Its poppy day soon and the usual clamour to buy a memorial button hole starts with those who choose not to wear one being called unpatriotic or sick or somehow disrespectful of those who lost their lives. I tend to look beyond and remember those who sent them to certain death to fight, certainly in the case of the first world war, battles that had no meaning or purpose other than to satisfy the needs of an elite who rarely saw blood red unless it was in a wine glass.
On the basis of the England row, I think the authorities have a right to separate was from sport, I lost family and my Grandfather was a Burma Star veteran, but I remember it in my own way like many, I don't need to have it on England shirts and I don't think sport is the platform or it even matters if the poppy does not appear. There is absolutely nothing gained or lost other than perceptions.