Northern Ireland flag

The little flag icon For Northern Ireland is a British Union Jack, and when you hover over it, it says Great Britain. Northern Ireland isn't in Great Britain, although it is part of the United Kingdom.

England Scotland and Wales all get their own flag, so we should too!

i agree.  and what a great flag it is.  one of the best...  the story behind the red hand of ulster is very cool.

not the least politically charged flag around however...

Do you have your own flag ?

yes they have their own flag

did you not see that i posted it?

i 100% agree that Northern Ireland should be represented with their own flag on chess.com.  how hard is it to give a nation it's own flag?  we don't make Canada use the US flag.  hehe

Point 1: Thats half done already. When you hover your mouse over the flag, it now reads "North Ireland".

Point 2: look at my flag if you dont believe that.

but in the end it's not the correct flag...  it's the Union Jack.  and although some people in Northern Ireland feel an affinity for the Union Jack, i think the flag of Northern Ireland would be better suited.

although Catholics from Northern Ireland might be inclined to use the Irish tri-colour.

Well, I take the point about the flag being politically sensitive, and some people would use the tricolour, but I would like the distinction to be made that I am from Northern Ireland. Not for any political reason. It's just where I am from.

Hmm, I'm not related to Northern Ireland in any way, but I was curious about the issue and found the following statement on Wikipedia (of course): "The Union Flag (...) is the only flag with official status in Northern Ireland".

Apparently the other national flags are associated with political groups and do not officially represent the state, which doesn't seem to be the case of Scotland's and Wales' national flags. Could anyone clear this up?

Wikipedia is correct, The Union Flag is the only flag with official status in N. Ireland.  roughly 25% of the population pays no allegience to the Ulster Flag:

i don't blame them.  truth is many of them pay no allegience to the Union Flag either.

I didn't realise that. I always thought the flag, which someone has been kind enough to post up an illustration of, was our official national flag. It is certainly not the invention of some paramilitary group. I am pretty sure of that.

It is often seen at football matches (soccer if you are American) and if we are considered a seperate nation in terms of the football World Cup officiating body, FIFA, then I don't see why we shouldn't be recognised by chess.com!

But if it is not an official flag, I have to say, I didn't know that. Maybe we can all get our crayons out and design an official Northern Ireland flag?

The winner will get a prize of a big bag of Tayto crisps. Our proudest and most sought after export!

Well, that flag on post #11 has to be corrected. If you notice, after removing the hand and the crown, you are left with the English flag!

Indeed, I agree each country should have their own flag. For example, in the 60s, when Singapore merged with Malaysia for a few years, both had the same flag, i.e. the flag beside my address, only with an added yellow arrow in the star. Now, after the separation in 1965, Singapore has their own flag!

LOL, that IS Northen Irland flag, why do you think they want to correct it?

It seems more like a copy. Maybe we need the Northern Irish's opinions.

IT IS THEIR FLAG, what does someone from malaysia has to say about that. Your flag looks like USA, why dont you change your flag?

As others have said, this is an area charged with political sensitivity. If Chess.com doesn't give Northern Ireland its own flag - which could only be the Red Hand of Ulster - it will be criticised by some. If it does give that flag, it will be criticised by those of the Republican ( = push Northern Ireland out of the UK and into the Irish Republic) persuasion.

Actually, it makes sense to use only the Union Flag for all British regions.  After all, each region of Britain has rather less autonomy within "the UK" than a US state does within "the US".  And no-one fusses about using a state flag.

Yes, there's lots of talk of "nation", but it's guff really.  Scotland may have some claim to be a nation - it was, centuries ago, until it was forced to go cap-in-hand to England following its bankruptcy after the failure of the Darien Scheme.  Wales and Northern Ireland have no claim at all - neither has never been a nation.

As for allowing "national" teams from these regions to compete in certain competitions, well, maybe this is a historical relic of football and rugby having been invented in Britain.  I don't know.

Personally, I like the Hawaiian flag:

hawaii has a good one.

the jack is left over from the cpt cook days.  pretty great.  well done captain.

I've changed to playing under the Irish flag now. Not for political reasons, just because when people see the Union flag, they assume you are English. I've got nothing against the English. But I'm Irish.

A lot of countries seem to have a little Union Jack in the corner of their flag. I think I remember hearing that there is a country whose flag has a hole in it. Can't remember what country though.

none that i know of with a hole... maybe i'm wrong...

nepal has the only non-rectangular national flag:

paraguay is the only national flag i know that has different symbols or pictures on either side:

here in the states each state has its own flag.  ohio is the only non-rectangular flag.  very cool i think:

oregon being the only state with different symbols or pictures on either side:

anyway, i could go on.  go flags!