Over the past 20 years, the symbol of remembrance for the war dead has become increasingly ubiquitous – and a culture of poppy policing has grown with it

In autumn 2003, about six months after Britain invaded Iraq, Paul Mace had a thought: what if we put poppies on football shirts? Mace, who was then executive director of Leicester City, had always felt strongly about the annual poppy appeal – his father had served in the second world war – and this, he hoped, would bring it to another level.

After securing permission from the Premier League, Mace had to find someone to design and manufacture an embroidered poppy patch for the shirts. Poppies in the UK are supplied by a charity, the Royal British Legion (RBL), to raise funds for ex-service personnel in need, but since the RBL didn’t produce patches, Mace arranged to auction off the shirts afterwards and donate the funds.