David Beckham has said “we should always be allowed to show our respect” after the Football Association said they will defy Fifa’s ban on players wearing poppies.
The FA confirmed on Wednesday that England players will wear black armbands with a poppy on when they play Scotland in a World Cup qualifier at Wembley on Remembrance Sunday. This comes despite Fifa regulations which outlaw countries wearing anything that can be construed as a political or religious statement.
Beckham, who has 115 caps for England, shared an Instagram post of an ex-serviceman planting a poppy in a field on Friday. In a caption, he likened his pride in wearing the England shirt to that he feels wearing a poppy and said people should be allowed “to show our respect and remembrance for that sacrifice”.
Without referring to the Fifa controversy directly, the former England captain wrote: “I was always proud to put on an England shirt and I feel the same way about wearing a poppy. For me, the poppy is a small way we can show our appreciation for the incredible sacrifice that million of men and women did on our behalf.
“It’s our way of showing we remember them. We should always be allowed to show our respect and remembrance for that sacrifice.”
The chairman of the FA, Greg Clarke, said on Wednesday: “The poppy is an important symbol of remembrance and we do not believe it represents a political, religious or commercial message, nor does it relate to any one historical event”.
The body previously reached an agreement with Fifa over the long-standing rules in 2011 when the team was permitted to wear the armbands during a friendly against Spain.
