Arsenal News 24/7Writer: Rocky7 
Date:Sunday December 24 2006
Time: 3:53PM
UK time is: 09:20:45
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Edelman Resolves Flag Situation
I recently was handed an email from a Gooner who had personally written to Keith Edelman to ask him to explain the reasons for the banning of all national flag from Ashburton Grove.
Well I'm pleased to say that it seems as though common sense has prevailed, although if this statement had been issued in the first place, it could have avoided a whlole host of complaints.
The letter read;
As I have received a number of comments on this issue I have written below a more detailed explanation of the situation which I hope will explain the situation.
I would like to explain the background to this decision. There has been a situation at Emirates Stadium where 2 sets of fans have been upset about the flying of certain flags. This has reached a critical situation in terms of safety with groups of fans receiving physical threats. We have spoken to both Groups but could not resolve the situation. In our desire to provide a safe environment for all fans we therefore decided to ban all national flags. This is not a permanent ban and we would hope to revert back to the previous situation when it becomes safe so to do. In fact there were only about 6 national flags flown at Emirates and none at Highbury!!
We fully understand and sympathise with your concerns and we will revert back to our previous policy as soon as it is safe so to do.
Regards
Keith Edelman
Thanks to Rob Gaffney of the RedAction group for the letter content.
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Your Comments
Good news! Hopefully the situation will calm down and this ban will cease. However, I am a bit concerned with the issue of physical threats between the two sets of fans... aren't we all supposed to be united in the support of the Arsenal? It is a shame that certain groups are using the club to make political statements and provoke or insult other people. They should be the ones banned-not the flags.
G4L
Well there we have it. After Being slated on the Vital Spurs site for "banning the St Georges cross" they now have their explination!
simmy8_2000
That statement really should have been released. I must admit, I got woefully out of my depth with the flag article the other day and I will certainly conduct more research into such subjects! Still, you live and you learn.
Little Dutch
I disagree LD, you were not woefully out of depth - I thought it was written with good intention from a fan perspective, only for it to take a different direction. I would think that researching political issues such as the Cyprus question should not be that important when you are discussing how wrong it is to ban all flags from a stadium.
G4L
A minor point...but we didn't field eleven black players against Leeds cos I seem to recall a certain Cygan playing rather well that day...unless there's something about him I don't know...still...football should transcend national or ethnic boundaries and we should simply debate the best way to support the nation of Arsenal
Anon 1
LD - The Cyprus problem is an issue that goes into deep political and historical depth and you did well to grasp the understanding that you showed. Its a subject that shouldnt be attached to football in this country but unfortunatly its something that has literally been thrust in our faces.
As for Anon 1, I think Arsenal did have 10 black players on at one time, even if they didnt all start. I think Seaman was the only white player on our team for a bit of time on the pitch.
N13Gooner
Ye I know... I was there...just thought I'd give Cygan some christmas cheer because he played well that day..as did Kolo playing on the left side of midfield!!
Anon 1
£2M for Cygan?? - I think thats Christmas cheer allround!
N13Gooner
i think i missed the whole flag debate.. are we talking about the flags outside the armoury ?
PUREGOLD
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