Is everyone else bloody sick of hearing about poppies, or is that just me?

I’ll admit at first I was slightly indignant upon hearing FIFA would not allow the England shirt to have a poppy on. But then, unlike the majority of people who were feeling the same way, no doubt a lot of Daily Mail readers, I looked into it. There were three main things that changed my view.

1. FIFA have not banned England from wearing poppies, it’s simply a rule that all countries, England included, must adhere to. It might seem ridiculous, but it’s FIFA so no one should really be that surprised.
2. Rory Smith, of The Independent, pointed out that in the past nine November fixtures – against Brazil, Denmark, Argentina, Holland, Germany, Austria, France, Sweden and Spain – not once has a poppy been worn on the shirt. This was expanded on by Jonathan Wilson, who added that since 1918 England have played 37 times between November 1st and November 15th, and have never worn a poppy on their shirt. It’s basically the equivalent of a child not playing with a toy, yet when someone else comes along and takes it the child starts to cry and wants nothing more than that toy.
3. As a general rule, when David Cameron shows his support for something, or declares something an “outrage”, then I immediately feel compelled to disagree with him, and start to seriously question myself if I find I’m nodding along in agreement.

So, yes, poppies may not be on the shirt, but it seems they never have been anyway. The fuss now being made is absurd. The FA has revealed TWELVE ways in which they’ll be marking Remembrance Day. They are:

• England players wearing black armbands during the Spain game on Saturday.
• A poppy wreath on the pitch during the national anthems.
• A one-minute silence before kick-off.
• Players will wear training tops with embroidered poppies before the match.
• Players will wear poppy-embossed anthem jackets during the national anthems.
• Military representatives will be in the presentation party before kick-off.
• 500 England v Spain tickets have been donated to members of the armed forces, and 1,000 tickets for the England v Sweden game on Tuesday.
• The England senior squad will train at Wembley on Friday before the Spain game and will observe the two-minute silence at 11am while wearing training tops embossed with poppies.
• Those training tops will be passed on to forces’ charities post-match as auction items.
• The poppy will be visible around Wembley on Saturday, on the scoreboards and advertising boards, and poppy sellers will be in the stadium.
• On Thursday, the England Under-21s play Iceland in Colchester and the England Under-19s play Denmark in Brighton. All players and staff will be wearing poppies pre- and post-match.
• Both the Under-21s and Under-19s will observe a one-minute silence at their games, with the Under-21s doing so alongside troops from Colchester barracks.

In my opinion, that’s enough. It’s reasonable; it’s remembering; it’s respectful. And for those thinking about the money the British Legion could be losing out on, perhaps the England squad could find a bit of spare change from their multi-figure salaries to donate. I think they’d prefer that to a poppy on a shirt.

Of course, it has now been confirmed that England can now wear poppies on black armbands. A so-called compromise.

It’s a compromise I see as rather pointless. Either play by the rules, or completely ignore them and wear poppies on the shirt. This ‘compromise’ is so typically English – one rule for everyone, so invent a new one just for us. Surely it would have been cheaper to pay a fine or donate money to the British Legion, than suffer the cost of damage to the dignity of the nation caused by the embarrassing English Defence League atop FIFA HQ and our own Prime Minister throwing his toys out of the pram.

Photo courtesy of The Royal British Legion.