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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.

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.

Can I just remind everyone that we are second in the league, three points below the wealthiest club in Scotland. Why all the despondency at this early stage? Why give so much criticism to a management that has found the right players playing in positions that has got us to the top of the league. Yes mistakes can be made, we all make them and sometimes you have got to play these mistakes out to learn from them, not just dismiss them straight away as some of you would like. So here we go again ..............get behind the team/club ......................... we are still doing well... ..........and we can still prove we are a better club than most.

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.

Whats somebodies job got to do with how appropriate or not taking a Union Jack into a football ground is? I could not agree more with that Clacher. I'm going to keep my opinions on the armed forces, war campaigns and British identity to myself as, to me, a football forum is not the place to do it. The negative association from a purely Scottish football perspective regarding the Union Jack is well known and accepted though. Having said that, we live in a democracy and there is no reason why it can't or shouldn't be taken to a game. Personally, I'd prefer that ICT were not linked in any way whatsoever to any element associated with Rangers. For me, there is nothing at all positive which can come from that link. However, I have never understood why choosing to make your career in the armed forces appears, to many, to elevate those who make that choice above anyone else and given a status which is certainly not afforded to many others in careers which can provide just as many intense challenges. To be clear, I am not dismissing the job the forces personnel undertake. It is more the, perhaps media driven, notion that by pursuing a forces career someone automatically becomes a 'hero'.

I think you might have opted for the wrong brother there! Don't worry about it, easily done, the Labour party membership made the same mistake.....

It has certain connotations in Scottish football with it predominantly being associated with one team in particular. I have had a couple of St Johnstone fans I know already mention our plastic hun support and going by the previous bigoted chants of these guys they are pretty bang on aabout them. We are a Highland Scottish team playing in a Scottish league and let's not have our fans being associated with the most hated team in Scottish football! There is a Highland identity to embrace instead of looking like tag along huns

What an embarrassment. Is this from the same guys who spent the whole game against celtic a couple of years ago singing about fenians, Bobby sands etc and telling anyone who had a go at them that they were 'supporting' their team. Leave it at home or head along to ibrox if you want some like minded fans

https://twitter.com/ICTFC

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

Even playing Meekings at RB, would we have seen the Raven style overlapping runs? Thats where we were missing down the right and Devine's distribution at times was poor. Biggest problem with Sat was not loosing as thats part of the game, but the way we lost - out-played in every area, looked disorganised and made an average St J team look better than they are. We should have known about the threat May posed and had a plan to deal with it.Last year we took a tanking to Motherwell 1-5, but IMO we player better that game than at St J and Motherwell were a far better team. This is hopefully a wake up call for all and we can swiftly get back to winning ways, but I do worry about the squad depth as nobody I have seen come in this season have been overly impressive............so far.

Well I would never have thought of moving it from the main page - what do you think Charles ?!!

FFS CLOSE this sh*te!

. I agree! To call one of our fellow fans who is also a member of the armed forces an "idiot", frankly is deeply offensive and upsets me greatly! Agreed wholeheartedly! Come on Joe! Let's be having an apology from you to a brave man who has spent his professional career serving all over the world in the British armed forces under the flag which you - but apparently very few others - seem to find so offensive. These are men who tell us they are proud to serve in our British armed forces, and we are proud of them. It's also thanks to such men - and women - that in more recent decades, the chances of you being blown up as you walk along the high street have been minimised - whether the threat is Irish or Muslim. Many of these people have actually given their lives in the cause of your safety. Your gratitude is a long way short of impressive. So perhaps - having put up out of order - you could now shut up.... after you have issued a much needed and even more belated apology to this man. What a load of fuc**ng sh*te lol Am I right in thinking this guy is supposed to be a teacher? Everyone is entitled to their opinion but what utter fu*king drivel for a supposedly learned person to come out with on a public forum.

. I agree! To call one of our fellow fans who is also a member of the armed forces an "idiot", frankly is deeply offensive and upsets me greatly!Agreed wholeheartedly! Come on Joe! Let's be having an apology from you to a brave man who has spent his professional career serving all over the world in the British armed forces under the flag which you - but apparently very few others - seem to find so offensive. These are men who tell us they are proud to serve in our British armed forces, and we are proud of them. It's also thanks to such men - and women - that in more recent decades, the chances of you being blown up as you walk along the high street have been minimised - whether the threat is Irish or Muslim. Many of these people have actually given their lives in the cause of your safety. Your gratitude is a long way short of impressive. So perhaps - having put up out of order - you could now shut up.... after you have issued a much needed and even more belated apology to this man. What a load of fuc**ng sh*te lol

St. Johnstone played Inverness CT on Saturday. and this is the fans' forum to chew it over. Despite the 4-0 reverse, there appears to be more appetite and more comments discussing an individual taking a flag to the game! You would think the guy was dressed as Hitler with a swastika flag and giving it the Nazi salute while goose-stepping his way back from the burger van! The Union Jack is the flag of this country, the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. That is a fact until or unless there's a miraculous result next November. Yes, Rangers have 'adopted' it as a reflection of their bigoted political ideal but they don't own it. I'm all for freedom of speech and expression. Live and let live.

The story being retold is a sad affair. It reflects badly on the state of opinion in Scotland where the Union Jack and the Tricolour are seen to reflect the unsavoury elements of two entities that use it for their own gain like battle standards. I personally have no problem with either but others see them as proverbial red flags. Sad but thats just the way it (very unfortunately) is.

St Johnstone just completely dominated us, especially in the first 30 minutes. They pushed us deep and pressured us when we were in possession, forcing us to hit long balls which didn't work. When St Johnstone had possession they used it well, May looks a very good player. The second goal in particular was superbly well worked. We managed to push our way back into things to an extent although we were never really the better side and didn't threaten, aside from a long range shot by Doran. St Johnstone did to us what we do to other teams, dominated the midfield, tight at the back and dangerous up front. From our perspective we lost the midfield so offered nothing going forward. Butcher obviously thougth Polworth would be better holding position than Greenhalgh and give us more of a physical presence but he was overrun, especially in the first half. He did improve in the second, with some decent touches but we were far gone by then. The defence was imbalanced by Raven being out, who I assume was injured. Devine was pish, it was like the game at Tynecastle years ago when Roy McBain was sent off and we played Grant Munro at full back, he was slow, didn't get forward and thus contributed to us surrendering possession. I feel a bit sorry for Devine, obviously we didn't want to break up Meekings and Warren in the middle. Danny tends to get shunted into an unfamiliar role - he played in centre-mid a fefew times last season as well. For once the international break is welcome, we can regroup, hopefully get injured players back (although I hear Vincent is out for months) and hopefully get a decent win against Partick.

That was an absolute disgrace. Absolutely outplayed by St Johnstone, who to be fair were very good, but were ultimately handed the win due to some horrid tactics and all-round bad performances. Could have been even more of an embarrassment had it not been for Dean Brill. He was a class act today. Last week, Greenhalgh came on and was excellent. Surely the logical thing to do was to start with the team we played best with last week, which was with him out wide and Nick Ross down the middle. Did we do it? Of course not. Polworth, who has barely had any game time at all at this level, was thrown in at the deep-end. Where's the logic in that? Unsurprisingly, apart from a couple of nice touches, he was nothing but a headless chicken and should've been hooked at half time. Devine at full-back against Hasselbaink and May was another strange decision (Raven got injured yesterday apparently), but did okay apart from some poor distribution. But lets get on to tactics here. A couple of seasons back and more recently, people were bemoaning the tactic of long hoofs forward towards Billy Mckay. Well today, we had a new tactic. Big long hoofs towards Nick Ross! Did it work? Ehm...no. Nick Ross for my money anyway, is not a winger and has been poor out wide for weeks, while Foran had a bad game by his standards. After the Aberdeen game, people were talking about a reaction in the next league match and heralded the result and performance against Hibs. Forget that attitude right now. Away games are a totally different animal and we've been going from bad to worse in them since the Kilmarnock game a few weeks ago. Home matches have not been a problem for us at all this season, but away from home is a different story, which is strange considering prior to this season we were such a good side on the road. Times need to be a-changing, and a reaction is needed. That test will not will be in the form of Partick Thistle in our next home match but our next test on the road - away to Ross County.

We missed the overlapping runs from raven. The passing and distribution throughout the park was poor, nobody made runs into space or gave options for passing. Too often playing high balls which the st j defence lapped up all day. Not sure about polworth didn't look ready for this level. But for brill we would have been really hammered. Also TB took too long to make changes as first half showed it just wasnt working. disappointing but was a good away crowd today.

Or waiting for the Elgin Mob to come off the train in the 1920's:

The Yes vote will now surge in the Inverness area with that news!