Good news to see the Lions back. First ashes tour since 1992!

I assume it would also need some green on the shirt to represent Ireland, as it's the British and Irish Lions (or Great Britain and Irish Lions). Both names are used in the BBC article.

Hopefully we can then stay as GB and Ireland for when the Aussies come over in 2020, and again compete for The Ashes. I say that on the assumption that there will be three matches in each year, not just a single game in 2019.

Of course, we must consider the political correctness aspect mustn't we.

Hmmm for decades there was no green in the GB jersey, likewise there is [ino[/i maroon or sky blue in the Roos jersey either or no colours of all France's provinces in the French flag or jersey....

Red/white/blue. The colours of this:



No green on the national flag. No red/white or blue on the Ireland flag, unless you are referring to the British part of Ireland, that being Northern Ireland Mr Muggins?



However, to support my opinion even further, I still see no green on the 'British Ireland' flag neither (well perhaps there is actually, a tiny emerald stone in the royal crown).





If Ireland want part of a Kangaroos Tour as well, perhaps RL Ireland could apply to the RLIF to host some warm up games against the Wolfhounds?

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and Republic of Ireland Lions should wear a kit that reflects both nations. I'm sure Brian Carney would agree with me.

Will it be for The Ashes though? We'd need to play Australia three time for it to be The Ashes, right?

"A proposed Lions tour of the southern hemisphere by Great Britain is now expected to take place next year and include Tests against Australia, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea and possibly another Pacific nation."

Would we be able to play three times against Australia and then also against NZ, PNG and possibly one other? That would be six tests on the tour. Is that possible?

We played 3 tests vs Australia in 1992 plus 1 vs PNG and 2 vs NZ.

In 1984 we played 3 vs Australia, 3 vs New Zealand and 1 vs PNG.

All those tests plus plenty of games versus midweek teams.

I doubt they'd do that now. Hopefully it will be a three test series versus the Aussies. Then play one each at PNG, NZ and Tonga. I doubt there will be any midweek tour matches as there used to be.

On the issue of Ireland the crest on the last GB jersey had Ireland represented. Brian Carney had no issues with it. He just chose not to sing the national anthem which is his right.

If GB play Tonga then play the game in Auckland as there are more Tongan there than in Tonga!

If it really is British & Irish lions they definitely should be wearing a jersey that represents Ireland onlongside GB.

God save the Queen should be dropped also. Shouldn't be an anthem for the GB & Irish players.

We will see what happens though. I predict the jerseys will have no representation of Ireland and God save the Queen will be the anthem.

So all in all this will be England simply dressed up as British & Irish Lions.

We’re is the problem we played with the Great Britain shirt before no body complained then so why now are all getting soft

Use this badge, but keep the Iconic strip.......

It never used to be GB and Ireland. They only added the Ireland bit to get carney in the team! Just go back to calling it a GB lions tour and everyone will be happy.

Great Britain is the one Island......the mainland. The British Isles is the pair of Islands including that partitioned into the Republic of Ireland and the occupied territory known as "Norn Iron" by the locals.
Currently the team would be 100% made up of players born in Great Britain, so no issues with either the badge or the shirt, but once the thriving Scottich and Irish domestic leagues pay dividends, then you will need to rethink it. The other lot were always The British Lions because Ireland was ruled by the tyrannical overlords in westminster, but one tey had earned their freedom, they became the B&I Lions.......but to a man, their fans simply cal them "The Lions"

That would be amazing. Do you think all the matches would be at the weekend, or would the matches against Tonga or PNG maybe involve a weakened team and played midweek? Either way, this for me would be better than the world cup. It would be a feast of RL.

Do you think the three match test series against Australia would be promoted as being for The Ashes? If so, surely we must play again as GB for The Ashes when Australia tour in 2020? We can't go back to being England in 2020 if that means not being able to compete again for The Ashes.

Get rid of of the British isles tagline and you can work with that. Southern island is not an extension of the British isles no matter how much people England still want it to be. Plenty of republicans in the North wouldn't accept that either.

Don't call it British and Irish lions if you have no desire to show any representation for Ireland. Playing in a GB shirt while still claiming to represent Ireland is laughable. It's not about going soft, it's understanding that ireland is not part of GB and the people in the RFL should know this.

The other code seem to be able to do this.

Utter nonsense.

GB never reflected Ireland ever until around 2000 when the British Isles shield was placed onto the jersey alongside the Lion's head.
Before then for about 70 years GB represented.....errr GB!!
Does Ireland ever go out of it's way to consider it's former motherland, the UK?? No!

So, we're agreed then. Prior to 2000 it was just Great Britain, but now it's Great Britain and Ireland and therefore it's essential to reflect the fact that it's now a team representing two 'nations'.

Personally, I would leave the red and blue V's on the shirt, but I'd also add two more in green and orange, as per the colours on the Irish tricolour flag. Alternatively I'd make the shorts green and the socks orange. I'd either drop GSTQ completely, or I'd have the players sing both GSTQ and then the Irish national anthem.

Loved the Ashes series between Aus and Gt Britain. Was weaned on them as a kid when they were played every 2 years post WW2. Saw my first match in 1948. Was also at the the Hull v Aus game in the same year. Attended all 3 games when we last won the Ashes in England(1959/60) and all 3 games when we last won in Aus.(1970) Believe they switched to playing every 4 years from the 70's.

Experiment to play the first match of the 1963/64 Ashes series at Wembley was a dismal failure attracting a crowd of around 14,000 and was never repeated. The Aus. team was star studded- Gasnier, Langlands, Raper, to name a few and hammered us (Gasnier 3 tries). Was working in London at the time.

I’m sure there is a desire to show representation for Ireland. Are there any Irishmen who are good enough to be in the squad? McIlorum maybe but not any proper Irishmen.

The desire is there but the practicalities are not. And the same goes for Scotland and Wales.

The RFU are in a stronger and easier position. They will always be able to find at least one Scot, Welshman and Irishman to fit into a squad who are good enough. We don’t have that luxury. However even then the RFU faced severe criticism from Scots when they didn’t play any in a recent Lions series. Yet the team was still called the British and Irish Lions and still represented all of Great Britain and Ireland including Scotland.

I get were not going to get much buy in from Irish people if there’s no Irish in the squad but that doesn’t mean we still can’t call the team British and Irish Lions. They are the best players from that region.

According to that logic we could expand the concept further call it the British, Irish and European Lions, without any Irish or European representation.

On the other hand we could legitimately select Theodore Fages , Antoine Gigot, Julien Bousquet, and Remi Casty as representatives of France, and James Keinhorst as representative of Germany, and it would be a true northern Hemisphere team called the British and European Lions.

You could but it sounds daft.

I get your point and it's a good reply. I was more talking about the issue of jersey and anthem. Just don't think the RFL should call the team British & Irish Lions if they dont bother representing the Irish nation on the jersey and choose to stick with an anthem praising the British Queen.

That's not a genuine effort to make the brand British and Irish inclusive.