For a long time now, poppies have been the symbol of the heroes who fought and died in various wars that the UK has been involved in. The majority of people in the country wear poppies around November as a mark of respect on Remembrance Sunday.
Most English footballers consider wearing the England shirt as a great honour, in the same way that most people consider wearing a poppy as great respect. So those who get to do both should consider themselves extremely lucky. Except they won't. They can either wear the England shirt or they sit in the crowd wearing a poppy. Thanks to FIFA's excellent rules and judgement, players from England and Wales are forbidden from proudly wearing poppies during the game.
What FIFA think they're playing at is unknown to everyone apart from themselves. They are the singularly most corrupt and most useless organisation in the world, followed closely by the FA. So far the FA have written several strongly worded letters to FIFA asking for them to relax the rules on commercial and religious symbols (which is what poppies are apparently).
So far, England will be able to wear black armbands depicting poppies on them. Great, that's just fantastic. What I call on the Football Association to do is to paint a giant poppy on the pitch at Wembley. After a year when the FA managed to cock up our chance to host the World Cup, it would restore national pride and restore our confidence in the FA. I love this sport, I love England and I'm damned if that idiot Sepp Blatter is going to ruin this weekend for the Great British public. So come on you idiots at the FA, show FIFA that we will not conform to the wishes of a corrupt organisation and we shall wear our poppies with pride; and honour the fallen who have given their lives in defence of this country.
