The annual James McClean poppy row exposes the hatred and ignorance in football’s filthy margins

Type ‘James McClean’ into Twitter search at your peril. Yes, it’s that time of year again when the nation honours the lives of those lost in military service by wearing a poppy, and McClean is doused in ordure for respectfully declining.

The latest frothing of bile and four-letter bitterness on both sides of a loathsome argument on social media was precipitated by a statement from Stoke City confirming that McClean would not be wearing a poppy on his shirt against Middlesbrough and Nottingham Forest.

Read more: What is the white poppy’s meaning and why do some people wear them for Remembrance Day?

Twitter is no place for nuance. McClean has explained his position to various degrees at Wigan, West Brom and now Stoke since the practice of sewing poppies into club shirts began six years ago. You would have thought it unnecessary to reheat this chestnut but for the hard of understanding here is an excerpt from a missive McClean addressed to Wigan chairman Dave Whelan, setting out his stance.

Respect

“I have complete respect for those who fought and died in both World Wars, many I know were Irish-born. 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. I want to make that 100 per cent clear. But the Poppy is used to remember victims of other conflicts since 1945 and this is where the problem starts for me.

Read more: The far right has weaponised the poppy. Let&’s reclaim it, in memory of our troops from around the world

“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. Please understand, Mr Whelan, that when you come from Creggan, like myself, or the Bogside, Brandywell or the majority of places in Derry, every person still lives in the shadow of one of the darkest days in Ireland’s history, even if like me you were born nearly 20 years after the event. It is just a part of who we are, ingrained into us from birth.

“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.”

Prejudice

This must rank as one of the most profound examples of political engagement by a footballer. The Catholic community in Northern Ireland was for too long on the wrong end of ruinous and painful prejudice and discrimination. Civil protest against historic, institutional bias in matters of education, housing and employment at the highest levels of government and industry ultimately escalated into the lethal upheaval referenced by McClean. Derry was on the frontline of that awful political fissure, the consequences of which are still felt today.

Read more: Why Irish people got so angry about the Taoiseach wearing a poppy

As the Brexit episode demonstrates hatred and intolerance remains a potent feature of British political discourse. On the island of Ireland the debate has a significance beyond the narrow confines of in or out. And if staying or leaving the European Union can be the cause of death threats what chance does McClean have of a fair hearing in the emotive theatre of poppy representation? Correct. Nil.

As ever his Twitter assailants value ignorance over reason and pile in with all their vacuous might, their tedious correspondence splattered with the default descriptor “c**t”. The dignified attempts by Stoke and McClean to enlighten this pitiless community are condemned to wither in the filthy atmosphere that pervades. As Shakespeare reminds us, you can’t argue with fools. So why bother? A question, perhaps, for next year.