Common sense has triumphed over political correctness and bureaucracy at the International Federation of Association Football (FIFA), with that much maligned body reversing its decision to ban the England football team from wearing poppies embroidered on their shirts in their friendly match against Spain tomorrow, and instead allowing them to wear a poppy on black armbands.
FIFA’s original objection was based on a rule that players’ uniforms should not bear any symbols with “political, religious or commercial” connotations. This rather narrow and insensitive interpretation of the wearing of the poppy, gave rise, understandably, to a storm of protest in the United Kingdom, involving Prime Minister David Cameron and Prince William, in his capacity as President of the English Football Association and, more personally, as a Royal Air Force officer with close ties to the British armed services, who has had friends killed in combat in Afghanistan.
Even if one does not come from the UK or a Commonwealth country such as ours, where most of us recognize the poppy as a symbol of remembrance – adopted after World War I because the blood red flower grew on the blood-soaked battlefields of Flanders, later worn in memory of the sacrifice of millions in both World Wars of the 20th century, and now acknowledged as a universal symbol to honour fallen soldiers in all conflicts – there should be no quibbling over the tradition of paying tribute to those who gave their lives in military service.
Thus, some of us in Guyana still wear the poppy with pride and gratitude. There is, however, a more practical and commendable reason for this. For, sentimentality aside, the poppy is also the symbol of the worldwide appeal to raise funds for the care of ex-servicemen and their families.
In Guyana, the modest sums raised go to the Guyana Legion, whose motto is appropriately, “Lest We Forget” and which has as one of its principal aims, “to perpetuate the memory of the gallant men and women who suffered and died for the Commonwealth of Nations.” In addition, the Legion raises funds to provide assistance to its needier members, who now include all Guyana’s military veterans, ranging from the British Guiana Militia and the British Guiana Volunteer Force to the Guyana Defence Force.
There are no survivors of the British West Indies Regiment of WWI in Guyana – indeed, the last combat veteran of that war, Claude Choules, who served in the Royal Navy, died in Australia in May this year, aged 110 – and the ranks of old soldiers who fought in WWII, as members of the South Caribbean Forces, are inevitably being decimated by the ravages of time.
Independent Guyana has, thankfully, not experienced the horrors of war. That does not mean, however, that we should belittle the contributions of our past and present servicemen and servicewomen. Those who are now aged and infirm or have fallen on hard times should not be begrudged our support, at the level of individuals, companies and the state.
On this the 11th day of the 11th month of the 11th year of the still new millennium then, as we reflect on the deeper meaning of the poppy and Remembrance Day, commemorating the Armistice signed between the Allies and Germany for the cessation of hostilities on the Western Front in Europe at 11am on the11th day of the 11th month of 1918, and as we honour the memory of those who will march no more, we should not forget those who have served our country and who are still with us and need our help.
