PEP RIBBON IS POLITICAL ... BUT SO IS THE POPPY

JERRY SADOWITZ began his short-lived television career with a question. ‘ So tonight, on the show that tackles the real issues,’ he said, ‘Jews and Nazis — so who’s right?’

martin Glenn, it seems, has been waiting for an answer to that one, given the way he crassly conflated the swastika, the Star of david and a pledge of support for Robert mugabe in his grab bag of things you really wouldn’t like to see on a lapel at a football ground near you.

Glenn (below), the chief executive of the football association, got one thing right, though: the yellow ribbon, as worn by Pep Guardiola, is most certainly a politicised symbol. his confusion showed again, however, in identifying it as therefore very different from the poppy. Glenn may continue to believe the poppy is no more than a symbol of remembrance, referring specifically to historical sacrifices of conscripted young men in two world wars, but that is not how others see it.

the Royal British legion, who produce it, say the poppy supports ‘the armed forces community, past and present’, adding ‘by wearing a poppy, you aren’t just remembering the fallen: you’re supporting a new generation of veterans and service personnel that need our support.’

and while Glenn, and many others, may also consider this a very noble cause, what is undeniable is that modern conflicts, from the Gulf to the falklands, afghanistan and even Northern Ireland, are not divorced from politics.

these are ongoing events, not recent history, these are wars fought by professional armies, not ordinary citizens who answered their country’s call.

the fa played politics with the poppy and now wish to make it something it is not. that is why they are struggling with the terminology and the frames of reference, let alone the logic of it all.