Fifa[Wednesday, November 09, 2011]
The England team intend to display poppies on their tracksuit jackets and wear black armbands at Wembley on Saturday following Fifa’s controversial refusal to allow poppies on their playing shirts.
Tributes: England will wear a poppy on their tracksuits and wear black armbands when they face Spain on Saturday Photo: PA
A “final” statement was issued by Fifa on Tuesday afternoon which rejected written requests from both the Football Association and the Government for players to wear poppies during the friendly against Spain.
The decision has prompted considerable anger, with 1966 World Cup winner George Cohen urging the players to defy Fifa and still wear the poppies.
“As an Englishman, I would like our guys to wear it,” Cohen told Telegraph Sport. “It is one of our traditions. I don’t see the harm at all. I’m all for wearing them on Saturday and putting two fingers up to Fifa.”
Cohen’s frustration appears to be shared by many of England players. Rio Ferdinand, the vice-captain, on Tuesday went on Twitter to ask why Fifa was not allowing poppies to be worn.
Jack Wilshere, the Arsenal midfielder, was even more forthright. “England team should wear poppies on Saturday,” he tweeted. “It’s the nation’s tradition and it would be disrespectful not to. My Great Granddad fought for this country in WW2 and I’m sure a lot of people’s grandparents did, so wear the poppy.”
The FA, however, is acutely aware of Law 4 of Fifa’s Laws of the Game, which would allow referee Frank de Bleeckere to instruct any player to leave the field if they contravene rules regarding their kit. With all 90,000 tickets sold for England’s most prestigious home friendly in recent memory, the FA feels it cannot risk De Bleeckere refusing to start the game.
Instead, plans are being made to make a series of other tributes and gestures for Remembrance Sunday. The players will have poppies on their training kits in the build-up to the match and they intend to have poppies on their outer tracksuit jackets, which will be worn during the national anthem on Saturday.
There will also be a pre-match period of silence, with the players intending to wear black armbands over their shirts during the game as a further mark of respect.
The Welsh and Scottish FA will make similar gestures before their respective matches. The Wales players will warm-up in T-shirts with poppies before facing Norway on Saturday, while Scotland will wear tracksuit jackets with poppies for the national anthems ahead of Friday’s match against Cyprus.
Fifa defended its position yesterday in a letter to the FA, which said: “We regret to inform you that accepting such initiatives would open the door to similar initiatives from all over the world, jeopardising the neutrality of football. Therefore, we confirm that the suggested embroidery on the match shirt cannot be authorised.”
The relevant Fifa statute says that, “the basic compulsory equipment must not have political, religious or personal statements”. Privately, Fifa accepts that the poppy is non-political and inoffensive. Its argument, however, is that it must oversee the rules for all 208 member countries and that allowing England to wear poppies would set a precedent.
Fifa would then fear getting drawn into judgments regarding whether other countries can commemorate those who served in conflicts or wars with symbols that could be considered more provocative or controversial. Fifa believes that would be inappropriate. It also hoped that a compromise had been reached with the FA by allowing the pre-match period of silence.
The FA regards its latest letter, written by chief executive Alex Horne, as its final representation and it is now minded to accept Fifa’s position.
Sports minister Hugh Robertson, however, did write to Fifa on Tuesday and is ready to support the FA if it wishes to take the matter further.
Robertson is adamant that wearing poppies would not break Fifa rules. “I very much hope that having had a letter from me, as the sports minister of this country, that Fifa will reconsider this decision because I simply believe they have got this wrong,” he said. “Wearing a poppy is not commercial, not political and not religious. If the FA wishes to take this further, it will have my full support.
“It is a national act of remembrance. I saw active service in Northern Ireland, during the Gulf War and Bosnia. I know how important Remembrance Sunday is to servicemen and women, to their families and to those connected to the services and indeed to the wider country.”
Fifa is aware that Robertson has sent a letter but, according to sources, there is no prospect of a change of position.
Sydney Time
20:07
pranavikha
This Friday, the battle for places at the 2014 FIFA World Cup Brazil™ steps up another notch when Africa becomes the fourth confederation to embark on qualifying. In Asia, and in North and Central America and the Caribbean, some of the early hopefuls are already out of the running, but the African nations go into battle for the first time this week. 
