Throughout Ireland, you will see flags flying from poles, staffs, and hanging on the side of buildings. These are not national flags, rather they are based on the colours of the county teams in Gaelic football and hurling - the most popular spectator sports. As these flags are entirely unofficial, the designs vary: one sees the colours arranged as horizontal stripes, quarters, lozenges, etc., but vertical stripes are the most common. These flags have outgrown their sporting origins and are now widely used on festive occasions, flown alongside the European Union, national and provincial flags at shopping centres, hotels, etc. However, in the six counties that constitute Northern Ireland, use of the county colours is confined to nationalist areas - the counties in Northern Ireland have been abolished for administrative purposes and the sports from which the county colours derive are not generally supported by unionists.