If you managed to catch the friendly between England and Spain recently, you might notice there is a red poppy on every England’s player. Initially I am not aware of what’s going on with a flower on a sportsman, but after a research and a chat with one of my English friends, I came to realize the significance of this red poppy in November, 11 November to be exact, the Remembrance Day.
The red poppy was probably the talk of the day when England took on Spain. It (red poppy) was spotted on every single black armband worn. Initially, FIFA was against the idea of allowing the English to put up red poppy for the game as they were reticent to involve politics in the beautiful game. Probably pressure from the Royal family worked, small red poppies filled the pitch where England outclassed Spain 1-0.
Even Steven Gerrald was not much of a Remembrance Day’s follower, not until he attended his daughter’s school assembly. And when you think this was the end of the red poppy story, Nike had another idea of displaying their support for the red poppy without offending the world futbol governing body – small red poppies were embroiled on Nike endorsed players’ boots! Well, I thought that was indeed an incredible idea which uniquely showcase how art & fashion could blend into modern futbol! Apparently those boots of the game would be auctioned off for charity after the game.
Imagine this red-poppy-filled friendly game was approved, what could possibly follow next? A China-Japan game to commemorate World War II? A Vietnam-United States game to commemorate Vietnam War? Sound scary isn’t it. Definitely we do not wish to bring the beautiful game into a politic war game. For all genuine futbol fans out there, let’s accept history as something which happened way before our time. We can’t change the fear and tears but we can change the future. It’s after all, the same passion for the beautiful game, right!
14 thoughts on “Red Poppy”