War of the Poppies: RSA opts for British oak leaf design, RSA rebels go for the fern
Two new poppies for Poppy Day 2026. On the left, the poppy being imported by the NZ Returned and Services Association is a British poppy that marks Armistice Day. It carries an oak leaf set at 11 o'clock to mark the end of conflict in World War One. The poppy on the right is from the Auckland Veterans Association, a group of rebel RSAs that broke away from the national body. It uses a variation on the traditional poppy but has a fern and the words "New Zealand" on the black centre.
This year’s Poppy Day will look quite different as the traditional poppy is moved on with two new replacements. David Fisher reports
Poppy Day this year will be marked by the national body of the RSA with a poppy from Britain bearing an oak leaf and designed to commemorate Armistice Day, which is in November.
The move has opened a fresh front between the NZ Returned and Services Association, which is offering the poppy with the oak leaf, and a group of breakaway rebel clubs launching its own new poppy - carrying a fern.
The NZRSA’s new poppy has an oak leaf set at 11 o’clock to mark the “11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month”.
Those famous words enshrine 11am on November 11 in 1918 as the moment the armistice came into effect, bringing to an end fighting on the Western Front in World War I.
While an important date in New Zealand history, it is far surpassed by Anzac Day which is commemorated in April.
Poppy Day is held on the Friday before Anzac Day which this year will be April 24 - the same date as New Zealand’s first Poppy Day in 1922.
NZRSA chief executive Evan Williams said the new poppy had been decided after consultation with clubs and replaced the traditional poppy which had become more costly and difficult to manufacture.
Williams said the poppy itself followed the “Haig design” that was familiar to New Zealanders. The style was created by the Earl Haig Fund - named for Field Marshal Douglas Haig - to raise money for returned servicemen and their families.
The Fund standardised the poppy’s look and the design spread through much of the Commonwealth, including New Zealand.
Williams confirmed that the poppy - which will be fully made of paper and biodegradable - would carry the oak leaf as it was the Royal British Legion design. It also did not need a pin as it was attached by adhesive.
“The poppy symbol in red and the centre in black is exactly the same. The British Legion one has a (oak) leaf set at 11 o’clock time.”
Williams said the first shipment had just arrived in the country and was available for purchase by associations across the country.
Information provided to clubs by the NZRSA said the new poppy was available in boxes of 2000 and would cost about $140 a box. The clubs were told it offered a “significant saving on the former plastic-based poppy” which costs $64.95 for a box of 500.
On a per-poppy basis, the new ones cost about seven cents each while the old ones were about 13 cents each.
The poppies are offered by clubs in return for a donation and form the backbone of fundraising for returned service people and their families.
Williams said in recent years the plastic-stemmed poppy had been made in New Zealand but it was becoming difficult to sustain. He said the machinery where the poppies were made was requiring more maintenance “and the cost was going up and up and up”.
“The RBL (Royal British Legion) poppy is half the price of the old ones and they gave us the rate they charge their associations.”
Williams said those savings would be passed on to the clubs.
He said there was a consultation process with clubs to pick the new poppy which took place before he joined the organisation. The decision was then made by the NZRSA’s presidents’ forum, made up of club presidents from across the country.
Asked if he considered the oak leaf an issue, he said: “Not personally, no.”
And asked about how the oak leaf at 11 o’clock fitted with Anzac Day, he said: “The bottom line is the poppy is what it is.”
Rival faction brings in rival poppy
Graham Gibson, president of the Auckland Veterans Association as the rebel alliance of RSA clubs is now known, said the group would be offering its own poppy which was being made in New Zealand.
He said the poppy would follow the same traditional design as the other - two large red petals and a black centre - but be presented without an oak leaf in the way New Zealanders recognised.
The black centre would feature a fern and the words “New Zealand”, following the form used on the graves of those who died in service.
“What’s the relevance of an oak leaf to New Zealand? A pōhutukawa or fern would make a lot of sense. And at 11 o’clock?”
Gibson said Armistice Day was important to Australia, Britain and Canada but remembrance in New Zealand was all about Anzac Day.
“It’s actually insulting.”
The Auckland Veterans’ Association has emerged as the umbrella group for Auckland and rebel RSAs that broke away from the national body after a disagreement over the way a new RSA constitution was instituted across clubs around the country. A judgment is yet to return from a High Court judicial review of the process.
Amidst the disagreement, Gibson was removed from the NZRSA’s presidents’ forum last year.
The Herald challenged Gibson over Williams’ assertion the presidents’ forum had approved the Royal British Legion poppy.
“When certain members voiced their objections, they were talked down,“ he claimed.
Gibson said he believed the new fern was a “bad idea”.
Local councils and the war grave restoration and commemoration organisation, the NZ Remembrance Army, have raised concerns about plastic-stemmed poppies littering cemeteries.
Minister for Veterans Chris Penk wouldn’t be drawn on the poppy debate but spoke of the symbol’s importance to remembrance in New Zealand.
“The poppy is a hugely significant symbol in the context of Anzac Day.”
He said the “blood red” poppy was a powerful symbol of sacrifice and service, reflecting its origins in World War I and its association with the battlefields of Flanders.
For those who chose to wear the poppy, he said: “It a way to show visible support”.
John McCrae’s 1915 poem In Flanders Fields immortalised the image of the red poppy and post-war remembrance campaigns turned that image into a widely recognised emblem.
Simon Strombom - Afghanistan veteran and founder of the Remembrance Army - also wouldn’t be drawn into the poppy stoush.
He said ceramic poppies were the best to be placed with graves of those who served. He said paper poppies had also posed a threat to marble headstones if they were placed there as part of commemorations because of the potential for the dye to run and stain.
Strombom had previously raised issue over the plastic stem remnants found strewn across cemeteries in the wake of Anzac Day.
New Zealand’s poppy tradition is tied to the RSA’s first Poppy Day appeal which was intended for Armistice Day in November 1921.
It ordered silk poppies made for Madame Anna Guérin’s French Children’s League.
The shipment arrived too late to organise properly for Armistice Day so the RSA held its first appeal on 24 April 1922, the eve of Anzac Day.
Since then, New Zealand’s poppy appeal has been associated with Anzac Day rather than Armistice Day in November.
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