Carlisle and Jamie Devitt have clarified why the Irish midfielder was not able to wear a poppy armband during Saturday's League Two match against Newport - because it would not stay on his "twig arms".
Both the club and Devitt took to Twitter following questions over why the 28-year-old did not sport the armband in the game at Brunton Park, which the home side won 3-2.
Carlisle explained it was purely down to the armband not fitting properly, which the player passed onto the referee having held it in place during the minute's silence ahead of kick-off.
The club also later posted a picture showing the midfielder (no.10 below), who scored twice during the first half, wearing the armband while with the rest of his team in the centre-circle.
Just to put this one to bed, still getting a few questions, you can see from the line up pic that the armband worn by @jamiedevitt11 is already falling down. He highlighted it before the game and did the best thing he could in the situation, in our opinion. pic.twitter.com/ELjE5pQmlF
— Carlisle United FC (@officialcufc) November 5, 2018
Devitt wrote on Twitter: "People given me s**t for not wearing the armband clearly shows I have it on here but because I have twig arms it was falling down when I moved so after the minutes silence I decided to remove it as it wouldn't stay on #skinnymanproblems #twigarms #??."
People given me shit for not wearing the armband clearly shows I have it on here but because I have twig arms it was falling down when I moved so after the minutes silence I decided to remove it as it wouldn’t stay on #skinnymanproblems #twigarms #🤐 https://t.co/Vsz5GFT4z2
— Jamie Devitt (@jamiedevitt11) November 5, 2018
Earlier on Monday, the club moved to set the record straight in a series of posts via the official Carlisle Twitter account.
"We've been asked by some fans why Jamie Devitt didn't have a poppy armband on during the game on Saturday. He'd spoken to a few people about the issue before kick off, because it wouldn't stay on," the statement read.
"The solution he came up with was to carry it to the centre circle put it on his arm, and secure it there by pressing his arm to the side of his body, during the minute of silence. He was then to hand the armband to the ref at a convenient moment, which he did, because there was no way it was staying in place as he moved around."
A subsequent post added: "Just to put this one to bed, still getting a few questions, you can see from the line up pic that the armband worn by @jamiedevitt11 is already falling down.
"He highlighted it before the game and did the best thing he could in the situation, in our opinion."
PA
