Our fixture against York City in the Emirates FA Cup is our Remembrance fixture and the club have organised an array of gestures and moments to mark Remembrance Day, and the 100th anniversary of the Armistice.
Remembrance Day is observed on 11th November to recall the end of hostilities on that date in 1918.
The club shows its support to the ‘Football Remembers’ campaign and is dedicated to marking the occasion in an appropriate and thoughtful fashion.
Around the ground, volunteers from the Royal British Legion will be carrying buckets for collection – there will also be a stand to donate and receive a poppy in the club shop.
As part of the club’s act of remembrance, the Last Post will be played before a minute’s silence to remember those that gave their today for our tomorrow.
The players will wear commemorative armbands sporting poppies, on their left shoulders and the squad will not wear their usual squad numbers but will don the traditional one to eleven – a footballing institution that began 10 years after the Armistice in 1924.
In that same year, Town may not have made it to the FA Cup Final; however, the match, played between Newcastle and Aston Villa, was officiated by Swindon-born William E. Russell – the only Swindonian ever to referee a Cup Final.
Our total squad on the day will include 18 players, and the club felt it poignant that they should mark the 1918 Armistice with the matchday squad wearing numbers one to eighteen on the day.
The fixture fell the day before Remembrance Day in the FA Cup – the oldest club competition in the world – and to remember and reflect on those who have made and who continue to make the greatest sacrifice.
