A furious row has unfurled over the design of Sutherland’s new flag – with an centrepiece eagle described as looking more like a “budgie.”
The flag, showing a swooping eagle on a yellow and red background with three stars or “mullets”, has been deemed ugly and questions have been raised over what it has to do with the county.
One Facebook user likened the flag to one of “an outer Mongolian third division football team” and another likened it to a “communist flag”.
Carey Kerr posted: “It is horrific. The last place I think of when I see that flag is Sutherland. There is absolutely nothing Scottish about it. A very sad outcome. Seems over 300 entries just weren’t good enough for the judges.”
Andrew Richert wrote:”At least the communist style design matches the communist style selection process where a board of 11 people reject every submitted design to build their own anyway!”
Only two messages of support were left on a Facebook page for the flag. One of them, from Brady Ellis, said: “It’s not all that bad.”
Sutherland’s Lord Lieutenancy team had organised the competition to find an image for a new flag that would “unify” the county.
There were 328 entries for the contest, which was launched last September and ended in November.
An 11-strong selection panel comprising members of the Lord Lieutenancy and representatives of youth and other groups across the county spent a day sifting through entries. They were guided by flag expert Philip Tibbett and heraldry expert Dr Joseph Morrow, the Lord Lyon of Scotland, who was present at the selection day.
At the time Vice Lord-Lieutenant Colin Gilmour said the panel had been very impressed with the standard of the designs with a wide variety of images submitted featuring deer, otters, eagle, wild cats and Highland cattle among other wildlife.
The judging panel eventually chose three winners with the final design an amalgam of all three.
The criticism of the design centres round the yellow and gold colour and the use of the eagle rather than a wildcat – seen to be the traditional emblem of Sutherland.
Lt Col Colin Gilmour, spokesman for the flag selection committee, said it was inevitable that some comments on the final choice would be unfavourable. He pointed out that the lieutenancy organised the competition but did not have a deciding vote, instead the winning artwork was decided democratically and representation on the selection committee was from across Sutherland.
He said: “Importantly the young generation seem very enthusiastic about it. Feedback from the children and youth is overwhelmingly positive.”