BOA in no rush to make decision on Great Britain Olympic football team
THE British Olympic Association are still harbouring hopes that the Great Britain football teams at London 2012 will feature players from all four home nations.
HOPEFUL: British Olympic Association chief executive Andy Hunt still hoping for an Olympic football team with all four home nations (Getty Images)
Great Britain have not entered the Olympic football competition since 1960 but will qualify automatically in two years' time as the home nation.
Political wranglings have made the issue of a Great Britain football team a thorny one with the Northern Irish, Welsh and Scottish FAs wary of an overpowering English presence.
Their concerns are that the Olympic team would serve as a Trojan horse for unification, meaning the other home nations would lose their independent status with world governing body Fifa.
The three FAs in opposition have long been forthright in their stance but last year confirmed they would not stand in the way if a team comprised entirely of English players was formed - a move backed by then Sports Minister Gerry Sutcliffe.
His replacement, Hugh Robertson, has put the resolution of the issue towards the top of his list of priorities while Lord Sebastian Coe yesterday claimed the British public still wanted to see a team comprised of players from all four nations.
And BOA chief executive Hunt confirmed a final decision is far from set in stone.
"We have not resigned ourselves to the fact that the team is just going to be English, our position is that we continue to work with the FA and the home nations on finding a solution," said Hunt.
"We need to resolve how we are going to field a GB men's and women's football team and I sincerely hope that will be the case and we will continue discussions with the FA in the coming months.
"Hopefully we will reach a conclusion point and a set of qualification and selection criteria to make sure we can field a British men's and women's team at London 2012."
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You know what, screw the
You know what, screw the FAs, they should just throw the whole thing open to whoever in these islands wants to have a crack at joining a GB&NI team; trials all over the land, an Olympics football X-Factor. That would drum up enthusiasm and shut up all the small-mindedness..
England fans should be just as wary as the others!
This comment sums up the whole problem: "Their concerns are that the Olympic team would serve as a Trojan horse for unification, meaning the other home nations would lose their independent status with world governing body Fifa." Why wouldn't England lose it's independent status? Whenever you read about this situation it implies that there is a risk for Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland but not for England. If FIFA did force the UK to have one team becaue they united for the Olympics then England would have as much to lose as the other nations, if not more as their history includes a world cup win. Imagine the oldest national football team being wound up to be replaced by 'Team GB&NI'. The BOA are pushing this because they know international football gets incredible support so it would help make a successful London 2012. The FA are keen because they have been given the job. What if the GB&NI team did well or even won? What then? Would there be a call to create a GB&NI U21 team to qualify for the next Olympics? Qualification is at U21 level through FIFA/UEFA competition. So to be included it would mean trading in all the home nation teams (including England). The BOA would be happy but I don't think most football fans would be.
When Lord Coe claims that
When Lord Coe claims that 'the British public want to see a GB team' I suspect the sample population used is predominantly English.
Whilst it's almost certain that people in England would be enthusiastic at seeing a 'GB' team which would have a marginally better chance at winning than an English team (but would still, almost certainly, be referred to as 'England' by the rest of the world), I doubt that the sentiment is shared as enthusiastically by Welsh, Scots and Northern Irish counterparts. If anything the sentiment in other parts of the UK would probably be more to have their own Olympic teams (as practically every other sport is represented by the constituent countries rather than 'GB', so why not the Olympics?).
What about the curlers at
What about the curlers at the Winter Olympics - all of them were Scottish, men and women's teams, including the coaches, and they played under the GB banner. Then week's later, albeit with a few changes but still all Scots, they played at the World Championships as Scotland.
Whats wrong.. ?
No offence Bro but i think your completely irrelevant or you need to explain your point a bit more..!
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