Seán Heuston Society Respond To McGregor ‘Poppy’ Outburst On Facebook

The Seán Heuston 1916 Society is critical of Conor McGregor's stance on the British poppy.

Conor McGregor

It has to come to our attention a Facebook Post by ourselves, critical of mixed martial arts star Conor McGregor and his wearing of the Poppy, has met a strong reaction from the Dublin man. Conor seems to have a false perception of what the Poppy represents in the present day and his crass response to the criticism will no doubt be seen as insensitive, especially to a lot of his fellow countrymen and women in the northern part of his country, who have been victims of those the Poppy commemorates and helps fundraise for.

The Poppy in a modern context is produced exclusively by the Royal British Legion and a brief glance at their website illuminates clearly its purpose in present times. As the RBL state themselves, it is to honour all current and past British Army servicemen and women in all conflicts from WWI onwards; which includes their colonial escapades in India, Palestine, Kenya and, of course, Ireland. Included in the same are the murderous Parachute Regiment and their killings of Irish people on Bloody Sunday and the Ballymurphy Massacre.

The Poppy, especially its wearing in Ireland, should be taken in its entirety. It can’t be sugar coated with the constant citing of World Wars. Unfortunately it has been misused by the British establishment as a symbol to justify past conquests and their modern-day imperialist wars – all the while raising money for soldiers, many of whom have terrorised the nationalist people in our own country.

We understand Conor is not a politician but if one is to proclaim his patriotism he should at least take into account the feelings of many in six counties of his country, who lived under the boot of the army he offered support to, consciously or not, when wearing the Poppy. We hope Conor will take on board constructive criticism on the matter and accept the legitimate reasons why many find the symbol in its entirety offensive.

All of that said, ourselves in the Seán Heuston Society Dublin would like to wish Conor every success in the future and hope he continues to represent the country on the world stage with the skill and passion he has shown thus far.

6 comments:

  1. i hope jose aldo kicks his head in. foggy dew mehole, get one direction to sing u in for ur next fight u twat, jose aldo is a real fighter from the favellas, not some cashcow gimp for danawhite and the muppets who control ufc. the state of him bullying and insulting his team on ufc ultimate fighter made me want to fly over there and box him around the head meself. irish joe duffy, a real man, will beat him up after aldo bates him and hopefully then its strictly come dancing for him. the croppy boy turned out to be a poppy boy after all. btw, wait til u see him milking 1916 next year over in the states for the'fighting irish'. im wearing a gigantic poppy the night he fights aldo. i personally wanted to do ufc but when i found out ur not allowed headbutt, kick in the balls, eye-gouge or bite, i said fuck that, thats for gaylords.

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  2. I think a 1916 society rep, maybe a PRO, should deliver the rebuke in person, just to ensure he gets the message like.

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  3. And perhaps Jerome could go along to back him up. :-)

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  4. So if he was wearing the poppy to glorify and celebrate the IRA Enniskillen Poppy Day bomb massacre you'd be slapping him on the back and calling him comrade. Just because someone doesn't hold the same prospective as you doesn't make them wrong and Jerome J big brave keyboard warrior, homophobic, sectarian, tunnel visioned Jesus you tick all the boxes in your comment!

    Everyone suffered during the Troubles but for every "usuns" there's always a "themuns", for every "they did" there's always a "whatabout" so we go round and round in a continuous circle and it's things like this tunnel vision approach that stops us moving forward. Those of us who came through the troubles know how bad it was and I don't want my kids/grandchildren to witness or live in the constant fear that I did so it's our responsibility to work together to build a road to peace, we don't have to love or even like each other but we do have to live along side each other and part of that has to be allowing people the freedom to be who/whatever they are. You don't have to be offended by everything you can choose to live and let live.

    Jo

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  5. I've nothing against gaylords.

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  6. So long as they dont adopt me.

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