Flanelled fools...

Posted by Victoria S Dennis June 03, 2011 at 19:28In reply to Flanelled fools... posted by upkar yadav on June 03, 2011 at 14:27:

As a frequent user of phrases.org.uk I'm not able to find the meaning of phrase "Flanelled fools and muddied oafs". Please help me out.
Thanks

It's a quotation from a Kipling poem, "The Islanders": www.poetryloverspage.com/ poets/kipling/islanders.html

"Flannelled fools" are cricketers (who wear white flannel), and "muddied oafs at the goal" are football (i.e. soccer) players.