Tuesday 30 October 2007

TEAM GB OR TEAM ENGLAND?

OR

All the talk on Sky Sports News today, and all over the press for that matter, has been about this proposed 'Team Great Britain' football team for the London 2012 Olympic Games.

Will it or wont it happen is the question of everyones lips at the moment.

But the latest snag hitting the team has come from across the water from Great Britain, in Northern Ireland. New IFA president Raymond Kennedy is now AGAINST such a move to involve the four home nations together in a one-off tournament. Leaving England as the sole country interested by the team. And it should be remembered that it was former IFA chief Jim Boyce who was 'all for' there being a Great British team in 2012. But new-boy Kennedy's reasoning behind the IFA's 'U-turn' on the team was a follows...

"If this was to happen the IFA would be in a dangerous position. Other federations could seize on the opportunity to say that a GB team could compete in a European Championship or World Cup in the future. I'm not giving anyone the chance to say that. We do not want to compromise our national identity."

The word paranoid might spring to mind!
But, already, the associations of Wales & Scotland respectively, have been opposed to the joint team as they believe it could give FIFA a reason to propose a UK team solely in the future which would take away the four home nations rights to exist as separate footballing nations.

However, it seems the majority of fans of Wales, Scotland & Northern Ireland are very much against it for other reasons, citing 'English arrogance' as a reason behind their opposal to such a team being formed. Here's a few arrogant English fans (why they are so arrogant i do not know - Russia, Croatia and all that) at their best...

comment by pinnacleoffruit:
lol at barry fergerson, come on! so he is better than hargreaves, lampard, barry and more? I dont think so. We saw how good he was when he flopped at blackburn.The only reason the other teams arent that interested is that the GB team would mainly be english players with giggs, bale and gordon.

comment by liverpool_4_tital:
we (england) dont need wales and scotlad with us they wouldnt have any players in the team!

Typical, you might think. But lets be honest about this, a team representing Great Britain would be prodominantly full of English players, wheres the 'unity' in that?

If indeed it were to go ahead it would HAVE to be:

6 English
6 Scottish
6 Welsh
6 Northern Irish
+ a coaching squad containing EQUAL numbers from the four associations.


Only then, should the Home Nations be all for it.