Linfield 'shocked and extremely disappointed' after club badge appears on Alliance 'abusive flags' social media post
Linfield Football Club have demanded "full and unconditional apologies" from the Alliance party after it used the club's badge in a social media post campaigning against ‘abusive flags’.
The social media post formed part of a wider series of political messages addressing the display of flags and emblems in public spaces.
One post shared by Alliance featured a photograph of a purple and orange flag attached to a lamppost, with the Linfield Football Club crest clearly visible.
Accompanying the image was the message: “This bill will respect legitimate cultural expression and important events, but tackle abusive flags in shared or public spaces.”
The bill referred to in Alliance's post is the Display of Flags and Emblems Bill, introduced by Alliance MLA Paula Bradshaw. The proposed legislation seeks to remove flags and emblems from public places where they are deemed to be harmful, exclusionary or discriminatory.
The post has since been deleted with Ms Bradshaw writing on X that she "apologies for any offence caused" whilst tagging the Linfield social media account.
She added: "I have seen a lot of commentary on a graphic used in my SM posts re my flags bill entitled “Striking the Balance”. This has rather missed the point. Flags celebrating sports clubs would generally be permitted under my Bill."
However, on Saturday, Linfield said in a statement they were "shocked and extremely disappointed" that their badge was used "in a political message linked to 'abusive flags'".
The statement added: "The Club engaged at an early stage with representatives of the party responsible and secured the deletion of the offending post. A rather conditional apology from their South Belfast MLA has since followed.
"With all due respect, and in particular context of previous issues between this Club and other elected representatives of this party, it is difficult to see any other reasonable interpretation of the use of a Linfield FC flag as the sole imagery accompanying an article referring specifically to “abusive flags”.
"We did feel that the matter had been brought under some control yesterday evening, however, until an inappropriate and undignified late night intervention from that party’s leader. Linfield FC now awaits full and unconditional apologies from the Alliance Party and the individuals in question."
DUP leader Gavin Robinson weighed in on X by posting: "First the shirt. Now the flag. What is it about Linfield that provokes such intolerance from Alliance Party? Embarrassing."
However, Alliance Party leader Naomi Long, in response to Mr Robinson’s post, replied on the same platform: “Why on earth would you assume that a Linfield flag was meant to be representative of the negatives suggested in this post rather than the positives about celebration? Maybe you’re just exposing your own bias."
Mr Robinson's post was referring to a previous controversy in 2020, when then Alliance MP Stephen Farry criticised Linfield's purple and orange away shirt, claiming it bore a "similarity to UVF colours."