And so the poppy rears its head again.  This week it has been at the centre of a storm which has brewed between the English FA and Fifa.  In simple terms, The FA wanted the English national team to wear an embroidered poppy on their shirts as they are taught yet another footballing lesson by their Spanish counterparts.  Fifa said no, as they construed the poppy to be political and/or religious symbolism - the wearing of which on playing wear is apparently banned.

But it's NOT a political symbol.  Or at least, it wasn't.  Personally, I can see Fifa's point.  The poppy has been hijacked as a method of propaganda in trying to coerce public opinion over modern conflicts.  The poppy, rather than just Royal British Legion's adopted symbol of remembrance of those who perished in world wars - born of the genuine article being picked in Flanders Fields 90 years ago - now represents all commonwealth casualties of war.  No issue with that, but the use of a poppy on football shirts has come about seemingly with a focus on recent casualties, ie. those lives lost in Iraq and Afganistan.

The international break is upon us again and the multi-faceted debates that always rear their heads on these occasions have duly returned as well.

International football has never been so scorned and never before been attacked for so many varied reasons.  To start with matters on the pitch, last year's World Cup in South Africa was the most underwhelming in recent history.  Yes, the best team in the world - Spain's Euro 2008 triumph appeared to convey this - finished on top, but stars such as Lionel Messi, Cristiano Ronaldo and Wayne Rooney underperformed as their countries exited relatively early.

The umbrella over many debates about international game seems to be the idea of club versus country.  In those terms, the battle lines have been drawn.  As much as Alex Ferguson (sic) now gets defensive over the issue, he was a pioneer in the systematic blocking of players being called up by national sides, particularly England.  Whilst previously the associations, backed by FIFA, would summon whoever they liked and fight to bring into squads even players such as Claude Makélélé who had announced international retirement, an incident arising after the 2006 mundial instigated a change of tack.