Emoji for England, Scotland and Wales flags to be released this year 

The new emoji may be introduced as soon as this year
The new emoji may be introduced as soon as this year Credit: Emojipedia

English, Welsh and Scottish patriots will soon be able to cheer on their national football team or fly the flag for their home nation with emoji after the three countries' flags were approved for a release expected this year.

Until now, only the Union Jack flag has been included among the 1,851 emoji cartoons that feature on smartphones and social media sites, much to the disappointment of those who would prefer to fly the Saltire, St George's Cross or the Red Dragon.

The three flags were approved for introduction at a meeting of the Unicode Technical Committee - the body of technology chiefs that includes Apple, Google and Facebook which decides on standards for new emoji.

They are likely to arrive on phone software updates in the second half of this year - unfortunately too late for the beginning of the Six Nations next week.

Social media users have long lamented the lack of home nation emoji and their introduction has been spearheaded by a campaign from Jeremy Burge, the founder of the Emojipedia website, and Owen Williams of BBC Wales.

Former Scottish National Party leader Alex Salmond has supported a Saltire emoji, writing to Unicode and Apple to ask for its inclusion.

England, Scotland and Wales are the three most requested new emoji flags according to Emojipedia. To date, sports fans and football players have often used national animal emoji such as the dragon for Wales or the unicorn for Scotland.

The process for new emoji arriving on phones is convoluted: standards must first be negotiated and agreed before the symbols are introduced by smartphone companies and social media sites. 

The three country flags are categorised in international standards as subdivisions of the Union Jack, on the same level as flags for US states, and a new protocol for encoding them had to be agreed. Northern Ireland has no official flag, so is not included in the standards.

WhatsApp already supports the three emoji, but the symbols must be entered via the web version of the messaging app.

Emoji for redheads are also on the table, although they may not appear until next year.

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