[edit] Poppies

Wreaths of artificial poppies used as a symbol of remembrance.

Poppies are sold every year as an act of remembrance to fallen soldiers at war.
The poppy's significance to Remembrance Day is a result of Canadian military physician John McCrae's poem In Flanders Fields. The poppy emblem was chosen because of the poppies that bloomed across some of the worst battlefields of Flanders in World War I, their red colour an appropriate symbol for the bloodshed of trench warfare. An American YMCA Overseas War Secretaries employee, Moina Michael, was inspired to make 25 silk poppies based on McCrae's poem, which she distributed to attendees of the YMCA Overseas War Secretaries' Conference.[32] She then made an effort to have the poppy adopted as a national symbol of remembrance, and succeeded in having the National American Legion Conference adopt it two years later. At this conference, a Frenchwoman, Anna E. Guérin, was inspired to introduce the widely used artificial poppies given out today. In 1921 she sent her poppy sellers to London, England, where they were adopted by Field Marshall Douglas Haig, a founder of the Royal British Legion, as well as by veterans' groups in Canada, Australia and New Zealand. The annual selling of poppies is the major source of income for the Royal British Legion in the UK. The poppy has no particular price, it is sold for a donation or the price may be suggested by the individual vendor. The black plastic centre of the poppy was marked "Haig Fund" until 1994.[33]
A small number of people choose to wear white poppies to indicate a preference to look forward to peace rather than backward at the sacrifice. Those who wear the white poppy have, since their introduction in the nineteen twenties, expressed their desire for peaceful alternatives to military action, which may be due to a variety of reasons from the religious, the humanitarian, legal or economic. White Poppies may be home-made, or they are sold by the Peace Pledge Union [34] in the U.K. The Co-operative Women's Guild produced White Poppies in 1933, along with white poppy wreaths.[35] Some of the early white poppies were made of white silk and silver, with the word PEACE across the metal button at the centre.

LORIK CANA

Lorik Cana ( born 27 July 1983) is an Albanian footballer, who currently plays for Sunderland as a defensive midfielder and the Albania national football team. He is also the captain at Sunderland and vice-captain for Albania at international level. He carved his reputation as a strong, tenacious tackler and a leader on the field during his duration in France with Paris Saint-Germain and Marseille.

Paris Saint-Germain

He was invited over by Arsenal at the age of sixteen for a trial, but failed to attend because he was denied English passport.^[1] At Paris Saint-Germain he spent three years working through the ranks of the French club. Lorik finally broke into their first team in 2003 and quickly became one of their main players. During the 2003–04 season, he played 32 games and scored one goal, as the team won the Coupe de France and finished second in the French Division 1 league, proving to be one of the most successful seasons of his career so far. This was repeated the next season when he also played 32 games for the Paris team and scored one goal.

Marseille

However, at the beginning of the 2005–06 season, there was a change of coach at Paris Saint-Germain and Cana fell out of favour. This prompted him to move to the south of France to join the most successful club in French history, Marseille. Since joining Marseille, he has cemented his place in the starting eleven, and scored the winning goal in the first match between his new club (Olympique de Marseille) and his former club (Paris Saint-Germain). He also became team captain since the departure of the former captain Habib Beye to Newcastle United during the summer of 2007.

Sunderland

Cana joined Sunderland on a four-year contract for a fee of around £5 million on 24 July 2009.^[2] He was soon handed the team's captaincy by manager Steve Bruce,^[3] although Bruce later stated a captain had yet to be appointed.^[4] On 15 August Cana made his league debut for Sunderland and contributed with an impressive performance in a 1–0 win over Bolton Wanderers. He has also enjoyed Man Of The Match performances over Chelsea and Blackburn Rovers, becoming a fans favourite already at the club.^[5] He was appointed as Sunderland's captain for the 2009–10 season on 3 September.^[6]

International career

Lorik Cana was eligible to play for either Switzerland, Albania or France, as he has all three passports.^{[citation needed]} Cana has been involved with the Albania national football team since early 2003, after receiving a call-up byfrom their federation. He accepted the invitation and made his international debut on 11 June, at the age of just 19. On 12 September 2007, he was sent off by referee Mike Riley in the 87th minute of Albania's home game against the Netherlands, after an altercation with Wesley Sneijder and Ruud van Nistelrooy. His team conceded a late goal to lose 0–1 shortly after the dismissal. Since his first call-up to the team he has made 36 appearances and scored 1 goal for Albania.