I’m wondering if we’ve ever had this kind of fuss before. There must have been international football matches around Remembrance day time when poppies will have been in evidence.



http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/15643295.stm

Or, maybe, it’s a good tactic to deflect public anger away from the mess the government is making for a short time.

Yes, many times. In fact, every year for about the past five years. That's the way the football calendar has been organised - a weekend at the beginning of September and a weekend in the middle of November to play international fixtures where no 'club' games are scheduled, thereby avoiding clashes.

IMO, this whole kerfuffle is largely because the game itself is an utter dud. Nobody in their right minds would bet on anything other than a Spanish win (England are above 5-1 to win, spain are 2-1 on) so given they can't find anything interesting to write about the game itself the tabloid media have to raise a ruckus about something else. And of course the Guardian responds by suggesting anyone wearing a poppy is voting in favour of past war crimes and imperial outrages and so on and so forth.

Wear a poppy, don't wear a poppy. meh.

Jon

Several media watchers have pointed out that the England team has pretty much never worn poppies at internationals around Remembrance Sunday.

Not even the international between England and Germany at Christmas 1914...

As you say, it's Cameron and the Daily Fail trying to distract attention from more important issues.

It's a load of bollox that they've, for some reason, decided to make into a huge fuss this year.

They've not banned the poppy, FIFA rules were there regarding any slogan, image or whatever. Just because the poppy fits into that category so effin what? Poppies on the training gear, a minutes silence, why do they need to whinge about the actual match shirt and why have they never mentioned it in all the decades since the wars?

Seriously, there are reasons for the rules - we can't start discussing everything each nation would like to put on their shirts.

At this rate if you don't tattoo a poppy on your forehead for everyone to see at all times then you're basically an unpatriotic scumbag.

I thought DC was being the usual DiC. Bandwagon riding gasbag.

Quite so, I doubt Cameron knows anything about football. They didn't play such lower class sports at his school.

This couldn't be a ploy to distract from something else, could it?

What, like the fact the captain of England's football team is a thoroughly dislikable racist bastard?

Jon

Poppies make opium. Opium makes heroin. They should just all shoot up before they go out there - audience included. I'm sure it would make for a more chilled out experience, and possibly fewer injuries.

I believe Jon Snow describes this phenomenon as "poppy fascism".