James McClean is a
young Irish professional soccer player from Derry Londonderry, making
his living in England. He writes publicly to his employer to explain
his reasons for not wearing a specific symbol on his team shirt.
Dear Mr Whelan,
I wanted to write
to you before talking about this face to face and explain my reasons
for not wearing a poppy on my shirt for the game at Bolton.
He personalises his
respect for those who died in both World Wars. Perhaps in the context
of the sensitive controversy he seeks to negotiate, he does not
indicate the same respect for all those who died in those wars, far
beyond the shores of Britain and Ireland, in uniforms other than
British and in no uniforms at all. He is not alone in this. In the
throes of remembrance, a great calamity of disremembering is enacted.
I have complete
respect for those who fought and died in both World Wars - many I
know were Irish-born. I have been told that your own Grandfather
Paddy Whelan, from Tipperary, was one of those. I mourn their deaths
like every other decent person and if the Poppy was a symbol only for
the lost souls of World War I and II I would wear one.
No
mention of the Turks, the Serbs, The Bulgars and the Germans among
whose ancestors the young soccer player now
plies his trade in England and across
the world, when he dons shirts for his club, Wigan, and his country,
The Republic of Ireland.
His country, the one
he represents internationally, is The Republic of Ireland, even
though he was born in The United Kingdom of Great Britain and
Northern Ireland. And therein rests the dilemma for this young
working class man, wresting a living out of his physical skills, his
mental strengths and his personal and cultural resolve.
For
people from the North of Ireland such as myself, and specifically
those in Derry, scene of the 1972 Bloody Sunday massacre, the poppy
has come to mean something very different.
It is just part
of who we are, ingrained into us from birth.
As is the wearing of
the poppy. Try appearing on BBC television without wearing a poppy
and you will experience a complex, negative and often vicious
reaction. It is noticeable the degree to which the militarisation of the
spectacle of football matches has increased in recent years. When did
soldiers first carry trophies and other artefacts on to the pitch?
Could the mayor not do that? Or the nurses from the local hospital?
Power chooses what
to validate in our grand spectacles. And Power chooses symbols that
validate the power relations in our society, so that we speak the
language of power to ourselves. And send our sons and daughters to
war once more.
Mr
Whelan, for me to wear a poppy would be as much a gesture of
disrespect for the innocent people who lost their lives in the
Troubles – and Bloody Sunday especially - as I have in the past
been accused of disrespecting the victims of WWI and WWII.
It would be seen
as an act of disrespect to those people; to my people.
When did players
first start wearing poppies on their shirts? Did it coincide with
recent wars in the East? And how do we extend the range of people who
we language as 'my people'? The people who we know as 'us'?
I
am not a war monger, or anti-British, or a terrorist or any of the
accusations levelled at me in the past. I am a peaceful guy, I
believe everyone should live side by side, whatever their religious
or political beliefs which I respect and ask for people to respect
mine in return. Since last year, I am a father and I want my daughter
to grow up in a peaceful world, like any parent.
Do the small actions
of one young man make a difference? It is complex and highly
sensitive. And for the record, James McClean's team, Wigan, were
thumped 3-1 by Bolton. He came on as a substitute in the 58th
minute and was booked in the 86th. Frustrating afternoon
all round? Not for Bolton fans.
I am very proud
of where I come from and I just cannot do something that I believe is
wrong. In life, if you’re a man you should stand up for what you
believe in.
The
world does not speak. Only we do. The world can, once we have
programmed ourselves with a language, cause us to hold beliefs. But
it cannot propose a language for us to speak. Only other human beings
can do that.
http://www.derrynow.com/article/6557
Contingency,
irony and solidarity: Richard Rorty; book, Cambridge University
Press; Cambridge; 1989
http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/29844395
www.facebook.com/DaveDugganWriter
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