secondspace
Member
I wish FIFA had just ignored it, the people who've pushed the poppy into being a political symbol will love being outraged about this.
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FIFA fines English, Scottish, Irish and Welsh FAs for wearing poppies.
- Thread starter DBT85
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Skellig Gra
Member
OverBlood 3
Banned
Yep I don't wear a poppy for this reason.
His Majesty
Banned
Yep.
Although I read on the BBC this ban also applies to fans? Is FIFA also going to fine associations when their fans are wearing poppies or singing YNWA?
Wouldn't surprise me though. FIFA charged Manchester City after their fans booed the Champions League anthem.
Fuck FIFA.
Mattlikewhoa
Member
...and we are done here folks...
RocknRola
Member
You sure that wasn't UEFA?
Zeouterlimits
Member
At the very least, it can be a political symbol for some, enough that I'd agree it goes against the rules (like the 1916 emblem in fact).
His Majesty
Banned
It's not. It doesn't represent nationalism, glorify the military or show support for illegal wars no matter how much people here want to think that.
SymbiantXenos
Member
Fifa needed disbanding long ago.
TheCochese
Banned
FIFA hasn't figured out a way to get a sponsor for it yet. That's why.
Opus Angelorum
Member
This sums up FIFA perfectly.
You don't get to decide what other people think a symbol represents!
Seriously. Especially in the current climate when the poppy is *absolutely* used by the Sun and the Daily Mail for exactly that purpose, and used to hound anyone who doesn't wear it.
RocknRola
Member
I didn't decide. the symbol has been around for nearly 100 years. It means what it means.
just because some shitrag like the sun want to put it on their paper doesn't change that.
milanbaros
Member?
Agree with FIFA on this.
You know what it means to *you*.
That's the thing about symbols. They mean different things to different people. For example, to me the Union Jack is a flag I like and am proud of - for me it represents the best part of our country (the different nations coming together).
But to right wing nationalists it means something else.
And to people in Africa, or many other places across the globe, it's means something extremely wrong and evil.
I don't get to tell them they are wrong for how they see my symbol. That's just how symbols work.
gutter_trash
Banned
I have no problem with it as long as they wear them within their own National League but not outside
DKehoe
Member
It's not to most people, particularly inside the UK. But it's a symbol of support for British troops. Non-British people may have an issue with that. Most people don't have an issue with the poppy but that doesn't mean it's not a poltical symbol. Rather than FIFA having to make individual judgement on each case (which would itself be a political decision) it's better they just don't allow any.
Camp Freddie
Member
It is a symbol of the Royal British Legion/.
It's a charity that supports British armed forces veterans and performs a lot of political lobbying in addition to merely supporting remembrance day.
While this is a worthy cause (and I wear the poppy myself), let's not be obtuse and claim that it's a non-political one.
If England wanted to wear black armbands to commemorate the dead in a more generic way, they'd be allowed (I think Wales did this, and England did it in 2011).
Unfortunately, rules are rules and "no political statements" doesn't just contain an, "unless it's for a good charity" clause.
FIFA hit other countries with fines, so I don't think they're trying to single out the UK.
Besides, the fines are peanuts and probably less than Wayne Rooney's bar tab. It's obvious that FIFA isn't trying to hurt the FA, they just don't want to start a precedent.
It has always been a political symbol. Wear a red poppy in Ireland and see for yourself.
The poppy has been completely desecrated as a symbol. You have politicians and royals who wear really elaborate poppies and lay down massive wreaths and then go off to Saudi Arabia to sell cluster bombs and tanks to be used to massacre Yemenis but god help anyone who decides they don't want to wear one. Then you have photos of children wielding giant poppies and wearing t-shirts saying "Future Soldier" on the Royal British Legion website, spitting on the memory of all the young men who died in WW1.
The poppy is trash and FIFA are for once, right.
The poppy is trash and FIFA are for once, right.
Pretty much. You have to have a very limited knowledge of British history to be surprised at some of our symbolism not being received so well in other parts of the world.
The Northern Irish/Welsh teams did this but they still got fined, though I suppose FIFA wanted to rule it out altogether.
As bad as FIFA is, I don't think they were 100% in the wrong for banning the poppy.
Of course symbols can change meaning. Go to Germany wearing a swastika and see if they will accept "but its an ancient Hindu symbol, a couple decades of history can't change that!"
The poppy is totally a political symbol, and the FA have also taken a political stance on wearing it. For once FIFA is right.
GTP_Daverytimes
Member
you are remembering YOUR fallen,
Camp Freddie
Member
The Welsh/NI teams got banned for symbols on the pitch and in the crowd (the organised displays where people hold up cards to display a mosaic-style image). I think the armbands were judged to be okay.
Diprosalic
Banned
broken clock
RedSparrows
Member
Political does not have to equal a party.
If not wearing the poppy is political, wearing it is. And so on...
ElzarTheBam
Member
Fucking Fifa
Yeah our fine is a bit odd. It's not a symbol it's remembering a very specific item of gaining our independence.
And yeah Damian Collins. What a twat "oh why didn't you fine Ireland" blah blah.
Still, it's a symbol that's linked to ongoing support for the current army thus breaking the rule. Fifa were in the right this time
FIFA were in the right purely because the sort of people who will be outraged by this have turned the poppy into precisely what it wasn't supposed to be, a symbol of pride.
The teams didn't wear poppies on Armistice Day 30 years ago, and it's as simple as that as I'm concerned.
The teams didn't wear poppies on Armistice Day 30 years ago, and it's as simple as that as I'm concerned.
Doctor Bat
Member
To be fair, this is entirely consistent with rules the FA signed up to and agreed to consent with. I read a really great piece a few months ago on the subject: https://www.joe.co.uk/sport/poppy-row/95762
Though there are constant calls in the opposite direction, the poppy has become politicized, and as such can't just be seen as a symbol of remembrance anymore. It's not an anti-war symbol anymore, it's justification for why sacrifices in war are worth reproducing again and again.
Though there are constant calls in the opposite direction, the poppy has become politicized, and as such can't just be seen as a symbol of remembrance anymore. It's not an anti-war symbol anymore, it's justification for why sacrifices in war are worth reproducing again and again.
IdreamofHIME
Member
The Welsh fine is partly because the crowd were wearing poppies. Fucking insane.
We are remembering ALL the fallen.
Charles Brandon
Member
Correct
You might be. The people of those countries might not feel the same.
(See above for the Argentina example).
Are we? We only hear people saying that when someone says it's just for the soldiers, "but it's for civilians too who lost their lives", kinda in an #alllivesmatter way.
Just saying when is the last time we've seen the red poppy accompanied with a picture of an Iraqi/Argentine family...
milanbaros
Member?
You are maybe. If this is as much in support of dead Afghan children bombed by NATO drones as it is dead British soldiers I want to see the charitable activities of the Royal British Legion.
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