Fifa and the football associations of England and Scotland have gotten into a scrap about whether it is legal or not – according to FIFA rules – to wear a poppy on their kits when they play against each other on Armistice day.
Fifa have banned the poppy and the football associations of England and Scotland have said that they would defy Fifa and allow their players to wear black armbands with red poppy emblems for the match.
Wenger says Fifa is wrong..
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Other opinions on this farcical conflict of opinions range between outrage,cynicism and other miscellaneous expressions of dismay,disgust and despair.
John McCrae’s beautiful poem on the tragic loss of life in World War 1 that the poppies are supposed to remind us about is worth reading again – to remind us of how far we have drifted from what’s really important,and what’s worth fighting and dying for.
In Flanders fields the poppies blow
Between the crosses, row on row,
That mark our place; and in the sky
The larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.
We are the Dead. Short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved and were loved, and now we lie
In Flanders fields.
Take up our quarrel with the foe:
To you from failing hands we throw
The torch; be yours to hold it high.
If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
In Flanders fields.