Football, poppies and respect
The annual debate has already begun...
When players head along the path from Tottenham Hotspur’s training complex to the main first-team pitches they pass a beautiful tree planted by Harry Kane. It was back in late October 2018, marking the 100th anniversary of the end of World War One, and Kane was wearing his Spurs No 10 shirt with a poppy embroidered on it.
This November 11, Kane will be back at Hotspur Way with England, who are using it as their training base before the World Cup qualifier against Serbia at Wembley two days later. Kane and the rest of Thomas Tuchel’s players will pass the tree before training at 1pm. There will doubtless be FA imagery released of them pausing to remember those who fell in the wars during this period of Remembrance. It’s an England tradition at training, rightly so, players wearing poppies on their kits, some with poppies embroidered in their boots.
The annual focus on football and poppies has begun early this year with four Irish players in the WSL, including Arsenal’s Katie McCabe, choosing not to wear the poppy on their shirts at the weekend. The focus is also often around James McLean, the Irish winger who plays for Wrexham.
Kane, England’s captain, is big on showing respect for veterans and those who paid the ultimate sacrifice. He was joined at the ceremony back in 2018 by Spurs’ Belgian midfielder Mousa Dembele and Michel Vorm, the Dutch goalkeeper. The pair were chosen because of their countries’ connections with events in the wars. The sight of the young men digging the soil resonated with symbolism.
Sixteen trees were planted at Hotspur Way, one for each of the Spurs players who served in World War One and never came home. The most famous was Walter Tull, a second lieutenant in the Middlesex Regiment, one of the first mixed-heritage officers, an inside-forward for Spurs and more prolifically Northampton Town, who perished at the Somme in 2018. His body was never found.