Dubbed English football's ‘golden generation', only to fall flat at UEFA EURO 2004 and the 2006 FIFA World Cup Germany™, South Africa 2010  may well be the last chance of international silverware for some of the most well-known faces in the world game.

However, he appointment of Fabio Capello appears to have brought fresh vigour to the Three Lions' squad, many of whom have a point to prove after lacklustre displays when it mattered most under Sven-Goran Eriksson and Steve McClaren. With the tournament due to take place in the South African winter, conditions which should suit the English players and style, so excuses will be at a premium should Wayne Rooney and Co fall short once more.

Description of the flag

The cross of St George is the flag of England, not the Union Jack. It is a red cross on a white field. The Church of England uses the cross of Saint George with the shield of arms of its diocese in the canton, although in practice many, when they fly the flag at all, fly the plain cross.
Roy Stilling, 21 November 1995

As far as I know, the St George's Cross flag as the national flag of England has no official proportions, as it is not used officially by government bodies etc. Public buildings in England are supposed to fly the Union Jack on St George's Day (April 23rd) and can only fly St George if they have more than one flagpole. I presume the St. George's Cross as a Royal Navy rank flag has official proportions though, which I'd guess as being 2:3. Most flag books show the English flag as being 2:3 or 3:5 - certainly shorter than 1:2. I personally would regard a 1:2 St George's Cross as "wrong". I have no real reason for saying this - it just wouldn't look right to me.
Roy Stilling, 20 February 1998

The official proportions for the national flag of England is 3:5, with the cross being 1/5 of the height of the flag wide. The same ratio is used for Scotland and Wales. The saltire on Scotland's flag is also 1/5 of the height of the flag wide. It was chosen as being the closest 'standard' shape to the golden rectangle.
Graham Bartram, 5 April 1999

Earliest Use of the Flag

Although St. George was known in England in the 5th Century and his legend was brought back to England by stories from the 1st crusade, there is no mention of the 'Cross of St. George'. If, as I am led to believe, Richard the Lionheart (1189-1199) saw a vision of St. George with a red cross banner, I can only assume that Richard brought back the red cross. This seems to be at odds with the history of the Genoa flag where Filipo Nocetti gives information that English ships bore the cross so as to have safe passage into the port of Genoa, subsequently paying the King for this safe passage.  Filipo gives the year 1190 some 9 years before Richard returned, so if our Italian correspondent is correct then the 'Cross of St. George' would have been seen in England before the second
crusade.
Barry Hamblin, 1 July 2002

There is a chapter on this subject in British Flags by W.G.Perrin (1922) who was Admiralty Librarian in the early 1900's. He wrote that although St George was popular among crusaders there was no particular connection with England at that time. St George was a foreign saint and it was many years before he came to be regarded as similar in importance to the English saints Edward and Edmund.

Briefly he wrote that;

England as a nation state did not exist until the reign of Edward I (1272), all previous kings having been Norman or Anglo-Norman.

The earliest reference to the cross of St George as an English emblem (not flag) was in a roll of account relating to the Welsh War of 1277.

Although the banner of St George was flown when the castle of Caerlaverock was taken in 1300, it was in company with those of St Edward and St Edmund.

Edward the Confessor was "patron saint" of England until 1348 when the greater importance of St George was promoted by the establishment of the Chapel of St George at Windsor. It was not until 1415 that the festival of St George was raised to the position of a "double major feast" and ordered to be observed throughout the Province of the Archbishop of Canterbury with as much solemnity as Christmas Day.

St George's cross did not achieve any sort of status as the national flag until the 16th century, when all other saints' banners were abandoned during the Reformation. The earliest record of St George's flag at sea, as an English flag in conjunction with royal banners but no other saintly flags, was 1545.
David Prothero, 1 July 2002