FIFA Shoot Self In Foot Again

Just when FIFA appear to be dragging themselves towards a brighter, more transparent future, they have managed to offend most of the population of the United Kingdom, if not the entire Commonwealth.  The English FA would like England to wear poppies on their shirts when they play their international friendly against Spain at Wembley on Tuesday evening but have been refused permission to do so by FIFA.

For the non-Brits, it might be helpful to explain briefly the relevance of poppies and Remembrance Day.  On 11th November each year, members of the armed forces who have died in the line of duty since the end of the First World War are remembered.  On that day in 1918, at the 11th hour (11.00 am), the Armistice signalling the end of the war was signed.  The connection with poppies was a poem written by a Canadian Lieutenant Colonel called John McCrae in 1915 which described the many poppies which grew on the battlefields of Flanders over the buried bodies of the dead. The first two lines of “In Flanders Fields” are as follows:

“In Flanders fields the poppies blow, Between the crosses row on row“

The poem appeared in Punch Magazine at a later date and gradually the poppy became a symbol of Remembrance Day.  The Royal British Legion, an organisation for ex-serviceman, now organises the charitable sale of replica (and real) poppies each year and proceeds go to ex-forces charities.

FIFA’S Reasons

With regards to the national sport, each year domestic teams incorporate the poppy into the shirt somehow on the nearest match day to the 11th November and this is what the England team and the Football Association wanted to do for the Spain friendly.  So why doesn’t FIFA want this show of respect on display for a friendly match?  They do have regulations regarding “political, religious or commercial messages” but the poppy appears to be none of those things.  More likely is their concern that allowing England to wear a poppy will open the door for each one of the 207 other member organisations to adorn their shirts with similarly important logos or motifs.

A Previous England Shirt

Is this really such a problem though?  What’s wrong with wearing a design that is clearly a charitable emblem?  FIFA’s slavish obedience to it’s big sponsors may be behind some of the refusal but would Coke or Adidas really mind?  A couple of the crappier British newspapers have suggested that other nations could be offended but we can surely give the Germans more credit than that.

This doesn’t seem to be an anti-England thing, as much as FIFA clearly want revenge for the largely British press forcing them to come to terms with their internal corruption and increasingly ludicrous attempts to organise World Cup hosting ballots.  It just seems to be a silly blanket rule which affects everyone and also has been incorrectly applied.

Perhaps England should just wear the poppies anyway, they’re certainly going to observe a minutes silence before the match.  If the Football Association hadn’t asked FIFA beforehand. maybe this would have all gone unnoticed anyway.  Enjoy a reading of the poem below: