In reply to Shani:
> Quite. Not wearing a poppy has become more of a statement than wearing one.
I agree.
I contribute to numerous charities and dont ever wish to take their little sticker of self congratulation, such as the stickers you get from the RSPCA or the poppies from the legion.
I walk around town, attend business meetings, travel on the tube and feel like I have the pox for the two weeks leading up to armistice day if I don't wear this Chinese made tat. I would much rather have my own solitary moment of reflection, on my terms and without being judged by others.
Whats more, I would rather have that percentage of costs given to the manufacturers of this stuff placed in trust in the UK to be used by the people who actually need it rather than it going offshore whilst leaving yet another needless amount of paper and plastic either thrown into landfill or incinerated.
On the subject of whether any team should wear the armbands or not I am surprised it got this level of attention. I neither care if they do or dont and quite frankly would rather have the hollow sentiment removed from the footballers arms. I am of the opinion that one should only show respect if one actually means it and, sorry for being a little controversial, I don't really think any of the players on the pitch give it more than a moments thought. Do they really care if they wear a poppy or not and for who's benefit is it.
The second part of this nonsense is two fold; firstly, the poppy isnt political, its a simple yet effective way (if sincerely meant - see above) of showing the country's armed forces that you value what they do, which is to put themselves in real harms way day in day out, and not prance around a football pitch for 90 minutes feigning injury to get an ill deserved advantage in the opponents penalty area. Its a non issues for me whether these players wear it or not. Seems only the Mail and Sun have got their knickers in a twist.
Secondly, FIFA are completely misinterpreting the poppy. Given their recent few years of scandal after corruption after shame I think they really should be worrying about more important internal matters before they stick their noses into the non political national football teams' non issues.
Is this a low news week or something?
Post edited at 13:24