Alliance's Linfield flag row 'unnecessarily draws the club and its supporters into political discussion they shouldn't be in': UUP
Linfield FC and its supporters have been unnecessarily politicised by Alliance using the club’s badge in a social media post campaigning against ‘abusive flags’, a UUP MLA has said.
The social media post formed part of a series of political messages addressing the display of flags and emblems in public, relating to new legislation being put through the Assembly by Alliance MLA Paula Bradshaw.
One post shared by the party featured a photograph of a purple and orange flag attached to a lamppost with the Linfield Football Club crest clearly visible, sparking widespread outcry – not least from the club and its fans.
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 post has since been deleted, with Ms Bradshaw writing on social media site X, formerly Twitter, that she "apologies for any offence caused" whilst tagging the Linfield social media account.
She maintained that emblems of sports clubs would “generally be permitted” under her legislation, while complaining that criticism of using the Linfield badge in a post about unacceptable flags “rather missed the point”.
That’s been characterised as a “conditional apology” by the club, with officials saying they want to hear “full and unconditional apologies from the Alliance Party”.
For Ulster Unionist Andy Allen, using Linfield’s emblem in the context of promoting legislation designed to tackle flags some would consider intimidatory was a serious error of judgement by Alliance.
"Whether intentional or not, using a flag bearing the Linfield Football Club badge as one of the visual examples in this campaign unnecessarily draws the club and its supporters into a political discussion in which they should never have been placed,” stated the East Belfast MLA.
“There is a clear distinction between a flag bearing the badge of a football club, national flags, cultural symbols and flags associated with proscribed terrorist organisations. Those distinctions matter and should not be blurred by the imagery used in political campaigning.
“Political parties are entitled to promote their policies, but they also have a responsibility to ensure their campaigns are fair and proportionate. In my view, using a flag bearing the Linfield Football Club badge in this way was unnecessary and an error of judgement.”
Mr Allen stated there is “a legitimate debate” to be had about the display of flags, in particular emblems tied to proscribed paramilitary organisations, but added Linfield shouldn’t be thrown into it.
“Throughout my time as an MLA, I have dealt with numerous issues relating to the display of flags on street furniture. Some have been resolved through dialogue and engagement, while others have not,” he said.
In a statement on Saturday morning, Linfield officials said they were “shocked and extremely disappointed” to find their badge had been 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 [Ms Bradshaw] 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, 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.”
A previous controversy between the party and the club erupted in 2020, when then-MP Stephen Farry hit out at Linfield’s away kit by claiming its purple and orange design bore “similarity to UVF colours”.
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.”
Alliance’s leader Naomi Long replied to Mr Robinson: “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.”