James McClean's Poppy Protest and the Cultural Politics of Diasporic Non-Assimilation

In November 2018, on the pitch of an English Championship football club, Stoke City, a by-now-familiar narrative was playing out. Footballer James McClean, a Stoke player hailing from Derry City in Northern Ireland was being incessantly booed by a small contingent of both home and visiting supporters as their side played Middlesbrough FC. The often times vitriolic abuse coming from the home stands also finds its 21st Century corollary in the trolling and hate messages that McClean receives online in social media. This is nothing new for the player; in fact, the debate and controversy surrounding McClean has itself become a late autumn fixture of the football calendar in England since November 2012. McClean’s annual refusal to wear the Earl Haig Poppy, a (contested) symbol of remembrance for British and Commonwealth military personnel who have died in conflict, reignites a well-rehearsed debate that pits patriotism and national pride on the one hand against the painful legacies of colonialism and the freedom of individual choice on the other.