Last week we looked at the tradition of county flags and this week we’ll look at the flawed belief that the St George/Union Flags are enough to represent the counties and towns of those areas.

Can you imagine the outcry if the European Union or the United Nations decreed that every member territory should fly only the EU or UN flag?! Thinking about it we are represented by those institutions so why would just flying those flags in place of the myriad of national flags we have currently not be a better idea? Surely we could get rid of all the separate national flags?

To have the entirety of the world flying solely flying a UN flag or all of Europe a EU flag seems wrong – overbearing and detached. However this is really only the same as everywhere having to fly only the Union Flag or St George cross!

It’s good to be represented on larger scales but it’s important to be able to have identities for the components of bigger institutions. Imagine a world where every county or town was represented by the St George cross and a rose, which would get very boring very quickly. Worse than that it would be impossible to differentiate between the counties when it mattered (like sports or war etc).

Variety and uniformity both have their own benefits and strengths but to trade one for the other completely can be a mistake. In terms of the flags and identity if we only had uniform higher territory identities life and culture would get rather boring and lack uniqueness. However with only local identity and a disregard for the larger view we would become introverted, selfish and nationalistic.

In summary it’s good to be represented and proud on a large scale (indeed more people should realise that we all share the same planet) but to only be represented on large levels would be stifling and can cause practical identity problems. This is exactly the point of my entire campaign to get the Black Country a local visual identity! It’s simply to give pride and differentiation to our area, and ideally would be flown alongside the flags of the territories that we are also a part of – Britain and Europe. Everyone should be able to be patriotic towards their towns and counties as well as their countries and continents and to express that with strong symbols – so long live the rise of local flags!

Former England, Crystal Palace and Wolves player, Geoff Thomas, is leading a team of runners in October’s EDF Energy Birmingham Half Marathon, raising money for leukaemia treatment. Read the rest of this entry »

Over several entries I’ve explained what is right about wanting a ‘county flag’ – i.e. the civic pride and the marketing factors that such a device so powerfully facilitates. However it is just as important to explain why it isn’t ‘wrong’ to have a county flag. Read the rest of this entry »

15.06 Wolves 55 – 39 Eastbourne

Wolves battled to the end in this thriller of a match. Sqora scored paid 9.

Although the Parrys International Wolves didn’t get off to the best of starts (4 points down after 2 races) Adam Skornicki and Tai Woffinden secured maximum points in heat 3 to bring the scores level, in fact in the three races where Sqora and Tai partner each other they scored 14 as apposed to Eastbournes 4, a great return from this middle order pairing, Adam had problems in heat 14, struggling to pass the Eastbourne duo, he slid off in what looked like a simple fall, a very expensive simple fall, his front wheel and forks were wrote off. For the Wolves the spearhead of PK Peter Karlsson and Fredrik Lindgren was almost unbeatable and man of the match must be Lindgren.
For Eastbourne only Davey Watt, Simon Gustafsson and Lewis Bridger put up any resistance.
Monday 22nd however will be a different contest when the newly modified team of Poole Pirates will be in town

WOLVERHAMPTON WOLVES – 55

1. Fredrik Lindgren 2 3 2′ 3 2′ =12+2
2. Nicolai Klindt 1′ F 3 3 =7+1
3. Tai Woffinden 3 1 2′ 2 =8+1
4. Adam Skornicki 2′ 3 3 X =8+1
5. Peter Karlsson 3 3 3 2′ 3 =14+1
6. Hynek Stichauer F 0 1 =1
7. Ty Proctor 1 1 0 1 2 =5

EASTBOURNE EAGLES – 39

1. Davey Watt 3 2 4! 1 1 =11
2. David Norris – RR
3. Lewis Bridger R 2 1′ 1 6! 0 =10+1
4. Cameron Woodward 1 0 1′ 0 R =2+1
5. Lukas Dryml 0 0 2 1 =3
6. Ricky Kling 3 1′ 0 0 =4+1
7. Simon Gustafsson 2′ 2 2 F 0 3 =9+1

Heat by heat:

Heat 01: Watt, Lindgren, Klindt, Dryml 55.3 3-3 (3-3)
Heat 02: Kling, Gustafsson, Proctor, Stichauer(F) 57.32 1-5 (4-8)
Heat 03: Woffinden, Skornicki, Woodward, Bridger(R) 56.59 5-1 (9-9)
Heat 04: Karlsson, Gustafsson, Proctor, Dryml 56.33 4-2 (13-11)
Heat 05: Skornicki, Watt, Woffinden, Woodward 56.59 4-2 (17-13)
Heat 06: Lindgren, Dryml, Kling, Klindt(F) 56.69 3-3 (20-16)
Heat 07: Karlsson, Bridger, Woodward, Stichauer 56.4 3-3 (23-19)
Heat 08: Klindt, Gustafsson, Bridger, Proctor 55.93 3-3 (26-22)
Heat 09: Skornicki, Woffinden, Dryml, Kling 57.77 5-1 (31-23)
Heat 10: Klindt, Lindgren, Bridger, Woodward 56.15 5-1 (36-24)
Heat 11: Karlsson, WATT, Stichauer, Gustafsson(Ex) 56.93 4-4 (40-28)
Heat 12: BRIDGER, Woffinden, Proctor, Gustafsson 56.43 3-6 (43-34)
Heat 13: Lindgren, Karlsson, Watt, Kling 56.61 5-1 (48-35)
Heat 14: Gustafsson, Proctor, Woodward, Skornicki(Ex) 2-4 (50-38)
Heat 15: Karlsson, Lindgren, Watt, Bridger 56.59 5-1 (55-39)

We seem to be creating a bit of a cult following in New Zealand. Here is a picture of Claire with Wellington Harbour in the background.

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Yeah Baby!

We now have a new range of I Heart shirts following on from our I Heart BOSTIN tee we’ve had for a number of years. Read the rest of this entry »

This week I’ll complete my trilogy of emblem explanation by looking at what crowns the shield – the crest.

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Former England footballer and Wolverhampton Wanderers captain, Geoff Thomas has launched a new fundraising wristband for the Geoff Thomas Foundation. The green GTF UNITY wristbands are being sold to raise funds for leukaemia treatment and to raise awareness of Thomas’s campaign. Read the rest of this entry »

Coming Soon from your reporter in Australia – the Wolverhampton Wallaby an eye witness report of the sensational Football Match between Wolverhampton Wanderers and the Perth Glory (no it’s not a flowering bush!) Read the rest of this entry »

Would you Adam and Eve it! As the pictures are continuing to flow in, here is one sent in by Paul Robinson from Walsall.

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