[LIFTED] FIFA

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/38368144

Look, you can't go bringing politics and remembrance into corruption and money laundering. It's just not right.

It insists poppies are not political. “Wearing a poppy is a personal choice,” it [the Royal British Legion] adds. “It is not compulsory, but is greatly appreciated by those it helps.”

Over the decades, as the memory of both wars began to fade, the the poppy began to take on a subtle new meaning. To many people it had become a patriotic duty to wear one, a symbol of pride in the sacrifices of the armed services. Indeed all those who had ever worn a military uniform had become “heroes”, and the dead were described euphemistically as “having fallen”.

In an utterly unintended way the remembrance customs now serve to sanitise war and even to make the military option a respectable political option.

[...]

Today, millions still wear the poppy every autumn, but millions choose not to. It has become a cause of social division as each year the debate is rehearsed as to what the poppy really symbolises, and under what circumstances it is appropriate to display it. The debate this year about whether the England and Scotland football teams should wear poppy armbands illustrates how passionately the arguments are felt and how increasingly polarised views have become.

Last weekend [article written published Wednesday 4 November 2015], Irish footballer James McClean maintained his refusal to wear the poppy. In his eyes, wearing the poppy would disrespect the people who died on Bloody Sunday. Indeed, the 2010 Saville Report itself concluded that British paratroopers shot and killed fleeing unarmed civilians.

So, was McClean respected for his well-reasoned opinion? What do you think? A Twitter-storm soon ensued as the player was branded as “scum of the highest order”, “a terrorist sympathiser” and it was recommended that he should be put in a “hole full of rats”. Basically, lovely comments from the ever-understanding British public, all good-hearted people who just want to do something nice for our fallen heroes.

FA should tell FIFA to FO.
There is no way that the general public see the wearing of poppies as a political statement.