If you don’t know, the flower is to commemorate the fallen soldiers In WW1 and posterior wars that the uk took part in: “In the U.K., the Royal British Legion distributes around 45 million poppies each year, with members of the public making donations in exchange for the flowers that can be pinned on clothes or on wreaths laid at the graves of the war dead. These days, poppies commemorate not only those who died in WWI, but also in WWII and later conflicts.” according to Time Magazine. As an Argentinian, with all the history with the Malvinas war I don’t like that players like Julian Álvarez have to wear it. I can’t even imagine to people from countries that suffered for more time because of the British empire. I’ve heard that some Irish players refused to wear it but in my opinion non British players shouldn’t be encouraged to wear it. I find it ridiculous that players from countries that suffered because of the UK and where repressed by their army weat the symbol. what do you think?
To honour our fallen soldiers I respect the symbol but understand with some people who might not feel they want to wear it.
Why does it matter what fans outside of the UK think? It just screams another case of people trying to look for a reason to remove culture from a product
Most of the teams have foreign owners, most of the players in PL are foreigners, the PL got the most of the money from abroad, the referees are getting paid in Qatar and Saudi Arabia, so at the moment its USA and Arab owned league
And? If you are so against British culture. Move all the foreign investment to Saudi Arabia or somewhere where you have nothing to moan about
You don’t sit there moaning at other leagues to eradicate their countries culture because “foreigners”
Can you imagine if a foreign player chose to play in another country and league (doesn’t matter which sport) and then chose to reject the respect that country wants to show to its dead war heroes?
Why is the Britain held to such a different standard than any other country? “Because the British Empire etc etc 😴”
As if no other country colonised or went to war. It was just the British.
I have more important things in life to care about
German here, I think it’s a fitting symbol to remember the fallen soldiers, given it comes from the song “In Flanders Fields” where brutal fighting took place
they fought valiantly in some of the worst conditions imaginable - actually I don’t even think it’s imaginable but whatever.
also, WTF, the Falklands war was started by the argentinian military junta. yes, their soldiers suffered as well, but that war should have never been fought.
World War I was not a colonial war. it was sadly unavoidable given the direction Europe took in that time, but 90% of it was fought in Europe. World War II was fought to stop Nazi aggression. I think nobody should have anything against that.
this is not about Britain oppressing other countries
I’m a firm believer that if you don’t want to wear it, then don’t. But I believe if you come to a country you should abide by its traditions and cultural norms, much like covering skin if you visit a mosque somewhere in the East. If you don’t want to be forced to wear a poppy you are free to leave the country of course.
And it’s the Falklands. We won, call it that.
I’m from London and have relatives who died defending Europe, they died in a foreign country. Remembering the sacrifice these people made is part of our heritage and wearing a poppy and observing a moment of silence is how we remember that sacrifice.
In the U.S they overtly celebrate their military through sports, I think it’s over the top but it’s not my place to judge or criticize.
Sadly today everyone feels the need to be outraged about everything
I don’t mean to sound like a conspiracy theorist, but in American sports the military actually pays money to the leagues to sponsor things like the military style uniforms and the military messages on the field to honor troops. They advertise volunteering for the military during sports because the US military is all volunteers and they have a large male audience and they’re trying to create some correlation between the “brotherhood” of playing team sports to being in the military.
I was admiring the other day how Britain remembered their fallen. Keep it going.
Honestly, I don’t see the issue.
It honors all fallen soldiers, not just the British. Even if it did honor just the British, there would be no issue because at the end of the day it’s a British league, no foreign players are forced to play in England, if they have an issue with it, that’s their personal problem that they need to grow up from.
Personally I feel like these days (Veterans Day as well) are just subtle war propaganda. They send hundreds of young poor kids to their deaths in places like Iraq & wave away their complicity with a day of pointless gestures. But you do you, I’d have no problems wearing it.
A symbolic action that achieves nothing…idk seems like virtue signaling to me, no?
It directly raises money for charity, I’m sure there is money changing hands when teams wear them, just like every other poppy themed thing is a charitable act.
So whether or not you agree with it, it is not just symbolic.
Our world would be much better off with less glorification of war, militarism, and violence. Especially glorification of such a useless and barbaric war as WWI.
Do words ‘Lest We Forget’ mean nothing to you?
Until they explained it, I was thinking “why is everyone wearing bullet holes?”
Thought it was two ass cheeks gripped open, myself.
I find the decision to change to symbol to include all the soldiers who died in conflicts until this day too much. That stopped people like Matic from wearing it. WWI and WWII are legit for the sacrifices these men took where it was clear what is right and what is wrong. Majority of post wwII conflict had a lot of politics behind and were usually out of someone’s interest. Premier league has the most international players in the world and a lot of them are comming from countries that suffered due to UK’s actions. On the other side, people like Alvarez are probably too young to have any emotions about what happend
I am a British fan, but I’m going to put my opinion on the table anyway.
Personally, I disagree with the Irish interpretation, and many of the others that are critical of the Poppy symbol, but what I feel that it represents is exactly the reason why requesting to not have a poppy on their shirt should be completely acceptable.
Whether that is because they hold the belief of many Irish as to what it represents, an Argentinian who mourns the loss of their servicemen in the Falklands, or something similar to Matic a few years ago… it’s a personal decision and part of the freedom that so many died to protect. It makes no sense to me that the Poppy is weaponized against people who use their freedom of expression to peacefully dissent from the mainstream expectation.
I don’t wear a poppy, because im not big into symbolism. I much prefer words, thoughts, and discussion.
That said, I’m not convinced that on a global platform you can openly suggest that the British have oppressed the Argentinians without challenge. The British have a lot of shame in our history, but really don’t think you can just tag on an entirely justified conflict and let is slide under the radar as simply accepted.