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I can echo that last part of your post starchief but you did bring up the flag bearers job in his defense, which is symptomatic of a wider problem that could come back to bite us later down the line. The military are almost in a position now in the UK where they cannot be questioned on anything, it has been entirely orchestrated by the media. The dimmest and idlest in any society will always need a cause or group to identify with, I'm all for it as long as the cause is something harmless like following a football team or religion. I worry for the long term future of the UK though, when the media has decided to spoon feed the armed forces to the masses for their dose of false belonging. Even more worrying is the apparently massive number of people willing to swallow the hero crap wholesale. Of all the arms of the government they're the ones who should never be exempt from criticism under any circumstance, certainly since the days of conscription. We have a professional army, nobody is there because they couldn't do anything else or were forced into it, its far from a selfless sacrifice. On this thread we've seen people exempting the flag bearer from questioning due to their job, most people posting have probably never even met the guy before, he might be a total d*ck for all you know. Believe it or not, there's people in the military that don't always deserve your support, much like in any walk of life.

As Inspector Clouseau said to the Meenky's organ grinder http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WnlIWpZSPXU @1.33 "Are you bland?" No, Monsieur. The Inverness Flock (born circa 1964) See #41.

Whats somebodies job got to do with how appropriate or not taking a Union Jack into a football ground is?

The Union Jack is synonymous with more than one expressions of national pride, you cant point to an old lady cheering on a royal precession with a flag and claim her motives are the same as a 20 stone skinhead marching down Luton high street with EDL on his knuckles. Within the context of Scottish Football, what the flag symbolises has been well established, it is used to provoke hate and is a symbol for far right bigotry. I know that ignorance is bliss in the far north and I'm willing to accept naivety from the younger lot on here but to plead the case of flying a Union Jack within a Scottish Football ground as merely 'colour-matching' as Kirishima says, is laughable. As is the showing support for all of the British players in the side, how do we know that any of them are patriotic in the slightest? I've lived in England for years now and there's 50/50 split in people who hate this country and those who don't, much like there is in Scotland. What I worry about are the people who are aware of the flags connotations (ie. almost everyone) who can't find the strength within themselves to be honest and say that - "Yes, I do know what this flag represents within the context of Scottish Football and yes I want to fly it at a football game regardless of who gets upset"... instead of sniveling excuses and smirking, grow a spine and stand by your convictions. You cant refute that the Union Jack carries a different meaning depending on where it is flown or who it is carried by. If the bearer was simply showing support for their country and nobody within that country has the right to be offended by it, then why wouldn't they carry the flag with them everywhere they go, rather than just to football matches? Surely they're always in this country and thus should always want to show their support for it? Flag to Tescos, flag to the pub, flag to work, walking the dog, dropping the kids off at school, flags hanging out of the car and house windows etc etc If that sounds ridiculous to you, then you agree with me in saying the Union Jack makes a more significant and well defined statement within a Scottish Football ground. Whether people should turn football matches into political rallies is another matter, I'm not even against the Union Jacks, I'd just like to see people on here be honest about why they want a particular flag on show rather than hiding behind the teams strip colour.

As much as I'd expect from a Hanovarian garrison town

As one of the males having the heated discussion (the younger one for the avoidance of doubt) perhaps I should shed some clarity on the matter. The other clearly aggrieved gentleman had removed a flag without request and when asked what he was doing had stormed off like a petulant child up into the stand. I followed him and asked why he had stolen an item of property that did not belong to him. He refused to return the flag proclaiming that it was a symbol of rangers, right wing politics, racism, orangeism (sic) and nothing to do with his football team and that it was offensive to everyone there supporting Inverness. I asked if he would like to move to the side of the stand and have a reasonable conversation out of the way of those around us which he refused to do. I then asked to have our property returned as he had no right to take something belonging to another person, which he refused to do. He then proceeded to rant about how offensive the 'union jack' is in Scotland and that I was displaying the same symbol as people that were attending an SDL rally in Dundee and associating our club with such people. As a British Soldier born and bred in Inverness I have served all over the world proudly displaying the colours of and spreading the message about ICTFC. His proclamation that the union flag which I wear on my uniform every single day and have seen friends and colleagues coffins wrapped in is a symbol of racism is disgraceful and offensive. I work in England, live in Scotland, have a welsh neighbour on one side, an Irish one on the other and identify myself as British, as far as I am aware we are all still one United Kingdom the idea that you can refuse someone's personal identity because of your bigoted preconceptions is bordering on Facism. I was not taken away by stewards, I left having kept calm though out the incident despite great provocation and the stewards were asking if I would like to report the incident to the police which I refused. As to it's relevance to ICT it's red white and blue, had Inverness written across it and our team is currently managed by an Emglishman, has a Northern Ireland international up front, a largely English squad, and captained by an Irishman. We are have a multi national, multi faceted team as we do a fan base, there are scores of fans who have fallen in love with ICT having holidayed in the highlands from England or Wales so to state that we are just a highlands club or just a Scottish club or a northern club is simply wrong.