Guten Ahbend.
I can say this in jest you see only because of the actions of those who were cut in half by machine gun fire, choked by mustard gas, blown to smithereens or disemboweled by bayonet. Blimey Aitch, tad heavy for a Saturday night, old man…
Well, I tell you this: I just enjoyed a cracking firework show on the Stray in Harrogate. And that was a show! But before I left the house I made sure I had my Poppy on. Then I get home and get a Tweet from a chap – regular or and indeed occasional readers – may recall. Remember a chap by the name of ‘This Is Sammy’?
Well he wrote a superb piece which I was very happy to run out on this blog about the whole David Baddiel fiasco which was HERE.
Well Sammy has unsurprisingly hit another bulls-eye with a piece about ‘the Poppy’ and FIFA which is lengthy and so I would ask you to click HERE.
You know me, I can be an intolerant/flippant git. But stuff like this is important. I hope you afforded it a minute or two and enjoy a great read about a deeply important subject.
And you can let ’em know how you feel! http://www.fifa.com/contact/form.html
The FA should tell FIFA to FRO, and have poppies embroidered on the front and back of the shirts.
poppies in.
They should just wear them, can you imagine if they tried to fine us?
I would love to see this happen.
I wish the FA have the balls to do this, though I shall not expect anything from them.
Well, we’re not getting any favours from them, so why not?-I’m pretty sure it’ll unite the country for once! In fact I’m certain It’ll unite the British Isles!
Hh I thank you for bringing this is sammys articulate piece to myself…as a serving member of her majesty’s finest it brought a tear to my eye. Now I may not be as literate as most on this site, which may be one of the reasons I ended up in the armed forces, but I come from a long line of serving members of my family from my great grandparents all the way down to me and my brother. Even including the mother for a few years!
I joined due to an obsession when I was about 8, a lot of bad choices in life and mostly to test myself. I knew there was more to what the dreary north-east could offer me and I have been many places seen many things, lost friends that were far too young, but far more experienced in life than so many 3 times their age.
I am away again at the start of December for another tour but although I will miss the commercialised celebration that is jolly saint nicks finest day I appreciate life so much more because of it, once you’ve seen some of the worst you will never appreciate what you have.
I love this country and everything it offers even though I disagree with almost every thing about our society, I would love to strangle some of the cretins we call our compatriots but I would die for everyone of them.
I will be wearing my poppy with pride not because I love the queen, or the politicians governing this beautiful mess we live in but for the fact I am proud to be British, I am proud of our great history that may be marred with atrocities that in generations time when looked back upon we may still be making, I am proud of those people before me, with me, and no doubt after me will be paying the greatest sacrifice…we will remember them
Thank you for your service. May God bless you and your family.
Just to say how much I respect you and what you wrote and all the lads in uniform.
Back in late 1951, during my national service, I was sent home from the far east for a short (compassionate) leave. Went to visit the family of my platoon sergeant. He’d been killed just weeks before. Had a wife and a kid of six. Wanted to tell the wife how special he’d been. We talked in the kitchen as she was preparing supper for the lad. Then he came in. We were sitting at the table and he said: “I know dad’s dead. But what I can’t understand is why he doesn’t come home for dinner.”
Still remember that day…
@Yiddogaz
Your claimed lack of literary talent belies the fact that you are clearly nobody’s fool or cannon fodder and have a true perception of this country.
Probably going to get me into a lot of trouble to say this, but I never thought I would see such words of wisdom from a serving soldier.
I don’t mean to imply that soldiers are thick, just that my experience is that many let others do the thinking for them. You clearly think for yourself.
Best wishes and good luck to you from a pacifist.
I am a pacifist too.but I had to grab my axe from under my bed and chase a man out of my bedroom in the middle of the night once.
Evil has to be confronted unfortunatly,that is a reality of this life and it costs good men their lives to protect us.
SEPTIC BLADDER and his cohorts are are vile corrupt,lilly livered toadies and should be ignored and we should do what is right and honour the fallen the way we see fit. :angry:
If I had been born 30 years earlier, I am sure I would have recognised that Pacifism was no answer to Nazism, but in 1951, somebody came up with the idea that if we traded with each other on equal terms, we could avoid wars. A few years later, came the Common Market.
Since then we have enjoyed enjoyed peace and prosperity in Europe. So put simply, I am a Pacifist because I think the Common market has shown that there is another way. Of course in the meantime, those who have failed to accept this means that we still need people like Gazzayid, because as Theodore Roosevelt said, “Talk softly, but carry a big stick”.
Meant to say “Yiddogaz” and not Gazzayid.
Apologies to both.
a lot of twisted knickers in here…calm down lads, the essential argument is, what is the difference between teams playing with black armbands or Barca having unicef on their shirts or England wearing poppies? I would go ahead and wear it and then let the lawyers feast on the FIFA reaction..if there even is one..
Pity we won’t have the balls
I would love to see a player or players pin their own poppy on in memory of the fallen.I would hope that if trout chops were ENGERLUND manager he would tell the team to wear them but an Italian would never.
Much as I can’t disagree with what is being said, I think that FIFA would tell the ref to abandon the game rather than face the issue.
that would be a nice gesture and a proud moment to have the game abandoned in their honour..
The tommies played the germans on christmas day on the frontline once.Then went back to war the next day.there is something about football that is deeper than we realize.
Would it not be a better idea to boycott the match entirely? Don’t even watch it on TV.
We should wear the red shirts in honour