Great Britain to have football team for the Olympics

Blackleaf · Great Britain to have football team for the Olympics

England and Northern Ireland are in favour of the Britain football team but Scotland and Wales, showing themselves to be the bad guys in ths, aren't. But for years FIFA, the sport's world governing body, has wanted there to be a Great Britain team rather than having the strange scenaria of one coutnry having 4 national teams.

Home nations in conflict after British Olympic football team gets go-ahead

Duncan Mackay
Saturday September 30, 2006
The Guardian

The British Olympic Association is set to risk a major row by pushing ahead with plans to enter a team for the football tournament at the 2008 Olympic Games and pick players from Scotland and Wales despite opposition from the Football Associations in those countries who fear it could jeopardise their independent status within Fifa and their right to play in international competitions.

A meeting of the four home nations' FAs called by the BOA on Thursday was not attended by the Welsh and Scottish but it was still agreed to enter a British women's team for the 2008 Beijing Games and men's and women's teams for London 2012.

"We will be going ahead anyway and my aspiration is to field the strongest possible teams and I would hope that sports administrators would not hold back their finest footballers, men or women, from
participating in this great event," said Simon Clegg, chief executive of the BOA. "It is the BOA who selects the team to go to the games."

Britain has not qualified for the final stages of the Olympic football tournament since 1960 but an amateur team did continue to try to qualify until 1972, when they were knocked out by a virtually full-strength Bulgarian team. The rules have since changed and the Olympics are open to any player under the age of 23 and in many parts of the world are considered the second most important tournament after the World Cup.

Among those to have publicly supported the idea of Britain competing is the prime minister, Tony Blair.

"The Olympics is a very special occasion and if a player from any of the four countries wanted to play, I think it would be a shame if they were not allowed to participate," said Sir Clive Woodward, the BOA's new director of elite performance. "If the football teams were put together with strong squads and a strong coach I think they would have a real medal chance."

Even though Sepp Blatter, the president of Fifa and a member of the International Olympic Committee, has written to Scotland and Wales to try to reassure them they have nothing to worry about by entering the Olympics, they are still concerned that the international governing bodies would use it as a weapon to force them to compete under a British flag in major tournaments such as the World Cup and European Championships.

Blatter again last night guaranteed the independence of the Scots and Welsh. "We have confirmed in writing that they have to provide a Great Britain team for the 2012 Olympics but the four British associations will not lose the rights and privileges acquired back in 1947," a spokesman for Fifa said. "They will play with one team but it is up to them how they do it. It can be a mixed team, it can be from just one of the home nations, whatever they want to do."

For women, the Olympic football tournament introduced in 1996 is considered to be the most prestigious event in the sport's calendar. A big step forward towards Britain's women's team qualifying for Beijing could be taken tonight if England achieve the point they need against France in Rennes to guarantee their place in the 2007 World Cup in China.

They would then need to finish as one of the three top European sides in that tournament to qualify for the 2008 Olympics. As 2012 hosts, there would be automatic places for both British men's and women's football teams in London.

The row is just one of several issues Woodward will have to deal with after his controversial £300,000-a-year appointment, which upset among others UK Sport and senior London 2012 officials. But England's winning World Cup rugby coach has promised a softly, softly approach following a series of one-to-one meetings with some of the performance directors from the 35 Olympic sports he will oversee.

"It's a totally different role and I fully understand I have to work through other people but even if I am only a very small part of a successful games that would be fantastic," said Woodward.

"The Olympics is going to be such a huge event in this country that we need to bring to the table as many people who can help as possible."

guardian.co.uk

Reluctant Hero · Re: Great Britain to have football team for the Olympics

SLG

The GB Olympic Association have said that they reserve the right to offer places to Scots and Welsh players. This could bring certain players into conflict with their FA. Not good. If the SFA and FAW don't want to be a part of it then all their registered players should be ruled out.

The Lithgae Jambo

I am against the notion of a GB team but would have concerns if the SFA tried to block Scottish players who wanted to play in the Olympics. Shades of Maggie and Moscow....

RadgeJougal

"showing themselves to be the bad guys in ths, aren't."

Bad guys? England plus a bunch of Proddy supremacists from the Irish rust belt?

Of course they want a GBFA, which would be no such thing. Look at the travesty which is the British Lions... Scots barely get a look in, 3 out of 44 on the last tour. Scottish rugby isn't quite that bad. Same would happen with football.

SLG

SLG

They really are desperate for this to go ahead, and it's got nothing to do with any of the football associations. The BOA should stay out of football.

Great Britain to have football team for the Olympics

Re: Great Britain to have football team for the Olympics