Poppy row: Farce as Fifa probes Irish shirt ... 7 months too late!
FIFA was at the centre of a new farce last night as it announced a belated investigation into Irish football shirts marking the centenary of the Easter Rising The probe comes more than seven months after the kit was worn by the Republic of Ireland team in a friendly match.
It is the latest controversy for the world football governing body, which clashed with the Scotland and England FAs over the right to wear a poppy during a match on Armistice Day. While Fifa ruled the flower is a ‘political symbol’, it appeared to overlook the shirts worn by Irish players against Switzerland on March 25.
Critics accused the Zurich-based football organisation of double standards. Fifa is now considering ‘retrospective’ action against the Republic of Ireland’s Football Association for wearing the jersey – which celebrated the 1916 rising for Irish independence in which 485 lost their lives.
The game was a pre-Euro 2016 warm-up in which the Ireland team sported their traditional green shirts with the words ‘Eire Ireland 19162016’ under the international crest.
A Fifa spokesman said its disciplinary committee was ‘evaluating the matter’ even though the match was a friendly and did not come under its regulations governing clothing.
The game’s laws state that kit should not carry any ‘commercial, political or religious messages’ and Fifa warned both Scotland and England they will face sanctions if players wear poppies when they meet.
In the past, the Republic has worn sponsored shirts – bearing the names of the Three mobile phone network and car giant Opel – but only in friendlies, which does not contravene Fifa rules.
Tory MP Damian Collins, chairman of the Commons culture, media and sport committee, highlighted the issue of double standards over the Easter Rising branding.
He told BBC Radio 5: ‘I hope common sense prevails. Fifa has strict
‘Classic example of leniency’
rules banning political, religious or commercial symbols from shirts. I think it is insulting to people in this country to say a poppy is one of those sort of symbols.
‘Someone has shared with me on social media an Ireland football shirt that has a special embroidery on marking the centenary of the Easter Rising. Fifa allow that, so I think people will find it astonishing that the poppy’s not allowed.’
He added: ‘It appears to be an absolutely classic example of leniency being shown to other countries.’
The decision to allow players to mark 100 years since the battle for Irish independence caused controversy among some Unionists in Northern Ireland when it was announced by the Football Association of Ireland. The FAI declined to comment on the shirt issue.
The SFA and FA say players will defy Fifa by wearing black armbands displaying poppies when they meet for their Armistice Day World Cup qualifier on November 11. Fifa has consistently said it believes the red flower has ‘political’ connotations.
But the Royal British Legion urged Fifa ‘in the strongest terms’ to rethink its ban, saying: ‘The red poppy is a symbol of remembrance and hope for a peaceful future. It has no political, religious or commercial meaning.’
In an open letter to football chiefs, the Legion’s director general Charles Byrne added: ‘This small red flower that grew on the devastated battlefields of the First World War is a solemn reminder of the cost of war and the price of peace.’
Describing the red poppy as an ‘international symbol around the world’, he added: ‘We can see no reason why this simple symbol cannot be worn by players at international football matches should they choose to.’