O'Neill's Critique of the Commercialization of Poppy Celebrations

Martin O’Neill has gone against the grain by broadcasting the objections that many have to the ever growing Poppy celebrations that took place across football last season.

Genuinely, no one is better qualified than the former Celtic manager to comment on the complications that have accompanied the commercialisation and political capital that is now made of what until the turn of the century was a respected period of Remembrance for those from a variety of backgrounds who had their lives ended or blighted by the brutality of two World Wars.

Young men from all sorts of backgrounds volunteered for service, many others were conscripted with the horrors of war running deep into families for generations.

O’Neill ticks almost every box imaginable to discuss the commercialisation of what used to be Remembrance Sunday, an issue staged at War Memorials across England, Scotland, Ireland and Wales.

The 72-year-old captained the north of Ireland team at the 1982 World Cup Finals, managed Ireland at the 2016 European Championships and has been awarded both the CBE and OBE.

Managing Celtic for five years put him in the front line with some bizarre media questioning with a lifetime spent in Ireland, England and Scotland.

The annual festivities, celebrations and predictable outrage over the independent thoughts and actions of many Celtic fans have now been tucked away for another year.

From Kelvin McKenzie, Piers Morgan and Jim White to other extremists their paid-for outrage can be put back in the box then dusted down and brought out again next November, as predictable as their Christmas decorations.

TalkSPORT tends to provide a rallying point for those keen to be outraged, listening to O’Neill on that radio station, The Herald reports:

Asked if the fans should have remained quiet, he told TALKsport: “Yes, they should. If it’s a minute’s silence, it’s a minute’s silence.

He added: “You should have respect for the moment… yes, just being silent. And I would go with that. But in terms of the wearing of the poppy, in terms of all of those particular things during it, there is that historical point.

“Derek McInnes might have a point because I think there is an idea of having respect for a moment, and because it’s Kilmarnock’s home game.

“But this is historical. We’ve gone through this here before.. for a lot of Irish republicans and nationalists, the poppy does represent a bit of oppression.

“Way back, just after the First World War; in terms of the British Army; a group called the Black and Tans coming in and just running amok – these type of things have happened. And so that is historical, and that has had an effect.

“Young James McClean has taken a stance there, because of where he lives, and where he was brought up, and that’s completely understandable.

“James took the stance some years ago, realising that he was putting his career in jeopardy in the sense that he not only was going to be booed by away fans, but he was going to be booed by his home fans at Sunderland.

“And he went from, you know, from being a hero, where he did brilliantly, absolutely brilliantly, in his first season there to being booed at home. That’s very, very difficult to take, but he took that stance.

“I commend James for it. He’s a brave lad. He’s not only brave on the pitch, he’s brave off the pitch as well.”

Celtic kept quiet throughout the anger and outrage, in this situation that seems the best ‘action’ to take until other issues come into the media cycle.

Airdrie seemed to take their celebrations to extremes this year with a five minute silence either side of military displays, strangely up until Tony Blair needed rescued from the illegal invasion of Iraq all football clubs treated the second weekend of November as business as usual with Remembrance dealt with in sombre fashion at the proper times and places.

Over more than 50 years in and around football O’Neill has witnessed the entire evolution, with views that are welcome and very much against the grain.

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