Fifa’s poppy ban: the latest remembrance outrage
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Version 0 of 1. It’s that time of year again, the annual event to commemorate bravery in the face of widespread disapproval – otherwise known as Jon Snow Day. Wearing a poppy is, as most people appear to believe (about 40m are bought every year), an act of remembrance and a small way of supporting the British Legion, but it is not yet compulsory. Someone should remind the vocal and seemingly powerful, self-appointed poppy police. Here is a brief history of poppy outrage. Poppies v Fifa On 11 November, Armistice Day, England play Scotland in a World Cup qualifier, while Wales face Serbia the following day. Their respective football associations are asking Fifa to allow players to wear poppies on their shirts; Fifa bans any political, religious or commercial messages on shirts. The teams were allowed to wear black armbands embroidered with poppies in November 2011, after Prince William and David Cameron appealed to the football governing body. Private poppies In a 2006 blog post, the Channel 4 newsreader Jon Snow addressed the criticism of his ongoing refusal to wear a poppy on the programme. “I do not believe in wearing anything which represents any kind of statement,” he wrote. “Additionally, there is a rather unpleasant breed of poppy fascism out there – ‘He damned well must wear a poppy!’ Well, I do, in my private life, but I am not going to wear it or any other symbol on air.” How patriotic is Jeremy Corbyn? That was the question last year, as some Labour MPs worried about whether their leader would wear a red poppy or the white one, a symbol of peace and pacifism, which he has worn before. Newspaper reports soon confirmed that he would wear a red one, leaving those with unspent poppy outrage to turn their attention to how deeply Corbyn bowed at the Remembrance Sunday service at the Cenotaph. Fake poppies Last year, Downing Street uploaded a picture of David Cameron to its Facebook page before realising with horror that he wasn’t wearing a poppy – a crime so great, it would have caused No 10 less panic had he forgotten to wear trousers. One was quickly Photoshopped on. Pound poppies In 2011, Poundland was forced to allow its workers to wear poppies after receiving a deluge of messages on Facebook and Twitter. Poppies were not, it had said, part of staff uniform. Unlike for prime ministers. James McClean refuses to wear one The annual “news” that Irish footballer James McClean will again refuse to wear a poppy has hit the papers this week. The West Brom player has been viciously attacked on Twitter for his decision over the years. McClean has said that if the poppy only represented the victims of the two world wars, he wouldn’t have a problem. “But it doesn’t – it stands for all the conflicts that Britain has been involved in. Because of the history of where I come from in Derry, I cannot wear something that represents that.” Premature poppies In 2010, BBC presenters including Clare Balding, Andrew Marr and Gary Lineker were criticised for wearing their poppies too early, before the British Legion’s official fundraising launch date. ‘Toothless’ poppies The Guardian art critic Jonathan Jones, reviewing the art installation at the Tower of London in 2014 – in which 888,246 ceramic poppies were “planted” to mark the deaths of every serviceman in the first world war – described it as nationalistic, “inward-looking” and “prettified and toothless”. He was attacked by some rightwing newspapers and a handful of Twitter users, and the charity Help for Heroes said the piece “tried to politicise a memorial”. In a robust defence, Jones wrote that “an adequate work of art about the war has to show its horror, not sweep the grisly facts under a red carpet of artificial flowers”. Poppy patrol For some, calling out people in the public eye for not wearing poppies has become an enjoyable online pastime. Last year, the actor Sienna Miller was criticised for not wearing one on a chat show; the year before it was Nigel Farage who endured the wrath of the poppy police, who almost certainly enjoy a healthy crossover with Ukip voters. This year, Sky News’s Kay Burley has been quick off the mark, asking why Mirror associate editor Kevin Maguire didn’t wear one on TV. #AngerInHerEyes |