FC Barcelona shirts sold in Saudi Arabia have had their club emblems altered to exclude the St George's Cross, the municipal flag of the Spanish city, according to reports in La Vanguardia newspaper. The Barcelona-based daily, citing Spanish residents in Riyadh, the Saudi capital, said the horizontal bar of the red cross on a white background had been omitted from the shirts' badges.
La Vanguardia said FC Barcelona had been informed of the sale of fake shirts in Muslim countries, notably with the altered cross of Sant Jordi, but thought they were not sold in shops.
The alterations have supposedly been made due to a fear of offending Muslims through the cross' connotation to the Crusades during the 12th and 13th centuries when English soldiers adopted the St George's Cross as they attempted to recapture Jerusalem and the Holy Land from Muslim rule.
Earlier this week, Inter Milan's choice of jersey, a huge St George's cross on a white background, while playing against Istanbul side Fenerbahce, caused uproar in Turkey.
Comments
in muslim country red cross organization is referred with red cresent, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_cresent