A battle of Wills

So the FA finally prevailed in the unedifying poppy feud against FIFA. England’s players will be able to wear poppies against Spain on Saturday – albeit on a band around their arms rather than embroidered on their shirts (a careful condition by FIFA that allows them to claim a victory of sorts).

That England (and the other home nations) were to be banned from wearing a poppy on the day before Remembrance Sunday is, frankly, bizarre. That it took so long to resolve and had to be argued over in public is more so.

What is most interesting is what this episode tells us about the enduring power to influence of our monarchy. Despite calls from high profile players, managers and politicians over the past week, nothing would budge FIFA’s stance that ‘political’ statements must be banned from shirts.

Nothing, that is, apart from the Duke of Cambridge. The Duke, in his role as President of the Football Association, stepped in to let his displeasure be known and, all of a sudden, a poppy compromise was found.

The FA had used its secret weapon and headline writers had a field day. ‘Where there’s a Wills …’, ‘England footballers WILL wear the poppy’, and, my favourite ‘We Wills remember them’.