To wear or not to wear?

I can’t speak for all clubs, but at my team (Tottenham) each shirt worn on the day by players and subs are put to auction so fans can bid for them and all proceeds go to the RBL (at least they have in previous years)

As for Jon Snow again, I respect him for what he says totally.

The players had poppies on the shirts today, and they were advising that there is an auction via the club website from Monday for them, all proceeds to the RBL. Given a report last week that a player was earning “only £30,000” a week, its the least football can do I should think.

The shameful thing was the silence that was to have followed the last post went badly wrong. The stadium announcer stated it was to take place quite clearly, but just as the last post finished, a person in the crown shouted a very loud term of support for the team, the ref blew the whistle and it situation normal to start the match so no silence at all which was at best “unfortunate”

To put you in the right mood, listen to this

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4WRoWPhLU2Q&feature=related

its called Il Silenzio

Baz

have a look on youtube – ‘A pittance of time’ – Terry Kelly

Thank you very much for pointing the way to that very poignant piece…all of us should see it whatever our views.

It brings back the moment last year when at 11am I was in heavy traffic in Hills Rd Cambridge, approaching the memorial there when it was time for the Armistice ceremony. At just before 11am engines in the vicinity were turned off and most motorists and lorry drivers got out and stood by their vehicles as did I. The pavements and adjacent cafes fell silent as did their staff except for one ‘man’ rabbeting endlessly on his mobile at one of the outside tables. An elderly lady, 80 is she was a day, walked up to him and politely asked this ‘man’ to show some respect, to which the reply was “do one love, eh”. The connection with ‘A pittance of time’ would be obvious to all who listen to it.

Sky High, I sincerely hope you get to Italy.

Yes. One’s opinions on the rights and wrongs of any war since 1914 in which our troops served and died, are irrelevant, in my view. I have never travelled as far as North Africa but have visited many of the WW1 and WW2 cemetries in France and Belgium, many times, and the experience never fails to move me. One day I want to see my grandfather’s grave in Italy.

have a look on youtube – ‘A pittance of time’ – Terry Kelly

I buy and wear one each year and put a vinyl poppy on the car windscreen. I think that wether or not you agree with the current use of our forces in the middle east, and personally I don’t and that’s my business, people have payed and continue to pay the ultimate price and should be remembered by all of us for that. A couple of years ago on a visit to Egypt the four of us hired a guide and minibus to visit the cemeteries at El Alamein and I emphasise the plural. We were all profoundly moved by each of them. I have always felt strongly that it is right and proper to remember that lives were, and still are, cruelly cut short on both sides. A visit to the beautifully kept cemeteries at El Alamein is a truly memorable experience that left an indelible mark on all of us that day, both for their sombre beauty and the extraordinary care and hard work by the Egyptians in keeping these places as they should be. God bless them all.

Not really thread drift but I was wondering, when the 11th falls on a day other than Sunday, as this year, is the 11th more important than the Sunday following, when many local remembrance services take place, or is the 11th still the key date for people?

Hasn’t happened yet but I usually end up with poppies placed on my wall in front of my Spitfire, normally on the day. Sometimes its the poppy on the cross, last year it was a small poppy wreath someone placed between the wheels.

Always stops me in my tracks.

Bumblebee. This teenager got into trouble for wearing a poppy.
But good on her, she has stood up to her beliefs.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-hampshire-11708637

Only the wearer knows the answer to that.

Regards,

kev35

Buying a poppy out of respect, remembrance and gratitude? Wonderful.

But is wearing a poppy a display of such remembrance, respect and gratitude, or is it posing as such?

Sadly some fans of football think differently…

Celtic aim to ban those found responsible for a giant anti-poppy banner displayed at the weekend.

The protest unveiled on Saturday read: “Your deeds would shame all the devils in Hell. Ireland, Iraq, Afghanistan. No bloodstained poppy on our Hoops.”

Celtic issued an apology for any offence caused and will launch an investigation aimed at banning the perpetrators from home games.

All 12 SPL clubs will wear poppies on their shirts next weekend.

Scottish Premier League chief executive Neil Doncaster confirmed that the governing body would also investigate the matter.

“It’s clearly regrettable that a weekend of so much excitement on the pitch has been dominated by reporting of events off the pitch,” said Doncaster in relation to the banner at Celtic Park and crowd trouble during the Edinburgh derby.

“We have invited comments from Celtic, Hibernian and Hearts on the back of the weekend’s events and are awaiting the reports of the match delegates.”

A section of Celtic fans have long campaigned against the wearing of poppies.

But Doncaster said it was now an established practice in the SPL for all clubs to wear poppies on their shirts on the weekend of Remembrance Sunday.

“We would welcome the fact that Celtic have moved quickly to apologise,” he said.

“I would also point out that all 12 of the SPL clubs will be wearing poppies on their shirts next weekend in support of Poppy Scotland for the third year in a row.”

Doncaster would not be drawn over whether the banner was a breach of stadium rules forbidding political demonstrations but added: “There have been a number of instances of inappropriate behaviour at games.

“These incidents do need to be investigated and they are going to be.”

Celtic responded to the controversy by issuing a statement which said: “The actions of this small minority have no place at Celtic Park and, clearly, we apologise for any offence caused.”

A spokesman later added: “The club is currently carrying out an investigation into this matter. When it is concluded, it is the club’s intention to ban those identified as responsible from Celtic Park.

“Celtic fans have rightly earned a magnificent reputation for their positive behaviour and backing of the club.

“It is extremely disappointing that the actions of a small minority have embarrassed Celtic and tarnished the club in this way.”

The charity Poppy Scotland described the banner, displayed during the 9-0 win over Aberdeen, as “disrespectful”.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/teams/c/celtic/9168655.stm

I wear my poppy with pride, it is never to early!:)

That’s how it should be – I hope my grandson will do the same when he is old enough to buy his own poppy.

You’re probably right.I banged it into my daughter from an early age,but then being born in 1947 I’m much nearer the war than most of her contemporaries’ Mums.
It paid off,because she buys and wears one without being reminded,but only one of her friends does the same.

That’s my feeling as well. I fear it is directly linked to the lack of history, of almost any period, let alone the last century, being taught in the average school. And the parents of those children, unless influenced by their parents or living grandparents are seemingly just as disinterested.

Always buy one and wear it,I was brought up to acnowledge the gratitude I owe to anyone who served their country and bought the freedom I enjoy with their life.
One of those freedoms is to choose whether or not to show that you’ve given to a good cause.Personally I never take a sticker if I put something in a collecting tin.It always seems to signify.” Look at me ! I give to charity ! “,but a poppy seems different somehow.For all I know,many people may give to the appeal every year but just don’t want to advertise the fact.
One thing I have noticed,and it seems the same every year,is that it’s mainly older people who wear poppies.At least that’s what it looks like round here,far fewer under-thirties,and virtually no teenagers.Has anyone else noticed that,or am I just getting even more short-sighted ?

WEAR YOUR POPPY WITH PRIDE
Nice to see some premiership football teams with poppys on the team shirts this weekend.
Hope they all made donations to RBL.
Cheers
Jeff.

I can’t speak for all clubs, but at my team (Tottenham) each shirt worn on the day by players and subs are put to auction so fans can bid for them and all proceeds go to the RBL (at least they have in previous years)

As for Jon Snow again, I respect him for what he says totally.

Just as an illustration, not that it’s needed, of the magnitude of the debt we owe…..

This is the War Memorial at Darlaston, a small industrial town in the West Midlands. Remarkably unremarkable, or so I thought, until I started to look closely at the names on the Second World War panel. There are 92 names, two of them women, remembered on this Memorial but like so many it gives just a name and an initial (in one case it gives no initial). Therefore, as is right, no one is singled out by rank. But 65 years on there is little clue to the depth and spread of the areas in which they fought and died.

A fortnight’s research has now properly identified all but twenty. I’ve never come across this before but there are people who died at Dunkirk, two sailors on separate ships who died in the same incident, a Painter from the Hood, a Stoker from Prince of Wales, a sailor who died on an LCI after dropping some of Lord Lovat’s Commandos at Sword Beach. There are soldiers and airmen who died at the fall of Singapore or in the long years of captivity which followed. A lad from the South Staffs Airborne at Arnhem. Others across North Africa and Italy, yet others in the Greek Islands. Airmen shot down over the cold waters of the North Sea or the dark and occupied continent of Europe. Soldiers, sailors and airmen who died of illness or in accidents here in the UK whilst training, others, at least one and possibly two who died in actions which earned another member of the crew the Victoria Cross.

Twelve names record those who died in Darlaston as a result of enemy action, eleven of them in one street on one night. The foundry at Rubery Owen was blazing that night but the target was missed, by a considerable distance. But the names don’t tell the horror of a wife who lost her husband and two sons or a husband who lost a wife and son.

There is, of necessity a long way to go with the research and time is no longer on my side. But slowly, sometimes almost imperceptibly, the names on the Memorial become real.

That is the debt I feel I owe, and remembrance, in all its forms, is the way that many of us here try to repay that debt. Not just in November but throughout the year.

Regards,

kev35

I agree with Moggy & kev35.

As has already been stated, too many people take the freedom that they have today for granted – We must never be allowed to forget that freedom is not free.