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



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.
This deserves two likes.

Anyone suggesting the "wrong" side shouldn't wear a poppy is missing the point in a big way.
 
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
Presumably the funds raised from flogging the limited edition poppy shirts is donated to the British Legion which will be a much needed fund raiser.Nowt wrong in that.
 
Not sure about then, but before that in the 60s and 70s, there wasn't anything. Remembrance then was for Remembrance Sunday, simple as that.

Playing Sunday morning football in the 80,s. In the middle of the match at 11am ref blows his whistle and we stop playing for a minute. That was my recollection of my involvement.
 
Last edited:
Playing Sunday morning football in the 80,s. In the middle of the match at 11am ref blows his whistle and we stop playing for a minute. That was my recollection of my involvement.

That would have been totally normal at that time. And, of course, Sunday League football was the only football which would be happening on a Sunday back then.
 
It's only left wing if your reference point for the centre is the American Republican Party - or the Daily Mail

I think it's a loathsome rag, only marginally less appalling than The Guardian. Both are left-wing in the worst, snobbish, sneering, condescending way. Its journalists too often bring to mind Orwell's comment regarding intellectuals, the national anthem and a poor box. I am on the right politically mind.
 
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.

Couldn't agree more.
 
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.

Superb post.

However there seems to be a general mood that things have got too big and we shold scale it back and it may be better if we did forget. This is what I am picking up on social media, so suspect that in this age of everything being offensive to someone that horrendous viewpoint will win out.

A very sad day.
 
Superb post.

However there seems to be a general mood that things have got too big and we shold scale it back and it may be better if we did forget. This is what I am picking up on social media, so suspect that in this age of everything being offensive to someone that horrendous viewpoint will win out.

A very sad day.

I don't think anyone is saying that we should forget. I don't think anyone finds the act of remembrance offensive. It's the crass giant figures dressed as poppies, the whole competition of who can have the biggest demonstration, the whole showiness look at me aspect of it and the demonisation of anyone who is deemed not to be following the accepted norms of it all nowadays.
 
Superb post.

However there seems to be a general mood that things have got too big and we shold scale it back and it may be better if we did forget. This is what I am picking up on social media, so suspect that in this age of everything being offensive to someone that horrendous viewpoint will win out.

A very sad day.

We certainly don't need to forget. But the intention of a single national moment of remembrance at 11am, originally on the 11th November, later on the closest Sunday, is what we need to go back to. Maybe we need to go back to the 11th, as perhaps the Sunday one started to get lost once Sunday ceased to be the day when nothing much happened. What we do need to move away from is the "it's just before Halloween, you will start wearing a poppy" mentality. I seem to remember from my childhood that no-one really bothered with them until after Guy Fawkes was out of the way,
 
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
THIS. It’s an individual choice. To take one minute out of your year to try to imagine the sacrifice made by young lads and lasses. Were it not for them we may not be able to choose to take a moment. i feel we take far too much for granted these days. We accept what we have without a care in the world yet it’s easy to forget who paid for it and what the price was. I don’t think we need huge flags and people dressed up. Just a respectful silence and maybe the sound of the last post. Late on Sunday afternoon I was in the town square in Kraków. They have a trumpeter there that plays from the top of the church on the hour every hour. On Sunday he played the last post and everything stopped. That is enough for me.
 
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.
If we forget, or more pertinently choose not to remember, then it can happen again. There is an alarming number of young people that don’t know what the holocaust was.
Not sure it is much needed tbh, the rbl are sitting on huge reserves.
The reason for Which has been explained clearly enough.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
He raises a valid point, on Saturday night the TV was on and for about five minutes 'Strictly Come Dancing' was offending my ears and eyes with a f***ing horrendous dance routine with the dancers wearing WW1 military uniforms in front of a bunch of celebrity wankers gushing about it. Thousands upon thousands of young men died in the most horrific ways imaginable just so that 100 years later it could be turned into a dance routine on Saturday night TV......there's definitely a lot to be said for quiet, dignified remembrance like it used to be rather than the whole 'I'm more thankful than you' bollocks we are subjected to these days
 

Back
Top