McClean refuses to wear poppy

Vurnon San Benito

McClean getting a lot of stick on my Twitter timeline for not wearing the poppy.
Personally I don't see anything wrong with what he did, but I'm sure it's not the last we'll hear of it.

Your thoughts folks?

Well in his rights IMO.

Red Crow

He's dead right too.

The only issue I'd have with wearing one is the expectation to. It's amazing watching British TV this time of year to see the uniformity of opinion on the topic, everyone agrees with wearing one.

General Relativity

Lost respect for him after the twitter stuff, has gained it all back and then some after this.

ShooterSF

If people are forced to wear it then it no longer carries a message. You can't say someone supports something when you make them wear it. It's crazy enough that so many non-English players support the cause as is they should be delighted with the level of support.

G.K.

If he doesn't feel he should, then by all means he shouldn't. Almost all of you here are Irish, not British. You aren't an extension of us, you are your own people, so you shouldn't need to conform to our customs. It is sad to see but unsurprising to see the short shrift he gets from some quarters in the UK. I as a Brit proudly wear a poppy for the symbolism of rememberance but don't doubt that I understand why McClean wouldn't, when one considers everything that happened in Derry.

RasTa

Bank holiday over here in Canada for it, should be the same in Ireland(just for the day off work)

G.K.

Oh, also, be careful when posting in here. This exactly the type of thread that could inflame some people and cause an argument. Make sure your discussion falls within the charter.

Fight_Night

If he doesn't want to then more power to him, the expectation is very unfair.

Madam

It does show a strength of character though - the pressure to wear one in England especially is immense.

niallo27

Part of me feels he is only doing it for the attention, he seems to love it, I may be wrong though.

Oat23

Coillte_Bhoy

niallo27 wrote: »

Part of me feels he is only doing it for the attention, he seems to love it, I may be wrong though.

What exactly informs this 'feeling'? Give the lad some credit.

ShooterSF

niallo27 wrote: »

Part of me feels he is only doing it for the attention, he seems to love it, I may be wrong though.

I don't think so given his birth place but if it is then I think it might also be a good thing. It might show up the point that people shouldn't be under pressure to how support for a cause they don't support. Freedom of thought and expression and all that.

Turtyturd

Coillte_Bhoy wrote: »

What exactly informs this 'feeling'? Give the lad some credit.

Have you been living under a rock?

Rascasse

ShooterSF wrote: »

I don't think so given his birth place but if it is then I think it might also be a good thing. It might show up the point that people shouldn't be under pressure to how support for a cause they don't support. Freedom of thought and expression and all that.

He's not under any pressure to support the cause. The poppys are on the jerseys as the Premier League support the cause and have done for years. Can't imagine its a big deal asking the kit man for one without.

Mr.Nice Guy

I will say that I share the sentiments of annoyance over the expectation that people should uniformly wear it as a mark of respect. After all, one doesn't need to wear the flower to show respect to the war dead. You can clearly see organisations like BBC and ITV are extremely keen on guests wearing them because they don't want some crank at home to make a complaint about not seeing one on a presenter or interviewee (always been baffled that there are people like this out there)

I don't wear the poppy (not even sure if they sell them over here?) but I DO take the time to remember the dead of the two world wars and don't need to prove myself by wearing something.

Having said all that though, these poppies are actually sewn on the shirts themselves so it seems to me rather an extreme move to actually make it clear you do not wish to wear one. It's a rather strong statement and a quite confrontational stance. I just hope he's thought this one through and had a word with O'Neill before he made this call.

Coillte_Bhoy

Turtyturd wrote: »

Have you been living under a rock?

from the Creggan for god's sake. it would be perfectly understandable why he would not wear one.

Pj!

I can see this thread running and running which is quite a shame.

Turtyturd

Coillte_Bhoy wrote: »

from the Creggan for god's sake. it would be perfectly understandable why he would not wear one.

It is understandable, I agree with the choice, but it's perfectly understandable for someone else to think there could be an attempt by him to garner some attention out of this given his history.

Wonder if he will wear an easter lily in a couple of months.:pac:

Coillte_Bhoy

Turtyturd wrote: »

It is understandable, I agree with the choice, but it's perfectly understandable for someone else to think there could be an attempt by him to garner some attention out of this given his history.

Wonder if he will wear an easter lily in a couple of months.:pac:

Re his history i dont really think he's been all that attention seeking tbh, more innocent and gullible than anything.

ShooterSF

Rascasse wrote: »

He's not under any pressure to support the cause. The poppys are on the jerseys as the Premier League support the cause and have done for years. Can't imagine its a big deal asking the kit man for one without.

If there was no expectation on him to wear it then there'd be no reaction to him not wearing one. People have acted as if it were an insult because he doesn't share their cause. I think in a perfect world no one would care if he chose to not wear one. I'm sure there's Irish people out there giving out about Irish players choosing to wear one btw and those people are just as bad.

CSF

Ah I think he should have the choice. He might have saved himself that bit of trouble by just going along with it though.

Vurnon San Benito

CSF wrote: »

Ah I think he should have the choice. He might have saved himself that bit of trouble by just going along with it though.

Not back in Derry he wouldn't!

Turtyturd

CSF wrote: »

Ah I think he should have the choice. He might have saved himself that bit of trouble by just going along with it though.

I agree, Black people would have saved themselves a bit of trouble by going along with slavery too.:rolleyes:

Rascasse

ShooterSF wrote: »

If there was no expectation on him to wear it then there'd be no reaction to him not wearing one. People have acted as if it were an insult because he doesn't share their cause. I think in a perfect world no one would care if he chose to not wear one. I'm sure there's Irish people out there giving out about Irish players choosing to wear one btw and those people are just as bad.

Some people are morons and football has more than its fair share, especially on twitter.

Will be interesting to see if the shirt still gets auctioned. Not that it would make much anyway.

CSF

Turtyturd wrote: »

I agree, Black people would have saved themselves a bit of trouble by going along with slavery too.:rolleyes:

Not an accurate comparison and fairly stupid to boot.

A more accurate comparison would be asking the ancestors of slaves to commemorate some event which killed lots of white soldiers, some of whose ancestors may have had slaves.

ShooterSF

Rascasse wrote: »

Some people are morons and football has more than its fair share, especially on twitter.

Indeed and if we lay the blame on people that attack someone for their choice then that's perfect. As it should be. It's the he should have just played along camp I take issue with. Neither the supporters or non of a cause should see that as a positive as it just dilutes the actions of those that truly support it.

markesmith

Oatesy23 wrote: »

I see enough f*cks to hunt down this pic and then post it on the thread

Coillte_Bhoy

ShooterSF wrote: »

If there was no expectation on him to wear it then there'd be no reaction to him not wearing one. People have acted as if it were an insult because he doesn't share their cause. I think in a perfect world no one would care if he chose to not wear one. I'm sure there's Irish people out there giving out about Irish players choosing to wear one btw and those people are just as bad.

Agreed.

greendom

Madam wrote: »

It does show a strength of character though - the pressure to wear one in England especially is immense.

Absolutely - Dara O'Briain proudly announced that he wouldn't be wearing one when it coincided with a run of "You've Been Fired". When the episode was shown in rememberence week,, guess what was attached to his lapel. No, not a shamrock !
'

Rascasse

ShooterSF wrote: »

Indeed and if we lay the blame on people that attack someone for their choice then that's perfect. As it should be. It's the he should have just played along camp I take issue with. Neither the supporters or non of a cause should see that as a positive as it just dilutes the actions of those that truly support it.

It's worth remembering that its a premier league fundraising thing, nothing to do with the clubs or players so wearing it doesn't mean supporting it. But like I said, I'm sure asking the kit man for one without wasn't a problem. Can't imagine any of the Argentinian players wearing it either.

greendom wrote: »

Absolutely - Dara O'Briain proudly announced that he wouldn't be wearing one when it coincided with a run of "You've Been Fired". When the episode was shown in rememberence week,, guess what was attached to his lapel. No, not a shamrock !
'

Nonsense. Apprentice is always on in the spring. He also has a new show on now (Science Club - its very good) and he wasn't wearing it. Not that this has anything to do with football.

Leiva

Hello teacup meet storm.

TheBuilder

There is no pressure on everyone in Britain to wear one, that's a fallacy.

In saying that, McLean comes across as nothing but an attention seeker, and this does nothing to help his cause. He's a 'hero' to Irish people now according to many Facebook pages.

SantryRed

TheBuilder wrote: »

There is no pressure on everyone in Britain to wear one, that's a fallacy.

In saying that, McLean comes across as nothing but an attention seeker, and this does nothing to help his cause. He's a 'hero' to Irish people now according to many Facebook pages.

There is clearly a pressure. Check out the dogs abuse he's getting on Twitter now too. Fancy he'll get wrongly booed in his next game now.

greendom

Rascasse wrote: »

It's worth remembering that its a premier league fundraising thing, nothing to do with the clubs or players so wearing it doesn't mean supporting it. But like I said, I'm sure asking the kit man for one without wasn't a problem. Can't imagine any of the Argentinian players wearing it either.



Nonsense. Apprentice is always on in the spring. He also has a new show on now (Science Club - its very good) and he wasn't wearing it. Not that this has anything to do with football.

It's not nonsense - he was being interviewed on RTE Radio when he said he wouldn't wear one so I watched the show with interest when it was broadcast and was very surprised to see him wearing one.

And the point I was making was to the enormous pressure people are put under to wear one. perhaps he's a considerably bigger celebrity now than he was back then and doesn't feel the pressure to conform so much

galait

Dont know if mentioned but Keith Wood and Brian O'Driscoll were sitting side by side in the BBC Studio for the Ireland/SA game , Wood the muppet had a poppy whereas BOD did not ,

TheBuilder

SantryRed wrote: »

There is clearly a pressure. Check out the dogs abuse he's getting on Twitter now too. Fancy he'll get wrongly booed in his next game now.

Come on, you've seen the numpties that use twitter, they're just the people on the opposite side of the scale trying to make a point.

The majority put no pressure on anyone.

cameramonkey

TheBuilder wrote: »

There is no pressure on everyone in Britain to wear one, that's a fallacy.

In saying that, McLean comes across as nothing but an attention seeker, and this does nothing to help his cause. He's a 'hero' to Irish people now according to many Facebook pages.

http://www.independent.co.uk/voices/editorials/leading-article-poppywearing-should-be-a-matter-of-choice-not-pressure-6260201.html

http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/blog/2010/nov/05/michael-white-poppy-white-feather

Of course there is. I was in London last week and maybe 1 out of 40 in the streets was wearing one. On TV everyone seems to be wearing one, is this just because those that work in TV are unusually patriotic or are they instructed to wear one?

Cienciano

galait wrote: »

Dont know if mentioned but Keith Wood and Brian O'Driscoll were sitting side by side in the BBC Studio for the Ireland/SA game , Wood the muppet had a poppy whereas BOD did not ,

Calling Keith Wood a muppet for wearing one is as bad as the poppy police giving out about McClean.

cameramonkey

galait wrote: »

Dont know if mentioned but Keith Wood and Brian O'Driscoll were sitting side by side in the BBC Studio for the Ireland/SA game , Wood the muppet had a poppy whereas BOD did not ,

Neither did Kearney. I wonder does Woods wander around Dublin with one or do the BBC crew give him his poppy?

TheBuilder

It's not about being more patriotic, the majority of British people are extremely proud of the efforts of their armed forces, particularly those in the world war, that is why they wear it, not due to pressure.

Witcher

TheBuilder wrote: »

There is no pressure on everyone in Britain to wear one, that's a fallacy.

It's pure and utter emotional blackmail..look at the ads for it;







I read an article on either the Guardian's or the Telegraph's website where the journalist outlined the social stigma of not wearing one. They made a good point that it's not even about the servicemen anymore..it's lost whatever meaning it had now, most people just wear it to conform and avoid trouble from loudmouths who will castigate people in public or in the workplace for not wearing one.

galait

Cienciano wrote: »

Calling Keith Wood a muppet for wearing one is as bad as the poppy police giving out about McClean.

If he was working for Newstalk/RTE at the game would he be wearing one ??

He is a long serving BBC analyst so maybe his contract means he has to toe the line where BOD/Kearney were doing the gig on the BBC as a once off so no pressure to toe the BBC line

Dozen Wicked Words

TheBuilder wrote: »

It's not about being more patriotic, the majority of British people are extremely proud of the efforts of their armed forces, particularly those in the world war, that is why they wear it, not due to pressure.

This is all straying off topic and heading toward the massive AH thread already trundling along there, but there definitely is pressure for those in the public eye to tow the line and wear a poppy. I say this as an Englishman who wears a poppy when I am in the UK. Complete denial to suggest otherwise.

cameramonkey

TheBuilder wrote: »

It's not about being more patriotic, the majority of British people are extremely proud of the efforts of their armed forces, particularly those in the world war, that is why they wear it, not due to pressure.

If there is no pressure why are there so many to be seen on TV but so few on the streets in comparison?

TheBuilder

cameramonkey wrote: »

If there is no pressure why are there so many to be seen on TV but so few on the streets in comparison?

So few on the streets? I disagree, I live in Glasgow and the vast majority wear them, hundreds of people pass through my work everyday, the majority wearing one.

TheBuilder

dooferoaks wrote: »

This is all straying off topic and heading toward the massive AH thread already trundling along there, but there definitely is pressure for those in the public eye to tow the line and wear a poppy. I say this as an Englishman who wears a poppy when I am in the UK. Complete denial to suggest otherwise.

You're right it is straying, at the end of the day it's McClean's choice, it doesn't make him a hero or a bad guy.

cameramonkey

TheBuilder wrote: »

So few on the streets? I disagree, I live in Glasgow and the vast majority wear them, hundreds of people pass through my work everyday, the majority wearing one.

I find that hard to believe.I was in London on Thursday and the vast majority were not wearing them. Maybe you work in barracks.

TheBuilder

cameramonkey wrote: »

I find that hard to believe.I was in London on Thursday and the vast majority were not wearing them. Maybe you work in barracks.

Lol, no I don't.

fionnsda

TheBuilder wrote: »

So few on the streets? I disagree, I live in Glasgow and the vast majority wear them, hundreds of people pass through my work everyday, the majority wearing one.

i live in a unionists town in the north, the vast majority don't wear them!