Swiss Sporting Flags

Last modified: 2002-01-12 by pascal gross
Keywords: switzerland | sport flags | touring club suisse |
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• Touring Club of Switzerland

• Switzerland

by Ivan Sache

The magazine 'Cyclotourisme' (#492, May 2001) shows a photograph taken during the Montreal Feria, an international meeting in which more than 85,000 bikers took part from 28 May to 4 June 2001. The photograph shows bikers with balloons and flags tied to the bikes. The flags are white with an emblem in the middle. The emblem is a disc divided by three rays, probably representing a steering wheel. A Swiss escutcheon (white cross on red field) is placed above the top of the wheel. Letters T, C, and S are placed in the three quarters delimited by the rays. There are two colour versions of the flag on the picture: blue disc, white rays and letters, and a variant with white disc with a blue border, blue rays and letters. I think TCS stands for 'Touring-Club de Suisse', and therefore consider the flags as emblems of the Touring-Club of Switzerland.

Ivan Sache, 31 May 2001

The white version seems not to be used very often now. The official website of the TCS displays only the blue version, slightly different from your drawing Ivan as the emblem is outlined in blue and the little escucheon is fimbriated in white, the lines of the lower rays of the steering wheel being not parallel.

The acronym TCS is valid for the 3 main languages Touring Club suisse / Schweiz / svizzero (the German version uses the name of the country instead of the adjective, as the German adjective would have been placed at the beginning). Unlike the defunct TCF (Touring Club de France), the TCS is still very active in Switzerland. They have a big squad of rescue cars if your car starts to suffer from breakdowns, they offer a juridical protection insurance and are also present politically to defend the rights of the motorists.

Pascal Gross, 31 May 2001

Variant flag