Fans plan huge flag display for club anniversary
Reporter NEWCASTLE United fans are making big plans to mark their club’s historic 125th anniversary with their biggest ever flag display to welcome the team onto the pitch against Leicester.
Wor Flags – the group previously known as Gallowgate Flags – has put in orders for banners and flags to be flown in a specially-designed display.
Tonight, the group is hosting a fundraising quiz at St James’ Park’s Nine Bar. The more money raised, the better the tifos, flags and banners will be.
There are £1,000 worth of prizes awarded on the night, including a money-can’t-buy matchday media experience at the ground for four fans.
United supporter and Gallowgate End season ticket holder David Farrell-Banks has given a sneak-peak of what’s in store for Newcastle’s clash with Leicester. It’s being billed as the biggest display yet. Highlights include: A return for the flags which celebrate classic kits, United legends, club captain Jamaal Lascelles and manager Rafa Benitez;
10 flags featuring newspaper headlines from famous Newcastle moments; A new centrepiece flag; and, Three new text banners with club mottos and a Rafa quote.
David said: “We have already started for the Leicester game. We’ve got a few new hand-painted slogan banners.
“Two of them feature well-known club mottos, and we also have another one inspired by a quote from Rafa Benitez at the Foundation dinner, talking about unity between fans and players.”
A new centrepiece, similar to the ‘We are United’ flag first flown last season, will also make its debut.
“That design is based on the Monty the Magpie centrepiece, but is a different design to what we have used before,” said David.
“On top of that we’ve ordered 10 flags of various sizes, which are headlines from moments in the club’s history stretching from an FA Cup win in the 1920s to recent history.”
Fans are encouraged to get involved, with a rallying call for supporters to help with the display.
“They’ll definitely need more people in the Gallowgate holding flags than we’ve ever had before. We want this to be the biggest display that we have ever had,” added David.
Supporters have generously pledged cash to a GoFundMe page (https:// www.gofundme.com/funding-thenext-wor-flags-tifo).
The team behind the displays are keen to do more than just ask supporters for donations and BBC Radio Newcastle commentator Matthew Raisbeck will host tonight’s event from 8pm.
There are £1,000 worth of prizes to be won, including a match-day media experience, which will see four fans take in a league game from the press area and watch the post-match interviews first hand.
Other prizes include a 1966-style England shirt signed by Sir Geoff Hurst and Gordon Banks, a white-knuckle rally experience in a Subaru Impreza and a golf-day at Close House.
David said: “The amount of donations we get through the Go Fund Me page and people buying mini flags has been incredible. Any time we ask for donations there’s a really fantastic response, which shows how fantastic our fans are and hopefully how much they’ve enjoyed the displays.”
Tickets cost £10 plus a booking fee and can be bought here: https://www. eventbrite.co.uk/e/wor-flags-presentsnewcastle-united-125-anniversaryquiz-night-tickets-39339532601
To help out with displays, contact Wor Flags through its website: https:// worhyem1892.org.uk/