A trio of Arbroath diehards are travelling home from Glastonbury after 12-hour stints holding a club flag that was seen by music fans all over the world.
Gary Brown, Nick Fraser and Paul Bywater spent the weekend at the Somerset festival headlined by Elton John, Guns N’ Roses and Arctic Monkeys.
And they caught the eye with their maroon and white flag that had the club’s crest and nickname, The Red Lichties, on it.
Arbroath fans represent club at Glastonbury
It was spotted by several fans watching at home during sets, including Yusuf/Cat Stevens, on the main stage on Sunday.
Nick told The Courier: “I’m glad the flag was spotted, we did our best to get in prominent places.
“I spent 12 hours at the Pyramid Stage on Sunday, bearing the flagpole.
“We are now making our weary way back up the road home.
“We had a fantastic time at the festival.”
A tribute to home
The trio felt the need to take the flag as a tribute to their hometown.
He said: “We’re schoolmates from Arbroath High School going back to the early 80s.
“We’re regular gig-goers and Red Lichties when opportunity allows – Gary lives in Inverness, Paul’s in Arbroath and I’m in Kirkcaldy.
“We’d planned our Glasto adventure for months and the flag seemed like the perfect opportunity, to give a wee wave back home.
“We set ourselves the challenge of trying to get the flag to the main stages throughout the weekend, ending with a 12-hour stint at the Pyramid stage on Sunday.”
The flag did not go unnoticed on Worthy Farm, with the friends approached by fellow music fans to talk about it.
He said: “We had plenty of attention from others at the festival. It was a great conversation starter among fellow Lichties attending, long since scattered far and wide.
“They including a young lad from Nottingham who had recently adopted Arbroath FC as his Scottish team.”
The Arbroath flag was also spotted during sets by the likes of Foo Fighters and Manic Street Preachers.
Viewers of the BBC coverage also spotted the flag when Blondie performed on the Pyramid Stage.
On the club’s Facebook page, fans raved about seeing the club represented at Glastonbury.
One wrote: “Just watching on iPlayer and said: ‘Did I see an Arbroath flag in the Foo Fighters’ crowd?’ Ace!”
Another said: “Seen the flag loads of times – good one boys. C’mon the Lichties.”
On Twitter, The Flag Institute wrote: “You guys know what Glasto is about.”
