RANGERS POPPY KIT LAUNCH PLUMBS NEW DEPTHS
- BY LIAM CARRIGAN
- 1 day ago
- 3 min read
It’s almost that time of year again folks. Where people who’ve never been within a hundred miles of gunfire in their lives will go on TV, write newspaper columns and make obnoxious posts on social media, lecturing us about the sacrifices of war and demanding that we “respect the fallen” by wearing the Poppy of the Earl Haig Fund.
Incidentally, my grandfather, who actually was a World War 2 veteran made his own thoughts on Haig and his fund very clear.
He once said, decades ago to my dad: “It’s all a scam. Haig was an alcoholic bigot who was never within 50 miles of a battle at any point during his war. It’s all just for show. If the government really cared about veterans, then they’d be properly looked after by the country instead of having to rely on charity.”
Now, whether you wear a poppy or not is your own choice. I don’t, but I am not going to tell others they can’t. One of the freedoms my grandfather, my great uncle and millions more of their generation fought for and won for us was the freedom to say “no”.
Rangers Poppy Kit is Performative Opportunism at its Worst
And as the Poppy debate kicks in, with still almost a month to go before the actual date of Remembrance Day, I fully expect to see Rangers continue their utterly cringeworthy attempts to fire up the very worst elements of their support, with faux-patriotism and military displays at matches. So much for UEFA's "keep politics out of sport" mantra.
The fact most of their ancestors spent the years from 1939 to 1945 hiding in the shipyards is of course, never mentioned, lest we remember.
Still, I guess I should give some credit to the Union Bears and their ilk, taking the time to commemorate World War 2, even though their side ultimately lost.
However, for those not content to restrain their “patriotism” to the current fads of flag-sh*gging, roundabout painting and statue molestation, Rangers have the answer, a new version of their home kit complete with the Remembrance Day poppy emblazoned on the chest.
For those moments when a gaudy, overpriced lapel pin just isn’t enough of a statement of your own performative patriotism, why not go ahead and really shove it in peoples' faces with a new version of a football shirt you probably already bought 3 months ago?
Because nothing says “British and Proud” like an overpriced t-shirt produced in an Asian sweatshop.
Questions have been asked in the past about where sums of money supposedly raised for veterans’ charities at Ibrox have gone. Because we know a lot of the cash ultimately didn’t find its way to the veterans themselves. However, let’s leave the hearsay and conjecture for another time, and focus on facts.
The faux-patriotism and utterly false pretense under which everyone on British TV over the next month will wear their poppies is bad enough.
However, for Rangers to actively try and make profit from Remembrance Day, a time which, lest we forget, is supposed to be about showing respect to those who made the ultimate sacrifice in the name of freedom, and against the tyranny of fascism, with the “new and exclusive Rangers Poppy Kit” is utterly repulsive.
I expect this kind of cheap, nationalistic cash-grab from political opportunists like Nigel Farage, or racist grifters like Tommy Robinson. I don’t expect it from a professional football club that is supposedly for “anyone and everyone”.
Meanwhile, Celtic will do what they always do, quietly donate a five-figure sum directly to veteran’s causes. No fanfare, no performative nonsense, just genuine help for those who need it.
If Rangers actually cared about British war veterans as much as do about being publicly portrayed as “the Quintessential British Club” they would do the same, and the previous Rangers (Requiescat in Pace) would have actually paid their taxes.
Taxes which, lest we forget, are essential to funding the British military. But that wouldn’t get headlines or allow the draft-dodger descendants in the stands at Ibrox to continue to claim some kind of imaginary moral high ground on this issue.