FA defends changes to St George’s Cross on England shirt by Nike
The Football Association has defended the new England shirt despite a backlash after Nike changed the colour of the St George’s Cross.
Sky Sports News has been told the governing body has no intention of withdrawing the controversial kit.
A row erupted after the US sportswear giant revealed it had altered the traditional red cross of the England flag and introduced purple and blue stripes.
The company dubbed it “a playful update” to the shirt ahead of Euro 2024, inspired by the training kit worn by England’s 1966 World Cup winners.
But Prime Minister Rishi Sunak warned Nike “should not mess” with the flag while Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer urged the firm to “reconsider” the design.
Fans are demanding the original flag be reinstated and an online petition has collected thousands of signatures.
Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player
‘You wouldn’t change the Welsh dragon to a pussycat’
But a FA spokesperson said: “The new England 2024 Home kit has a number of design elements which were meant as a tribute to the 1966 World Cup winning team.
“The coloured trim on the cuffs is inspired by the training gear worn by England’s 1966 heroes, and the same colours also feature on the design on the back of the collar. It is not the first time that different coloured St George’s cross-inspired designs have been used on England shirts.
“We are very proud of the red and white St George’s cross – the England flag. We understand what it means to our fans, and how it unites and inspires, and it will be displayed prominently at Wembley tomorrow – as it always is – when England play Brazil.”
Mr Sunak said: “Obviously, I prefer the original and my general view is when it comes to our national flags we shouldn’t mess with them because they are a source of pride, identity, who we are and they are perfect as we are.”
Labour’s shadow attorney general Emily Thornberry told Sky News: “It’s all very peculiar. The England flag is a symbol of unity.
Politics latest: Will Labour compensate WASPI women if it wins power?
“People, particularly in the last few years when we’ve been having such a difficult time, the England flag at the time has been a symbol of unity… the Lionesses and so on.
“So you wouldn’t expect Nike to go off and have a look at the Welsh flag and decide to change the dragon to a pussycat.
“I mean, you wouldn’t expect the England flag to be changed like this.
“You wouldn’t expect bits of purple in the French tricolour. I mean, why are they doing it? I don’t understand.”
Read more on Sky News:
Police investigate Tory donor’s alleged racist comments
Home secretary spent £165,000 on flight to Rwanda
Back in 2014, Ms Thornberry was forced to resign from the shadow cabinet by the then party leader Ed Miliband after being accused of mocking “White Van Man” in a social media post during a visit to Rochester, which pictured a housing block with St George’s flags flying from the window.
Responding to the Nike design, England’s most capped men’s player, Peter Shilton, wrote on X: “Sorry but this is wrong on every level I’m totally against it.”
Former England goalkeeper David Seaman said: “It doesn’t need fixing. What’s next, are they going to change the Three Lions to three cats? Leave it alone. It’s the St George’s Flag. Leave it alone.”
The price of the shirt has also faced criticism since it was launched earlier this week.
An “authentic” version costs £124.99 for adults and £119.99 for children while a “stadium” version is £84.99 and £64.99 for children.
A Nike spokesperson previously said: “The England 2024 home kit disrupts history with a modern take on a classic.
“The trim on the cuffs takes its cues from the training gear worn by England’s 1966 heroes, with a gradient of blues and reds topped with purple.
“The same colours also feature an interpretation of the flag of St George on the back of the collar.”
Politics
Scotland’s former first minister Humza Yousaf hits out at Starmer’s ‘dog whistle’ stance on immigration
Former Scottish first minister Humza Yousaf has attacked Sir Keir Starmer for his “dog whistle” stance on immigration after the prime minister said the UK risked becoming an “island of strangers”.
In a piece penned by Mr Yousaf for LBC, the former leader of the Scottish National Party (SNP) repeated claims the prime minister’s recent remarks on immigration were a “modern echo” of Enoch Powell’s infamous 1968 Rivers Of Blood speech.
The prime minister stirred controversy earlier this week when he argued Britain “risked becoming an island of strangers” if immigration levels were not cut.
After many MPs criticised his language, Sir Keir rejected the comparison to Powell, with his official spokesperson saying migrants have made a “massive contribution” to society but his point was that the Tories “lost control of the system”.
File pic: PA
In the LBC piece published on Saturday, Mr Yousaf said: “Powell’s 1968 speech warned of immigration as an existential threat to ‘our blood and our culture’, stoking racial panic that led directly to decades of hostile migration policies.
“Starmer’s invocation of ‘strangers’ is a modern echo – a dog-whistle to voters who blame migrants for every social ill, from stretched public services to the cost-of-living crisis.
“It betrays a failure to understand, or deliberately mask the fact that Britain’s prosperity depends on migration, on openness not building walls.”
Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player
Starmer’s speech divides opinion
Read more:
Labour’s immigration approach builds on Tory rollbacks
Farage on how Reform UK would deal with migration
Sir Keir made the comments at a news conference in which measures were announced to curb net migration, including banning care homes from recruiting overseas, new English language requirements for visa holders and stricter rules on gaining British citizenship.
The package is aimed at reducing the number of people coming to the UK by up to 100,000 per year, though the government has not officially set a target.
The government is under pressure to tackle legal migration, as well as illegal immigration, amid Reform UK’s surge in the polls.
Mr Yousaf concluded his article saying the UK was “on the brink of possibly handing the keys of No 10 to Nigel Farage”.
The US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has held discussions with Everstake, one of the largest non-custodial staking providers globally, to explore clearer regulatory definitions around staking in blockchain networks.
The meeting, which also involved the SEC’s Crypto Task Force, comes at a time when over $193 billion in digital assets are staked across major proof-of-stake (PoS) networks.
However, despite the massive scale of participation, staking remains in a legal gray zone in the US as regulators wrestle with its classification under existing securities law.
The previous SEC administration also took enforcement actions against major players such as Kraken, Coinbase, and Consensys due to their staking services. The agency, under pro-crypto President Donald Trump, has recently dismissed these enforcement actions.
During the meeting, Everstake told the SEC that non-custodial staking should not be classified as a securities transaction. The company said that users maintain full control over their digital assets throughout the staking process and do not transfer ownership to a third party.
They argued that this makes staking a technical function, not an investment product.
“Our main assertion is that staking is not a financial instrument or security transaction, but rather a technical process, a base-layer protocol mechanism—akin to an oracle in a database—that maintains the integrity and functionality of decentralized networks,” Everstake founder Sergii Vasylchuk told Cointelegraph.
Related: SEC delays staking decision for Grayscale ETH ETFs
Everstake calls for regulatory clarity
In a letter submitted to the SEC’s Crypto Task Force on April 8, 2025, Everstake asked the agency to extend regulatory clarity to non-custodial staking and custodial and liquid staking models.
In the letter, which came in respond to Commissioner Hester Peirce’s call for input on regulatory treatment of blockchain services, Everstake argued that non-custodial staking should not be considered a securities offering.
It claimed that non-custodial staking, where users retain control of their tokens, does not involve the pooling of assets or the expectation of profits from managerial efforts.
In its model, Everstake said users delegate only validation rights while maintaining ownership of their digital assets. The staking rewards are algorithmically distributed by the blockchain network itself, and the firm merely provides technical infrastructure.
Related: Ethereum ETF staking will have little impact without multimonth rally: Analyst
Non-custodial staking fails the Howey test
The letter also details why non-custodial staking fails each prong of the Howey test. Users do not make an investment of money in a common enterprise, do not expect profits from Everstake’s efforts, and are not dependent on the company’s management for financial returns.
Instead, any rewards come from network-level incentives and fluctuate with the market value of the underlying asset.
Everstake proposes specific criteria that should exempt non-custodial staking from securities classification. These include user asset control, absence of pooled funds, permissionless unstaking, and the provision of purely technical services.
It likens non-custodial staking to proof-of-work mining, which the SEC has previously ruled out as a securities transaction.
Margaret Rosenfeld, Everstake’s chief legal officer, also told Cointelegraph that “with non-custodial staking, there’s no handover of assets, no investment contract, and no third-party risk.” She added:
“Treating it as a securities offering undermines the decentralized model and risks chilling innovation in the blockchain sector.”
Nevertheless, the SEC has so far withheld a definitive stance. Rosenfeld said that the agency did not make any “specific commitments” on staking guidance. However, it continues to listen to industry stakeholders.
“The Task Force is actively engaging with a range of stakeholders—including those involved with non-custodial staking, ETFs, and broader blockchain infrastructure—to gather input.”
In an April 30 letter to the SEC, nearly 30 crypto advocate groups led by the lobby group the Crypto Council for Innovation (CCI) asked the agency for clear regulatory guidance on crypto staking and staking services.
Magazine: Binance Wallet ‘killing’ MetaMask and airdrops, Chinese RWA tokens: Asia Express
A man from Wellington, the capital city of New Zealand, has been arrested in connection with an FBI-led investigation into a global cryptocurrency fraud operation that allegedly stole $450 million New Zealand dollars ($265 million).
According to New Zealand Police, the man is one of 13 individuals charged after authorities executed search warrants across Auckland, Wellington, and California over the past three days.
The charges stem from allegations that members of an organized criminal group manipulated seven victims to obtain large amounts of cryptocurrency, which was then laundered through multiple platforms between March and August 2024.
The US Department of Justice has indicted the man under federal law, including charges of racketeering, conspiracy to commit wire fraud, and conspiracy to commit money laundering, per the announcement.
Related: Germany seizes $38M in crypto from Bybit hack-linked eXch exchange
Scammer used stolen funds to purchase luxury vehicles
Prosecutors allege the stolen funds were used to purchase $9 million worth of luxury vehicles and spent lavishly on high-end goods, including designer handbags, watches, and clothing, as well as services such as nightclub access, private security, and rentals in Los Angeles, Miami, and the Hamptons.
The accused appeared in Auckland District Court and was granted bail with interim name suppression. He is scheduled to reappear on July 3.
“We have worked closely with our law enforcement colleagues in the United States in support of their investigation,” the police stated. They added:
“Today’s search warrant and arrest reflects the importance of international partnerships where criminals are operating across borders.”
The investigation remains ongoing.
Related: Bybit hacker launders 100% of stolen $1.4B crypto in 10 days
Crypto thefts surge to $360 million in April
Digital asset thefts skyrocketed in April 2025, with nearly $360 million stolen across 18 separate hacking incidents, according to data from blockchain security firm PeckShield.
The figure marks a staggering 990% jump from March when reported losses stood at just $33 million. The sharp rise was largely attributed to a single unauthorized Bitcoin transfer that accounted for the bulk of the month’s losses.
On April 28, blockchain analyst ZachXBT identified a suspicious $330 million BTC transaction. The incident was later confirmed as a social engineering attack that targeted an elderly US resident, resulting in one of the largest individual crypto thefts to date.
Magazine: Binance Wallet ‘killing’ MetaMask and airdrops, Chinese RWA tokens: Asia Express
-
Sports3 years ago‘Storybook stuff’: Inside the night Bryce Harper sent the Phillies to the World Series
-
Sports1 year agoStory injured on diving stop, exits Red Sox game
-
Sports2 years agoGame 1 of WS least-watched in recorded history
-
Sports2 years agoMLB Rank 2023: Ranking baseball’s top 100 players
-
Sports4 years ago
Team Europe easily wins 4th straight Laver Cup
-
Environment2 years agoJapan and South Korea have a lot at stake in a free and open South China Sea
-
Environment2 years agoGame-changing Lectric XPedition launched as affordable electric cargo bike
-
Business3 years agoBank of England’s extraordinary response to government policy is almost unthinkable | Ed Conway