The time has come for football to start asking some difficult questions about remembrance

Zak's Dad said:
Scoring political points off the back of a newspaper article about the symbolism of the poppy is (I think?) exactly what the writer is highlighting as an issue.

The Independent is hardly left wing, but don't let that get in the way of attacking the supposed political stance rather than engaging with what they're saying.
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I’ve just googled “is the independent left wing” and got a different answer to yours.
 


The Hesford Diet said:
What was wrong with a minute or two minute silence each season?

Now we have clubs flogging "limited edition" poppy shirts and some people (generally, not just in football) trying their best to outdo each other in how much they respect the fallen.

Quietly showing respect means so much more to vets and serving soldiers than buying a git big poppy or arguing why someone doesn't have one on their shirt
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I can't agree more.
 
I find the subject difficult if I'm honest. Both my grandad's served. Both met my grandmother's whilst doing their bit. I'm sure a lot of us owe our existence to the same set of circumstances.

The thing is they rarely talked about it and wanted nothing more than to crack on with life. Increasingly - on both sides of the political divide - I hear people tell me what they fought for.

I love my grandparents. They are the best of us. I just know they'd all hate being hated described as that.
 
CissesUnderpants19 said:
I would say its more a case of patriotic correct, as in people think somethings the matter with persons who don't have them on or do it in their own way and some get very upset about it, like the landlord from bristol yesterday refusing to serve people in his pub unless they had on or were will to buy a poppy, he should be praised for offering the service men free drink, but the rest of it seems a little bit to close to knuckle.
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Which pub was that? I''ll have to add it to my list of pubs not to go to.
 
Grumpy Old Man said:
Might have known. Its frontage used to be painted as a cross of St George. The landlord's quite possibly a member of the EDL, he's that right wing.
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I did think he was going a little bit over the top with what he said mind, but i suppose it would of no doubt made his day to have members of the forces in his pub, just to show how patriotic he is.
 
Zak's Dad said:
The Independent is hardly left wing
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when did it change? i thought it was a badge it wore with pride?
Ashley In!! said:
With a certain section of society it's definitely shifted from showing respect to spending time trying to find people who aren't showing sufficient in their eyes. And it's led by the press.
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like everything its been hijacked by two opposite sides of equal nauseating stances. scrape away all the bull and the message is an important one.

As with most things it gets lost in the noise and is another sign of our downgrading society.
 
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ilovehorswill said:
Yes, how dare people remember the fallen in their own way.

Reminds me of this a few days ago:

"Football has pandered to this and does not seem to have grasped the absurdity of the situation. Jurgen Klopp wore a poppy last week at Villa Park. The Liverpool manager may well consider it important to pay tribute to Britain’s fallen soldiers – and the British Legion’s charity appeal widens the significance of the poppy from the First World War to every subsequent conflict. But it is almost comedic to see a German wearing one given the history between the two countries."

Who made these narrow minded arseholes the Rememberance Police?
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as an ex serviceman, I have never considered 11th November to be about British dead. There were very many people of many nationalities who died on both sides. even a lot of german soldiers didnt believe in what they were fighting for, they were there because their government told them to be there.its not even all about servicemen / women. a lot of people died in bombing raids for example and women died in munitions factorys and shipyards.
It is about the whole package
a lot has been said about the youngster who said, children should not be taught about ww2 as it is so horific.
thats the point youngun. war is horrific and horrible things happen. what is seen and done can never ever be unseen and undone.
thats the whole point of remembering, so to show the realities of what happens when politicians fail their country.
It is not a computer game, when you switch off, no harm done.
 
to many sad bastads in so called powerful places don't want this country to have any kind of remembered history,bunch o twats the lot of them
 
Steve H said:
The 'poppy mafia', potentially dangerous.
I remember a couple of seasons ago, North Shields put out an email informing the supporters that any player who did not wear a poppy, would be fined, what nonsense.I think this is probably typical of modern football
Lots of my relatives fought in both world wars, one of the things I presume they fought for was to live in a society where there would be freedom of choice, seems as if there is very little choice for certain people, difficult to escape the 'poppy mafia'.
If people wish to wear a poppy, that is there choice, they should not feel presure to do so.
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Couldn't agree more with this. Forcing anyone to do something like wear a poppy devalues the whole logic behind wearing one. It's almost as if different backgrounds will have an influence on your views on certain topics, I find it totally mental people can't see why there would be a difference in view from a lad from Sunderland's views on the poppy to Mcclean from Creggan in Derry.
 
myleftfoot1978 said:
Is that news paper taking the piss? Just because they are oversized poppies and people dressed up does not take away from the fact all the clubs involved are supporting those who have fallen and served, what do they want clubs to do? Remember those pictures from Liverpool would be going all over the world yesterday, what do the independent paper want clubs to do?
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At the end of the day sales of poppies and related items go to the British Legion to help those who have been injured and the families of dead and injured service people. There was a lady on radio the other day saying that they should stop selling pink ribbons for breast cancer because pink is too nice a colour to represent cancer. Whether it's a pink ribbon or a poppy or some oaf dressed as a flower doesn't really matter-it's about raising awareness and money.
 

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