FA chief confident England have ‘rock solid’ case in poppy dispute with FIFA

&Tab;&Tab;<div class&equals;"wpcnt">&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;<div class&equals;"wpa">&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;<span class&equals;"wpa-about">Advertisements<&sol;span>&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;<div class&equals;"u top&lowbar;amp">&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;<amp-ad width&equals;"300" height&equals;"265"&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab; type&equals;"pubmine"&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab; data-siteid&equals;"111265417"&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab; data-section&equals;"2">&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;<&sol;amp-ad>&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;<&sol;div>&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;<&sol;div>&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;<&sol;div><p>English Football Association chief executive Martin Glenn has warned FIFA he will fight any attempt to fine England for wearing poppies in Friday&&num;8217&semi;s World Cup qualifier against Scotland&comma; describing the FA&&num;8217&semi;s case as <i>&&num;8220&semi;rock solid&&num;8221&semi;&period;<&sol;i><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>But the Football Association of Wales has conceded defeat in its bid to wear a poppy against Serbia&comma; saying players will don black armbands instead as the organisation cannot <i>&&num;8220&semi;take the risk&&num;8221&semi;<&sol;i> of a FIFA fine or point deduction&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Northern Ireland&&num;8217&semi;s players will do the same in their clash with Azerbaijan&comma; but there will still be a minute&&num;8217&semi;s silence at Windsor Park on Friday night&comma; while a card motif featuring a poppy will also be displayed in the West Stand along with other Armistice Day tributes&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>England and Scotland are set to defy FIFA&&num;8217&semi;s ban on messages that it considers to be commercial&comma; personal&comma; political or religious by wearing black armbands with embroidered poppies to mark Armistice Day&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>The FA and Scottish FA had hoped to do this without punishment &&num;8211&semi; as they and the FAW had done in three November friendlies in 2011 &&num;8211&semi; but the new regime at world football&&num;8217&semi;s governing body has refused to sanction this exception to the game&&num;8217&semi;s laws&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>This was confirmed by FIFA general secretary Fatma Samoura during a visit to London last week&comma; when she reiterated law four&comma; paragraph four&comma; that states players&&num;8217&semi; equipment must be free from messages that could cause offense&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Samoura pointed out this law was brought in by the International Football Association Board&comma; which is comprised of the four British home nations and FIFA&comma; and said it must be <i>&&num;8220&semi;applied uniformly&&num;8221&semi;<&sol;i> for it to have authority&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>The former United Nations diplomat did not say the English and Scottish would definitely be punished for flouting this law but recent decisions by FIFA&&num;8217&semi;s disciplinary committee suggest a fine is likely&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><a href&equals;"http&colon;&sol;&sol;londonglossy&period;com&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;2016&sol;11&sol;poppyBadge1&lowbar;large&period;jpg"><img src&equals;"http&colon;&sol;&sol;londonglossy&period;com&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;2016&sol;11&sol;poppyBadge1&lowbar;large&period;jpg" alt&equals;"poppybadge1&lowbar;large" width&equals;"600" height&equals;"325" class&equals;"aligncenter size-full wp-image-99454" &sol;><&sol;a><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>But speaking to journalists at a Sport Industry Breakfast Club event in London&comma; Glenn said&colon; <i>&&num;8220&semi;If &lpar;FIFA&rpar; fine us&comma; we&&num;8217&semi;ll contest&period; They have much bigger problems they should be concentrating on&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>&&num;8220&semi;I&&num;8217&semi;m confident our legal position is right and our moral position is right&period; Our case is absolutely rock solid&period;&&num;8221&semi;<&sol;i><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Glenn&comma; FA chairman Greg Clarke and their counterparts at the SFA have previously said they do not think wearing a poppy to commemorate those who have died in armed conflicts is a political message&comma; and have said the 2011 compromise agreed with the previous leadership at FIFA should apply&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Press Association Sport&comma; however&comma; understands that new FIFA president Gianni Infantino and Samoura believe that decision was a mistake and find it hard to understand why the home nations cannot see that this might create a precedent for other nations to break the rules as they see fit&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>The first stage in any disciplinary process that might follow Friday&&num;8217&semi;s game would be for FIFA&&num;8217&semi;s match commissioner at Wembley to include the armbands in their report &&num;8211&semi; given the enormous publicity this saga has attracted&comma; including an intervention from Prime Minister Theresa May&comma; it is very hard to see how this will not happen&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>The case would then go to FIFA&&num;8217&semi;s disciplinary committee&comma; which would announce its decision a few weeks later&period; A points deduction is the most serious sanction available but a fine is considered to be more likely&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>The British FAs would then have an opportunity to challenge that fine via FIFA&&num;8217&semi;s appeals process and a further chance to appeal at the Court of Arbitration for Sport&comma; a course of action that would probably cost more than the fine&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Glenn also revealed that the FA&&num;8217&semi;s financial strength &&num;8211&semi; its revenues are forecast to grow by 35 per cent to £420million in 2018 &&num;8211&semi; means it does not depend on FIFA to the same extent as most other member associations&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><i>&&num;8220&semi;We don&&num;8217&semi;t need FIFA&&num;8217&semi;s money&comma;&&num;8221&semi;<&sol;i> he said&period; <i>&&num;8220&semi;That probably allows us to be a bit more principled &&num;8211&semi; they might see it as aloof&period;&&num;8221&semi;<&sol;i><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>That is not the position for the FAW&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Chief executive Jonathan Ford said&colon; <i>&&num;8220&semi;The FAW naturally wishes to respect and honour those who fought and lost their lives fighting for their country&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>&&num;8220&semi;As an Association we have to respect the rules of FIFA and following long discussions with members of the FAW Council&comma; staff&comma; management and players&comma; a decision has been made not wear the poppy against Serbia&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>&&num;8220&semi;We felt unable to take the risk of a financial penalty or point deduction&comma; however as we always have done at this time of year&comma; we will be paying our respects in other ways&period;&&num;8221&semi;<&sol;i><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>As well as the wearing of black armbands&comma; fans at Cardiff City Stadium will form a poppy mosaic before kick-off and members of the Flanders Welsh War Memorial at Langemark will be attendance at the match&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Asked about the IFA&&num;8217&semi;s decision not to follow the FA and SFA&&num;8217&semi;s lead on poppies&comma; Northern Ireland manager Michael O&&num;8217&semi;Neill said&colon; <i>&&num;8220&semi;I have a lot of influence&comma; none of it exists at FIFA&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>&&num;8220&semi;This is a decision that is made by FIFA&comma; I think the association have done everything in their power to mark the occasion with the utmost respect&comma; we will do that as a group as well&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>&&num;8220&semi;We didn&&num;8217&semi;t feel it was the right thing as an association to violate the regulation&period; As a group of players and as a management team we&&num;8217&semi;re happy that the decision&&num;8217&semi;s been made and we can focus on the football now&period;&&num;8221&semi;<&sol;i><&sol;p>&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;<div style&equals;"padding-bottom&colon;15px&semi;" class&equals;"wordads-tag" data-slot-type&equals;"belowpost">&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;<div id&equals;"atatags-dynamic-belowpost-68e0ec6ad2a85">&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;<script type&equals;"text&sol;javascript">&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;window&period;getAdSnippetCallback &equals; 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