Proposals for putting together a Great Britain football team for the next Olympic Games have been met with stiff opposition from the SFA, and also reportedly in Northern Ireland and Wales.
It’s been suggested that because the 2012 games are in London, it would be good to have a British team involved in the football tournament, and for once pool the resources of all the home nations into one side. However while it appears as though the English are quite happy with this idea, the other countries are concerned that this would seriously endanger the chances of us all retaining our own identities when it comes to international competition.
I always used to think that it would have been great to see how good a team that Great Britain could have assembled in the past, even if it was just for a one-off tournament, but these days I think I would have to go along with SFA President George Peat, who has strongly opposed any move to involve Scotland. For a start, it’s actually quite difficult to see many non-English players even being considered for such a side these days, which is a situation in stark contrast to what you’d have had 20-25 years ago, when we had several players from Scotland, Wales and to a lesser extent Northern Ireland who’d have walked into one.
But the main reason for being opposed to this of course, is the danger that if a Great Britain team are established for one tournament, then FIFA might demand that it stays this way on a permanent basis, which would effectively end the days of attending football matches involving England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. I can’t imagine that there will be any football fans in the UK who would want this to happen, and if the bigwigs of the various FAs around our islands do feel that this is a realistic possibility, then they surely have to take any action that they can to ensure they prevent it from happening. It’s this fear that has encouraged Peat to have said the following:
‘Some people are encouraging it, including the prime minister.
‘But I can tell you there is no intention whatsoever of us becoming part of team Great Britain.
‘We made up our mind from day one that we didn’t want any part of it and we will resist for as long as I’m here.’
Another reservation I would have about a GB football team in the Olympic Games actually involves the sport itself even being in this event. I don’t really see football as being a true Olympic sport, as it’s already an established professional sport in its own right, and even has its own dedicated event to rival the Olympics in the World Cup, so I’m not convinced it even has a place there. You only have to look at the fact that the Olympic tournament only permits players under 23 years of age to see that it’s a somewhat devalued version of the game too, so is there really any point in having football in this event? I’m not convinced.
It’s not often that the SFA publicly come out with something that is genuinely in the interests of the Scottish game, but I think on this occasion their stance is spot on. In fact, I’m quite intrigued by the fact that the English have not adopted something similar……..
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I just can’t see any Scottish players making it into the GB squad anyway. Suggestions anyone? Also Northern Ireland and Wales would probably be in the same boat. Don’t get me wrong I am not getting jealous about only English players being selected for the squad I actually feel no-one in Scotland is good enough to feature in the team. Look at the British Lions in rugby, the more talented English players, rightly, dominate the squad. I would choose Walcott over Fletcher and Lennon over any young Scottish winger just now.
Craig Gordon?
I would suggest that Craig Gordon would be about it. There may have been a historical slagging off of Scottish keepers in the past but they can’t do this now – James is about their only decent keeper and I’m not sure they’re convinced about him. As a paid up member of the Scotland Supporters Club it’s hardly surprising that I’m absolutely 100% all for the continuation of the Scotland internation team. Personally I don’t tend to follow Olympic football but I’m not against a one-off Team GB (or shouldn’t this be Team UK to include Northern Ireland?!) as such but would want some sort of definitve ruling from FIFA that it WILL NOT affect our status as an independant nation. If it doesn’t then fine but if so – as I believe other nations might press for – they can b****r off! I rather suspect that most English fans see a GB/UK team as no change – the same players and national anthem after all.
Time for my “devil’s advocate” bit here….but if we are EVER to get shot of the OF from our league, I suspect the only way is going to be the formation of a “UK Premier League”. And one way that might come about is if a Team UK is allowed (or encouraged) to compete in a tournament on a regular basis. Could that be the Olympics … or perhaps even the World Cup itself ? After all, Scotland England both struggle to qualify on their own these days. So when the SFA say “No way, Jose”, they may also (knowingly or unknowingly) be trapping the OF forever in Scottish football.
bearing in mind the supposed team gb is 4 years away, theres talk of it having an age limit, 21 being in mind, so theres a good chance scotland could produce some players to star in the team, john fleck of rangers (would be 21) gary glan of hearts (would be around 20) and im sure if sir alex was manager he would probably give young scots a chance, like hes done at man u, by taking them thru the youth set up, countless amounts of scots are and where playing in the youth set up
Yeah ok, but really, what is the point in football even being there if there’s an age limit of 21?
Are they changing the current age limit then (from 23)? Seems a bit pointless if they do – the U21 team more than covers that side of things. I think football as an Olympic sport is a bit pointless – not least because the players don’t get paid for it, nobody cares about the result, and for the good players, it can hurt their pre-season preparations. The Olympics should stick to the traditional sports IMO – like Tiddlywinks or something.
Agreed! By the way they’re talking about golf for 2012…..
It’s a mad mad world…