FIFA banning poppies

[peteblue]

FIFA get plenty of things wrong, this isn't one of them.

The clamour to get people wearing poppies is nauseating. If you want to wear one that's great, if you don't then that's fine too.

So if England and Scotland wish to wear them then that's fine........

 

[peteblue]

Same people probably flipped on Argentina for having a Malvinas banner that one time.

That was a political statement, which is expressly forbidden......had they wished to wear a black armband no one would have been bothered......

 

[peteblue]

Sounds like the FA and the SFA are going to tell FIFA to do one.

Points deduction or fines?

You decide.

I've said before now that the FA should pull out of FIFA. It is corrupt......

 

[joey_macmo]

That was a political statement, which is expressly forbidden......had they wished to wear a black armband no one would have been bothered......

The comparison is a black armband with the same Malvinas slogan as the banner.

 

[dandydan]

The comparison is a black armband with the same Malvinas slogan as the banner.

How about both teams walk out with a banner saying "Falkands are British" as a compromise.

 

[dannyboy]

So if England and Scotland wish to wear them then that's fine........

FIFA have a clear stance on this. I don't see the problem with respecting that rule. The players are free to wear the poppy at any other time.

 

[Azzurri]

How ironic that something which symbolises - in many ways - the futility and abhorrence of war should be considered a "political" statement. The only statement the poppy makes these days is that we respect and remember those who sacrificed their lives. If it symbolises anything political it is the freedom those soldiers gave their lives for. That is something everyone the whole world over ought to celebrate - but I suppose it is asking too much for FIFA to endorse freedoms when every recent World Cup has been bought with corrupt payments and all of them from 2010 to 2022 has been, or will be, built with practically a slave labour force. It's FIFA that patently objects to "freedom" when the likes of Blatter, Warner and Platini have fed so well at the trough for decades.

I do get your point, but do FIFA not have the right to exercise that freedom and make their own decision on whether a poppy should be allowed?

 

[Azzurri]

Fifa executives have stopped two teams wearing a bit of red and black stitching and people are going on as if they've all lined up to have a piss on the cenotaph.

It's truly bizzare.

 

[gorgeousgeorgeEFC]

FIFA are very clear about political, religious and commercial symbols.

There's no rule against a team honouring its nation's war dead, though, which is why FIFA have allowed England and other teams to wear poppies in the past.

FIFA are creating a problem where there isn't one. It's all very strange.

 

[Bruce Wayne]

Escalated quickly then.

Phoney and ingenious war, if the FA, SFA or for that matter FIFA were generally arsed about veterans or the armed forces, instead of division sign waving. They would donate the gate receipts, commercial revenue and match sponsorship to the appropriate organisations there to support service people who fall on hard times.

Anything else is bluster, politics and a publicity stunt.

Imagine if the players donated one weeks wages, together with gate receipts from the game and so on. Quite a few million there I'd say and barely a dent in the pockets of extremely rich individuals/organisations, yet a much bigger statement than squabbling over a logo on a t-shirt.

 

[Mikey_Fitzgerald]

Sounds like the FA and the SFA are going to tell FIFA to do one.

Points deduction or fines?

You decide.

They're idiots if they do so

FIFA will swing the hammer hard to make an example

 

[Mikey_Fitzgerald]

https://www.theguardian.com/footbal...on-sense-poppy-armistice-day-england-scotland

This from the comments section struck me

I made a donation yesterday and will wear my poppy - why yesterday? - because it is the anniversary of the day that my Uncle was blown to bits by a British shell while he waited in no mans land to attack the German lines near Ypres in 1917. His death was typical, partly incompetence, partly poor tactics and partly because that is how many died.

I remember him - well, the image of him - as obviously he was dead long before I was born and a faded photograph and the scroll signed by the King is all that remains. Should anyone choose not to wear a poppy that's fine by me, if we learn anything from war it should be that blind prejudice should be consigned to the dustbin of history.

At the end of the day, it's FIFA's tournament and thus you have to play by their rules, otherwise accept any sanctions for defying them or leave their tournament all together if you're that offended by their stance

Really, both sides should have tried to come to some sort of compromise, like they did in 2011, but they didn't and thus we have this mess we're currently in

 

[coollino]

I reckon they should ban fans wearing them too.

 

[Armaghtoffee]

It's nothing more than pandering to bigots like James McLean.

Just to clarify this; are you saying James McClean is a bigot because he chooses not to wear a poppy?

 

[Armaghtoffee]

@ToffeeTim now reading on in the forum I understand that you were calling McClean a bigot to get a rise out of people. I don't get it personally but like the poppy, each to their own.