GREAT Britain will field a football team at the 2012 London Olympics even if the squad only includes English players, the government said yesterday.
The pledge was made by Gerry Sutcliffe, the sports minister, who dismissed MPs' arguments that the idea of a Team GB had little support outside England.
Craig Brown, the former Scotland manager, travelled to London yesterday to support the debate
raised by Pete Wishart of the SNP.
He said he feared Fifa would use an amalgamated Olympic soccer squad to wipe out Scotland's stand-alone football team. "For me, it's not a political issue, it's a football issue. No-one I know in Scotland supports this," Mr Brown said, adding, that Fifa could use a UK side as an "opportunity to join the four nations in future competitions".
In a Westminster debate, Mr Wishart, MP for Perth and North Perthshire, argued that the four home nations should be allowed compete as individual teams.
"We should do absolutely nothing that would ever threaten our independent football status," Mr Wishart said.
"We should never give a hint of a precedent that might be able to be used against us in the future, we should give no reason, no excuse to those who would question our independent footballing status, no succour to those who would seek to end the very generous arrangements we have in the UK."
Rob Shorthouse, spokesman for the Scottish Football Association, said the football teams of Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland were all unified in their opposition to Team GB.
"Any politician who continues to push the agenda of a such a damaging venture should do so in the knowledge that they are going against the wishes of the majority of the football family in the UK," he said.
"Quite how the minister responsible for sport can say that he is prepared to back the minority view over the express wishes of the majority is quite beyond us."
Mr Sutcliffe had argued that there should be a team that has the widest reputation from the UK after Gordon Brown raised the issue of an amalgamated team for the 2012 Games.
Fifa had given written assurances that a UK side in 2012 would not affect the national teams, Mr Sutcliffe said.
However, he said "there has always been and will continue to be a threat to that individuality because of the way Fifa is evolving", irrespective of the 2012 issue.
Speaking in a debate at parliament's Westminster Hall he said: "What a farce it would be to have those qualification games in Wales and Scotland without the possibility of British participation."
Asked if a purely English team would play if the other home nations boycotted the event, Mr Sutcliffe said: "That is correct and that is the sad fact of what is going to happen unless we can try and resolve this issue."
Lord Coe, chairman of the London Organising Committee, said: "My views on this are well known. I've always been very clear: I hope we can reach a resolution where we get the best players representing all parts of Great Britain in the team."
The full article contains 530 words and appears in The Scotsman newspaper.
