A footballing controversy

When I say football I mean association football not American football - just to stop this getting confusing!

So, I was reading my favourite football magazine online when I came across this article I had missed this, being out of the general loop of endless footballing news stories in the UK.

Some of you may have seen that I've been wearing a poppy throughout November. We wear these in the UK as a symbol of remembrance for those who have died in wars (chiefly the first and second world wars but I'll come back to that). You see these on the majority of people in the first few weeks of November until Remembrance day (which is the same day as Veterans day) and there is usually some kind of furore because someone in the public eye chooses not to wear one.

The poppy is now also seen as a symbol of support of British troops in current conflicts. This is something that some people are quite uncomfortable with as these soldiers are not conscripted, as those who fought in the First and Second World War were. (I won't get into my rant about how poverty and lack of hope are like modern day conscription because it is off the point).

The footballer in the article, James McClean grew up on the housing estate in Derry, Northern Ireland where Bloody Sunday happened in 1972. (The article is actually inaccurate on this as 13 people died and I think 26 were shot.) This was an incident where British soldiers fired at unarmed protesters at the height of the 'troubles' - which is our polite euphemism for civil war.

McClean's view of the British army is obviously going to be somewhat different to the view of an English person, even though this event occurred long before he was born, and as the article says, he has every right to choose not to wear something that he sees as a symbol of oppression. It is interesting how vitriolic people have become at what they see as him being disrespectful to those who serve in the armed forces, without giving his personal beliefs any consideration at all.

I think this shows the importance of showing as many facets of history as possible, especially when it comes to events that incite strong feelings. It is easy for different perspectives to get lost if one reading of an event is the accepted orthodoxy.

I feel strongly about wearing the poppy, which is why I got one sent all this way, because my great-grandad ended up mentally ill after spending four years in various trenches in northern France, and I think people who came back without physical injuries are often forgotten about. I still applaud James McClean for being brave enough to stand up for his own beliefs, though, even though he knew there would be a backlash.