The Gooner Forum

Magic Hat wrote:I don't see what Man U did wrong there. The poppy football-shirt tradition is only in what, it's second or third season and at first nearly nobody wore it. If Man U decide to support armed forces charities by ways they feel is more constructive then fair enough, better that and not wear a shirt rather then wearing a shirt and doing nothing rest of the year.

I think the poppy tradition is a great one but that is getting abused of late by people wanting to show they care the most or people simply wearing it to avoid a backlash.

Magic has a point - The corporatisation of this tradition leaves me cold. I want people to wear one becauset they conciously think of it, not because it is a company directive.

At the risk of being slaughtered on here but I cannot understand why Irish people wear the poppy As a country we have never gotten involved in a war like that (god forbid our army had to actually fight anybody ) and while there were Irish in the allied forces I am led to believe that they were not their by choice Poppy day is not celebrated over here anyway so why do our celebs feel the need to wear them over there cos it aint as if we would expect that many british people living over here to go around wearing shamrock or badges on paddys day. Anyway it is just a question

there are plenty of monuments over here to the thousands of irish killed in both wars augie, as for not having a choice i disagree, there were plenty of irish enlisted in the british army to fight the nazis and even more so in the first world war,

fair enough. Could never understand it myself and as galasso suggests I would believe that they wear it more out of fear of backlash and compant directives than out of any allegiance to those that died

I think there is also an acknowledgement factor here augie. Had the allies not defeated the hun then do you think Ireland would have been left to it's own devices? In time the nazis would have been there too.
It is not so much about remembering those of your own nationality. It is more about remembering those that gave the ultimate sacrifice so that you can live in the free society that you do today.
Many of those people were non-English and when I wear my poppy I do so to thank them all, wherever they came from.

SPUDMASHER wrote:I think there is also an acknowledgement factor here augie. Had the allies not defeated the hun then do you think Ireland would have been left to it's own devices? In time the nazis would have been there too.
It is not so much about remembering those of your own nationality. It is more about remembering those that gave the ultimate sacrifice so that you can live in the free society that you do today.Many of those people were non-English and when I wear my poppy I do so to thank them all, wherever they came from.

As I said spuddy my question was borne out of ignorance rather than any xenaphobia/nationality issues cos it is not celebrated or recognised over here to my knowledge at least. Anyway I dont know so much about your free society comment cos around here anytime a person says anything even slightly negative some *word censored* or another comes on with the vic meldrew jibes in an effort to silence the dissenting voice

SPUDMASHER wrote:I think there is also an acknowledgement factor here augie. Had the allies not defeated the hun then do you think Ireland would have been left to it's own devices? In time the nazis would have been there too.
It is not so much about remembering those of your own nationality. It is more about remembering those that gave the ultimate sacrifice so that you can live in the free society that you do today.
Many of those people were non-English and when I wear my poppy I do so to thank them all, wherever they came from.

Very nicely put.

augie wrote:

SPUDMASHER wrote:I think there is also an acknowledgement factor here augie. Had the allies not defeated the hun then do you think Ireland would have been left to it's own devices? In time the nazis would have been there too.
It is not so much about remembering those of your own nationality. It is more about remembering those that gave the ultimate sacrifice so that you can live in the free society that you do today.Many of those people were non-English and when I wear my poppy I do so to thank them all, wherever they came from.

As I said spuddy my question was borne out of ignorance rather than any xenaphobia/nationality issues cos it is not celebrated or recognised over here to my knowledge at least. Anyway I dont know so much about your free society comment cos around here anytime a person says anything even slightly negative some c**t or another comes on with the vic meldrew jibes in an effort to silence the dissenting voice

During the first world war thousands of irish signed up to fight - mainly because of a poverty and a lack of job opportunities in Ireland. Then the rebellion and eventual civil war broke out and as a result there is a lot of bad blood with regards to this point in Irish history. I believe in Dublin there is always some sort of act of remembrance.