Wrexham FC player James McClean stood away from his teammates as they observed a minute’s silence ahead of Remembrance Sunday.
The 35-year-old, originally from Derry, Northern Ireland, has refused to take part in Remembrance commemorations ever since he moved to England to play for Sunderland in 2011.
It is a tradition for footballers to wear shirts or armbands emblazoned with Remembrance poppies for games throughout Remembrance weekend.
On Saturday at Wrexham’s League One home game against Mansfield Town at the Racecourse Ground, both teams stood for a minute’s silence before kick-off – but McClean stood deliberately separate.
Previously, McClean has said he refuses to observe traditions due to the British Army’s role in The Troubles.
He grew up on Derry’s Creggan estate, where six of the people killed on Bloody Sunday in 1972, were from.
The midfielder says he would wear the poppy if it was solely intended to remember servicemen and women who died in the world wars – as this includes Irish people. The British Legion asks people to remember British personnel lost in all conflicts for Remembrance.
McClean has received both condemnation and praise for his stance over the years.
Fined by ex-club for balaclava tweet
In 2020, he was fined by his former club Stoke City after he posted a picture of himself wearing a balaclava alongside two children, to whom he claimed he was giving a “history lesson”.
The post, which he later deleted, was captioned: “Today’s School lesson – History.”
He was fined two weeks’ wages by the club, which condemned the picture as “inappropriate”.
He later said: “I never wanted to cause any offence but I now realise that I did so and for that I apologise unreservedly. I have spoken to the club and will be deleting my Instagram account.”
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In 2016, McClean closed his Twitter account after posting about a song that tells the story of a boy whose father is killed fighting for the IRA.
