Tottenham and Sunderland will play each other tomorrow with a poppy emblazoned on their shirts. In fact, 18 of the Premier League’s clubs have declared that their shirts will feature a poppy in this weekend’s matches, with just Manchester United and Liverpool having so far refused to get involved.
Quite why United and the Scousers have made this decision is baffling. It’s terrible PR, but perhaps they’re so used to being paid millions to have emblems displayed on their shirts, that they’re expecting the British Legion to cough up some money.
I tend to think that there’s too many minutes silences and black armbands in football, but this is one cause that you can’t disagree with.
Only yesterday I read that 1 in 20 British school children thinks that Adolf Hitler is the former coach of the German football team. If the sight of a poppy on their favourite team’s shirt makes a few kids ask their dad what it’s all about and get to learn a bit of history, then this is a worthwhile exercise and one that should be continued.
