WALES will not wear poppies during their World Cup Qualifier this weekend – as the country’s football bosses are scared of receiving a fine.
The Welsh FA announced the controversial decision yesterday and said their players will instead wear black armbands against Serbia at the weekend.
Jonathan Ford, Chief Executive of the Football Association of Wales (FAW), said the possibility of losing points or being fined were the reasons why the FAW decided to find a different way to pay respect to Britain’s war dead.
Angry fans immediately took to Twitter to slam the decision, with one even suggesting if they were to get a fine, Wales captain and Real Madrid forward Gareth Bale, 27, could pay, due to him recently signing a new contract, believed to be worth more than £300,000 a week.
Others described their excuse as “spineless”, a “disgrace” and “disgusting”.
Sign the petition to let English and Scottish footballers wear their poppies with pride here.
But Mr Ford said: “The FAW naturally wishes to respect and honour those who fought and lost their lives fighting for their country.
“As an Association we also have to respect the rules of FIFA and following long discussions with members of the FAW Council, staff, management and players, a decision has been made not to wear the poppy against Serbia.
“We felt unable to take the risk of a financial penalty or point deduction, however, as we always have done at this time of year, we will be paying our respects in other ways.”
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The decision comes after the FAs of both England and Scotland said they would defy FIFA’s regulations on political symbols by wearing black armbands with poppy emblems at Wembley ahead of their qualifier tonight.
Football’s world governing body, FIFA, prohibits any political, religious or commercial messages on shirts.
Despite this, both FAs said they were willing to accept any punishment to respect the war heroes.
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