Barrow FC blur their submarine crest after FIFA bans fan's St George's Cross flag at World Cup

Barrow FC have released a doctored version of their club crest — submarine blurred out — after FIFA’s rules on military imagery prevented a group of their supporters from carrying a St George’s Cross flag into England’s 4-2 World Cup victory over Croatia at Dallas Stadium on Wednesday.

The National League side’s badge features a submarine, a nod to Barrow’s long history of constructing the vessels. When fan John Little and his group attempted to bring a flag bearing the Barrow crest into the ground in Arlington, Texas, stewards turned them away under a FIFA regulation prohibiting the display of military items on flags at matches. Submarines, it turns out, fall squarely within that bracket.

England won the game comfortably, with Harry Kane scoring twice and Jude Bellingham and Marcus Rashford also on the scoresheet, while much of the stadium was draped in St George’s Cross flags — just not Little’s.

In response, Barrow took to social media with a deliberately tongue-in-cheek fix. Sharing a version of their badge with the submarine pixelated out, the club wrote: “In order to make sure our supporter John Little can represent the Bluebirds over in Boston properly, we’d like to unveil our new *temporary club badge for the duration of the World Cup…”

The club also flagged — with evident amusement — that their badge contains an arrow-pierced bee alongside the submarine, the red rose, and a football. Leaving nothing to chance, they tagged FIFA directly: “@FIFAcom let us know if the Arrow has to go too…”

When a fan suggested removing the submarine, bee, and arrow entirely, Barrow kept the joke running: “Hayfever is a silent killer, we might have to lose the Rose.”

Little told the BBC he was baffled by the decision. “I couldn’t believe it really, it’s a little bit harsh that they’ve done it for something like that,” he said. “I could understand like guns and knives and what have you, but not a submarine. People are just saying how ridiculous it is that they’re not allowing the flag.”

FIFA has since told the group they are welcome to cover the submarine, submit a revised application, and attempt to bring the flag into England’s next group game against Ghana on Tuesday, 23 June — an option Little said they intend to pursue.