West Ham say they are fully committed to Remembrance Day commemorations and the Poppy Appeal – despite a leaked email which wrongly suggested their players would not wear the symbol.
An email from a member of staff at the club last night sparked anger on social media – led by Strictly Come Dancing contestant and Hammers fan Thomas Skinner.
A section from the message had read: ‘While we deeply respect the significance of the Poppy Appeal and Remembrance activities, we must be led by the club on all initiatives for various operational and safeguarding reasons. Therefore, it has been decided that poppies will not be warn on match shirts during fixtures this weekend.
‘This approach ensures that no individual feels pressured to participate in any initiative they may not feel comfortable with, while maintaining consistency across all programmes.’
But Daily Mail Sport can confirm West Ham are – and always have been committed to honouring Remembrance Weekend, and the club email and subsequent X furore has been based on a misunderstanding.
The message was in response to a query about whether a parent of a child associated with the club’s foundation, which is West Ham’s registered charity, could bring poppy stickers for all of that team’s players to wear for a match.
West Ham are fully committed to honouring Remembrance Weekend despite a leaked email wrongly suggesting otherwise
The leaked email was in response to a parent of a child associated with the club’s foundation
Hammers players wore the poppy on the front of their shirts for their game at Leeds last month
However, the West Ham Foundation are unable to mandate the wearing of poppies for all players and that was the purpose of the reply which was communicated badly and sent in error by a relatively new employee.
A clarification was subsequently distributed to all parents and coaches to confirm the earlier message was a mistake and didn’t contain correct information, and that the situation is as it was; the club are fully supportive of Remembrance commemorations.
Nothing has changed from previous years with regards to the club’s plans. Every home fixture, including the foundation and academy matches, will hold a minute’s silence before matches.
The Men and Women first team, along with the Under 21 side, will all hold a minute’s silence, lay wreathes before games and wear poppies on their shirts. The Under 21 side did so ahead of their 3-0 win over Liverpool on Friday night.
The shirts from the Men and Women’s teams will then be signed and auctioned off to raise funds for the Royal British Legion charity.
The club has also made efforts to pay their respects in other ways, with the Under 12 academy team visiting a poppy factory this week for educational purposes.
West Ham’s players wore the poppy on the front of their shirts for their recent fixture away Leeds, holding a minute’s silence at Elland Road, and will be doing so again for Saturday’s game at home to Burnley, which is the Hammers’ dedicated Remembrance game.
Thomas SkinnerWest Ham United
