queen, and not have to worry about the sensitivities that come with including Ireland in the team.
People from Northern Ireland could do as they do with the Olympics, and decide whether to support or play for either Great Britain or Ireland. Their choice.

Secondly, I'd also play as GB at the World Cup to keep things consistent.
It's not helpful to Scotland or Ireland if they remain standalone with the fact that there is no domestic comp in either places, perhaps Ireland more so and certainly no interest! Wales has some structure and can get a decent crowd for matches played in the Principality. Wales being the 'original' British anyway is quite relevant!

Why has there never been a professional game between Scotland and England played in the past 30 years in Scotland? They have enough stadiums. Because nobody is interested. Same with Ireland to a lesser extent.

Great Britain covers all that and still represents a UNITED nation where people from either Celtic, Norman, Norse or Anglo ancestry can UNITE as one just as other nations do! No British, and especially English citizen can claim to be 100% pure Anglo-Saxon!! Impossible!