After all these years, if reasonable people feel uncomfortable about it, there's usually a good reason.

There does always seem to be a large cringe factor about celebrating British imperial exploits alright.

For a so-called "liberal" country there seems to be a real "poppy facist" element. Clearly this has to do with yet another invasion of foreigner-land.

I did happen to notice (not that I was checking!) that when Wood took off his coat, and therefore his poppy, it was quickly put on his suit in jig time. A bit creepy.

I feel he does have a right to wear one of course, but a right not to aswell.

I agree completely. I was shocked to see poppies on sale in Dublin's Nassau St. last week. This money is for the benefit of British soldiers who may have been responsible for atrocities all over the world, including of course in Ireland.
This is like turkeys voting for Christmas!
I doubt very much that the Indians, Nigerians, Israelis etc. who have been at the receiving end of British army activity are rushing to buy poppies!
Only the stupid paddies would contribute to the welfare of their torturers and murderers.

I have never felt so proud to be Irish as when I read Mr. Cooper's letter. Never forget the 800 years of Oppression Mr. Cooper! Never move on! Down with this sort of thing is what I say!.

Let's ignore the fact that one of the greatest sportsmen this island has ever produced is perfectly entitled to wear whatever he likes.
Let's ignore the fact that rugby is one of the few unifying sports on this island and celebrates that unity rather than dragging itself down to the parish pump level of begrudgery and me-feinism.
Let's ignore the fact that Irish men & women died in war for freedom - ALL freedoms; economic, social & political, so that Irish people can wear and think what they like.
Let's ignore the fact that these men & women deserve to be remembered for their sacrifice.
Let's ignore the fact that no-one is asking you to wear a poppy or a lily.
Let's ignore the fact that you could show a modicum of respect for other people's viewpoints instead of throwing verbal abuse.

No, let us sit back and wallow in our narrow minded, petty and vindictive insularity, safe in the knowledge that we are the better for it.

I would quote the popular attribution to Voltaire, but frankly, what would be the point?

Yours, etc.

John Maguire, get down from your high horse righteousness and try to stay calm. Where is the verbal abuse? Nobody has said that Wood or anybody else has no right to wear the poppy or even the swastika. What some of us object to is the pressure to accept as an Irish symbol something which patently is not and never will be, as funds collected are used to care for ex and current British soldiers in the UK. There are many ways to honour the Irish men and women who fought in the British Army. The poppy is not one is not one of them.
You haven't addressed the oxymoron of Irish people being conned into contributing to the welfare of soldiers who may have been responsible for the murder or torture of their relatives.
I don't think Obama either would be too keen to wear a poppy, given that his his Kenyan grandfather, Hussein Onyango Obama, was imprisoned without trial for two years and was tortured by the British (soliders) during Churchill's watch. In fact a bust of Churchill, which he inherited from George W., was returned to Britain. Evidently the President of the United States is "wallowing in narrow minded, petty and vindictive insularity, safe in the knowledge that he is the better for it.

No I dont think it appropriate, to sell poppies in Dublin, neither should the Irish government through its economic failures, expect the UK, & the British Commonwealth countries to bail it out by accepting its immigrants, Neither should Harney, Martin and others parade around the British Commonwealth Countries on St Patrick's Day, Nor should we depend on Britain for our forensic analysis, or health laboratories, or advanced healthcare, one could say that the Brits crippled Ireland & 80years later it is still unable to stand on its own feet, I am reminded of Germany though, in 1945 it was divided and in rubble, 50 years later it is the strongest country in Europe, get the message all you Irish leaders since independence.

Maybe Tom Cooper should take a trip to Australia for ANZAC Day or Rememberance Sunday and spend time in any of the thousands of RSL clubs around the country.
It might be a Commonwealth nation but republicans (in the Australian sense of the word) still manage to set aside a time to remember in a mature fashion Australian people who fell in previous wars without the vacant attitude that drags at this country's heels kicking and screaming.
If Keith Wood chooses to remember previous fallen while working for the BBC at a rugby ground, then that is his perogative and his business alone.

So because the Aussies and Kiwis are passionate about ANZAC day, shame on us?
(Why wouldn't they?)

I thought we do remember our Irishmen who died in foreign wars and those that fought for freedom, eh every single year!

Of course, that we manage to do this without donating to "heroes" whose main achievement is (without an education ) getting armed to the teeth to walk into the middle east and rip up the place and people, yet manage to get their limbs blown off.
Oh wait, isn't it for WWI and the Britsh Empire, an entity not known for freedom and democracy. (look it up)

That there are some Irish who still have an "Uncle Tom" complex is shameful. Shame on us.

And shame on the British for being only good at drinking and celebrating their empire. I suppose that they no longer are a power, can't afford a strong military and are tied to the E.U., that's our fault aswell.

They're only an island off Europe anyway, they may glorify their own conquests.