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'We won't budge on Team GB' say Wales

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Published Date: 03 October 2008
By BARRY JOHNSTON
THE Scottish Football Association's steadfast opposition to joining a united Great Britain football team for the 2012 Olympics in London has received renewed support from their counterparts in Wales.
Olympics chief Lord Coe this week was reported to have claimed there will be a British side at the 2012 Games – whether Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland like it or not.

However, Welsh FA secretary David Collins insisted: "We're not for budging on this, it's as simple as that. We have taken a decision to have nothing to do with a GB United side and that remains the case.

"To be honest, any pressure that is being brought to bear seems to be coming only from London.

"I can understand, on the back of the huge GB success in Beijing, the banging of the drums, the call for a GB soccer team for an Olympics hosted in London. If any of our players put their hand up and said they wanted to play in the Olympics, they would not be able to do it.

"They are Welsh players and we would not give them permission.

"As such, they could not play in a GB team. That has been our stance, that will continue to be our stance."

Coe's hopes for a GB team have received support from Prime Minister Gordon Brown, but the football associations in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland are continuing to resist the pressure because of fears they would lose their independent status within Fifa.


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1

PJ07,

03/10/2008 00:35:20
For the benefit of any of your more confused readers. It doesn't matter if there are any Scottish players included in the UKGB&NI team. The fact that we would be represented by a combined team will be enough to kill of our soccer independence.
All the helpful suggestions about playoffs to decide which team should go or just having an all english team are a waste of time.
All those countries who voted to exterminate Scotland a few years ago will have all the ammunition they need to finish the task.

The only two solutions are to prevent the Britnats from sending a team or send a Scottish team to the Olympic Games(pre of post independence,doesn't really matter).

2

Bzzzz,

Edinburgh 03/10/2008 01:30:00
Still no mention of Lord Coe's comments in the London Paper?

Direct quote "When asked last night about opposition from the Welsh and Scots,Coe replied bluntly: "F***them!"

Funny how The Britsman hasn't reported this...
3

watcha,

03/10/2008 01:46:23
We should be concerned - Sebastian Coe is on the fifa ethics commitee? Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland should be acting fast to do something about this situation. Whining about it in the papers won't help; they need action.

It will be interesting to see what happens on this matter as many other countries have political territories and districts that compete as seperate nations but are politically unified.

Will they be in danger of being forced into the parent body based on political structure?

Would be interested to see the countries and territories that share political unity but compete seperately in football.

I'm sure its not just England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.

gav
4

james 1st,

hamilton nz 03/10/2008 04:47:42
# 3 and 6
obviously you would prefer to watch an english team as you hail from dorset, oh sorry you called it team gb
great britain to 99% of the world is england, so i stand by my comment that you would prefer to watch an english team
5

Political Exile,

Crossing the Bridge 03/10/2008 07:35:58
Strange that the world famous sporting nation of Wales should take this opportunity to vent their opposition to being sportingly British for one competition. They're so proud of their Millennium Stadium and it is destined to be hosting some of the Olympic Football tournament yet they don't want to see Jones, Thomas, Williams or Davies playing against top class opposition! Perhaps the London 2012 guys should move the venue out of the Principality once and for all.
6

Bigwull,

edinburgh 03/10/2008 08:13:31
Wales is just a Principality of England anyway isn't it? It's an under 23 comp as well, Rangers players will want to play, Celtic players will not, sad but true, right now could only see Craig Gordon in the squad possibly as no 1 choice
7

GrahamH,

Edinburgh 03/10/2008 08:30:21
#8. Great idea, let them spend more millions of our money on another stadium for the South East.
8

Nell,

Far from the Struan 03/10/2008 08:45:36
No. 9:- If its under 23 then Craig Gordon is too old and Rangers players will pull out due to injury.
No. 6:- No, you are wrong, the reason is that the Welsh FA would cease to exist if FIFA decree that a British team should play at the World Cup etc. (ditto Scotland)
Personally I dont think professional footballers should be playing at the Olympics. If they are going to send any team then send players from non league teams.
9

Who?,

03/10/2008 09:16:24
A slow news day chaps?

Firstly there has to be a GB team. That was one of the stipulations laid down by the IOC when they awarded the games to London. The host nation must compete in every event.

Secondly its an under 23 tournament that allows a couple of over age players. FIFA has no durisdiction over the games, clubs don't have to release players for the tournament, results from the tournament don't go towards FIFA world rankings- Any questions on this?

Its a one off team for a one off games nothing else. FIFA can decree the death of the individual UK teams. A resolution would need to be passed to allow a vote, if the vote succeeded it would need to be ratified by a comittee which has the UK vice presedent sitting on it- the UK vice presedent has a veto vote.

If all of the above happened and a UK team was forced upon us then the same logic would need to be applied to teams across the globe. At no other time in history has the world ever seen so many self determining countries most of which are members of FIFA. As a lot of these countries are protectorits of larger nations i can't see any of them voting for this.

The only nations who want a united GB team are france and spain as it will stop the basques demands for their own team- no one else!
10

Nevsky,

Moscow 03/10/2008 09:34:07
Coe is an egotistical and arrogant pratt and i much preferred Ovett anyway.

What right has he got to say there will be a team there anyway and to tell anyone to 'f**k off'. Needs a good slap!
11

paulmac,

surrey 03/10/2008 09:47:49
#5

The difference with the UK and other nations is....we have individual votes on the Fifa council....giving the UK 4 votes when every one else has 1

This is what sticks in the throats of other nations....and why they want it changed!
12

steveenglandandGB,

03/10/2008 10:34:06
My goodness, the insecurity and ill feeling. Right a few things:

1. Get the Coe quote right. He wasn't asked "what do you think of scottish and welsh people". He was asked "what about the Scottish and Welsh FA (yes football association not people) non support of Team GB". Rightly he said "****them". It's not down to Scottish Welsh OR ENglish FA to decide if we can have a team representing GB, if they don't want it fine, let's have one with just English. Likewise if England pulled out but Scotland wanted in, I would think "**** English".

Some people here just need to grow up.

2. Stop blaming English people for the rest of the worlds perception that UK is England. Sorry, not our fault. Maybe if Scottish people spent more time PROMOTING their country rather than purely knocking England the whole time, they would have more identity.

3. Scotland have a lot of good young players coming through and if not competing in Olympics as Scotland in 2012, it would seem a great opportunity to blood some of the guys in the GB team, as many would get in.

4. I totally understand how some of my compatriots alienate Scots with naive, ignorant comments. I apologise on their behalf but please don't judge England by then, any more than I judge Scotland by some (note the word SOME) of the idiotic reactionary posts in here.
13

steveenglandandGB,

03/10/2008 10:37:33
Oh and finally I should have said, why all the fuss anyway about one competition in the Olympics? Let's be honest Team GB would take on the traits of Scotland and England, namely a diastrous combination of raising game against good team before struggling against a minnow, then losing on penalties and blaming the referee.

It's not like we would win Gold anyway.
14

dublinH.F.C.,

DUBLIN 03/10/2008 11:00:01
Stick team GB up yer a.rse
stick team GB up yer a.rse

stick team GB
stick team GB

Stick team GB up yer a.rse

This has been an argument for years, nobody wanted it then, and becuae the Olympics are being held in Engurland now they wwant it......horlicks!!

Independence Pre 2012.......England wants that, Scotland Wants that, Wales wants that!!!! The people have apoken Vive La Revolution!!!

All Scots should just boycott the whole event!!!

Vive La Revolution!!!

We can replace Guy Fawkes with Seb Coe on Bonfire night!!!!
15

Aliistair,

edinburgh 03/10/2008 11:02:53
NEVER NEVER NEVER LOSE OUR FOOTBALL IDENTITY. AVOID INGERLAND ASSOCIATION AT ALL COSTS
16

Iain MS,

Newcastle 03/10/2008 11:07:56
The Scotland, Wales and NI associations have perfectly good reasons to resist this. Personally I wouldn't object to a GB & NI team, but the negatives would far outweigh the positives. There are plenty in FIFA who would jump at the chance to reduce our influence in world football. What we need to remember is that FIFA with less UK representation, means less English representation too. It wouldn't just be the end of seperate Welsh, Scottish and NI teams, there would be no ENGLAND team anymore either....and just when those England fans have managed to work out the colour of their flag too. They'd have to go back to the Union Jack.
17

Scotsman in Dublin,

03/10/2008 11:29:01
#16, I dont think anyone is blaming the "English people" of today for the worlds perception that the UK = England but how exactly do you think that perception came about? Do you think that it was Scottish people that spread that perception? The reality is that is WAS English people of the past who spread this perception around the world and there are many who still do. Lets face it when Nelson said "England Expects" it was the BRITISH navy he was representing. The Bank of England continue to represent the UK and Church of England clergy were the only church members represented in the UK goverment. Whether you like it or not it WAS English people who created this perception.
18

AJ Fife,

03/10/2008 11:41:15
#18,

A Seb Coe effigy seems like a very good idea!
19

Big Geordie,

EDINBURGH 03/10/2008 12:13:55
Maybe I'm being thick but I was always under the impression that the Olympics was an amateur competition, and on turning professional, sportsmen and women no longer have the right to compete for a place in the games. Which would mean that any national players from any of the home nations would be inelligible.

Oh, and one other thing - since when was Northern Ireland part of Great Britain? It is certainly part of the UK, or the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Norther Ireland to give it its sunday name, but it definitely ain't part of GB.
20

Big Geordie,

EDINBURGH 03/10/2008 12:16:50
That said, I'd rather watch paint dry than football.
21

steveenglandandGB,

03/10/2008 12:32:51
#23 Northern Ireland is not part of Great Britain but part of UK and due to sensitivities in NI athletes there get a chance to represent GB OR Ireland, depending on their allegiance. Whilst boxers usually opt for Ireland as boxing is across Ireland as one union, football players tend to be more on the seeing themselves as British in Northern Ireland.

#21 Oh so it's England's fault again lol. Yes you are so right, when i go abroad foremost in my mind is to indotrinate foreigners into believing that Scotland and Wales are part of England.

For goodness sake G R O W U P. Stop blaming England for all your failings both personally and as a country.

There are some bad things about England and its history but Scotland too. Stop reading your one sided history books and get a balanced picture.

I am determined that I will educate the dimmer members of this forum (thankfully there are some exceptions here).
22

Nell,

Far from the Struan 03/10/2008 13:03:57
STEVENENGLAND No. 16:- Where in any of the preceding comments is anyone blaming the English for thinking its the UK. It would seem to be your perception and problem.
As for Coe's comments, I would not expect a lord of the land to come out with such a ridiculous and offensive remark no matter who it is about. Would he not be better to try and convince the Welsh, Scottish and NI FA's to come round to his way of thinking. Unlikely now with those comments.
23

Bzzzz,

Edinburgh 03/10/2008 14:05:28
stevenengland, it is YOU that is the paranoid one, there is no mention of anyone blaming the poor english here or saying Coe was talking about the Scots or Welsh, read it again, there's a clever boy.
24

steveenglandandGB,

03/10/2008 14:24:08
Bzzz, I believe if you read some of the posts above you will see plenty of blame. Do I really need to quote from others' posts?

I am equally as foreright in my views when english muppets behave like kids on sites too so this is no attack on any 'people'.

I just yearn for mature adult internet discussion. Usually any football forum in here changes to Rangers V Celtic whatever the topic is.

Oh and my wife is scottish so I have some links, I want our two kids to consider themselves half scottish and half english, despite being and bred (probably) south of the border. So I have plenty of interests in Scottish affairs.

Because of the above, and passport issues, I would like union to remain but I recognise that on this board that is unpopular belief!

25

Alan B,

03/10/2008 15:25:30
#steveenglandandGB

You seem to have ingnored on of the fundamental issues.

If the uk participates as one then will the football teams of the home nations and some of the privledges they enjoy be under threat. The answer to that is possibily. As such it would be silly unless you do not care for you own national team to want to participate in this event.

England have the least issue with it as they probably do not have a big issue with all the home nation football teams joining as one anyway as they would dominate any future uk team. England commentators in the past have always surmised whether England would win certain international trophies if only they could add the odd one or two from the other home nations. In the 90s it was Giggs.

It is also not just about the existence of the individual teams but the privlegdges all the home nations get which are resented by other nations who may not get these privledges. If we were one you could be sure it would be England that would again dominate.

The solution is either:
- enter different olympic teams.
- have a competition with the winner representing the uk
- do not enter a football team to the olympics. the oplympics is not about football. And should not be an olympic sport.
26

jerrymanders,

03/10/2008 16:46:43
#32

Well that explanation just about sums up the problem.









What a condescending tw*t.
27

steveenglandandGB,

03/10/2008 17:41:52
I do agree that Coe was still unwise to say what he did but I think his comments have been taken slightly out of context.

I absolutely agree that Scotland, Wales and NI should not risk losing their independent status in football so not expecting them to join. My point is just that I don' t think that should preclude a GB team being represented by England if other parties aren't interested.

As I said earlier, it really is a storm in the tea cup because be it English, SCottish, Welsh, NI players or a mixture of them all, they'll bottle it in the quarter finals anyway so it's much ado about nothing really!

But debates are always fun and are more interesting than work most of the time.

Good weekend everyone.
28

jerrymanders,

03/10/2008 17:56:40
#33
Your arguement (lol) was missing from the centre section, looks not unlike hot air......

It's a shame your "argument" wasn't missing.

#37

What an intelligent riposte!!!!!!!!!!
29

jerrymanders,

03/10/2008 18:26:16
#39

"Knet", but I thought you were a "Kent"?
30

faddy,

Hampden in the sun. 03/10/2008 19:10:58
Who could or would support a British team. No Scotsman that I know.I don't care if England play as GB.Let them. We need to beat Norway not win olympic medals. We'll leave that to Chris Hoy and others.
31

Dave Scott,

Broughty Ferry, Angus 03/10/2008 21:26:27
Dear steveenglandandGB,

I am not spoiling for a fight/argument/tirade but I am going to take issue with some of the things you write - fair play?

Let's take this one:
"I do agree that Coe was still unwise to say what he did but I think his comments have been taken slightly out of context."

Let's think about this for all of about one microsecond:
What if Andy Murray had said **** English FA?
Would any Scottish defence of him as having been "taken slightly out of context" be acceptible to English ears? His misplaced comment on the World Cup has given many an English person the right to withdraw from supporting him in tennis events ... and he was just a surly teenager not a 'Lord of the realm' and politician.

Seems to me that Coe has made the bigger blunder. Does he now think that he has endeared himself to the non-English?
32

Dave Scott,

Broughty Ferry, Angus 03/10/2008 21:34:44
Dear steveenglandandGB

Here I go again ...

My goodness, the insecurity and ill feeling. Right a few things:

"Stop blaming English people for the rest of the worlds perception that UK is England. Sorry, not our fault. "

We don't. It is - simple as that.

"Maybe if Scottish people spent more time PROMOTING their country rather than purely knocking England the whole time, they would have more identity."

Come on, the biggest knockers (nudge, nudge) of everyone else are the English. There are plenty of Scottish jokes about Scots and plenty Irish jokes about the Irish but while living 9 years in England I never heard a joke by an English person about the English. Scottish knocking of the English is because it's only the English (historically and politically) that affect our way of life that often disagrees with us.
If the Germans held that kind of sway over us all our jokes would be aimed at them.

"Scotland have a lot of good young players coming through and if not competing in Olympics as Scotland in 2012, it would seem a great opportunity to blood some of the guys in the GB team, as many would get in."

Yes, but we would lose out longer term

"I totally understand how some of my compatriots alienate Scots with naive, ignorant comments. I apologise on their behalf but please don't judge England by them"
Generally we don't, underneath the prickliness we're a lot fairer-minded than that.

"any more than I judge Scotland by some (note the word SOME) of the idiotic reactionary posts in here."

Good on ya :-)

Room for dialogue?
33

steveenglandandGB,

03/10/2008 22:14:41
Dave scott, always room for dialogue mate.

Take issue though with you on a few things. Andy Murray's comment about England football team, who says that 'lots of English now don't support him because of that'. You are believing the same press hype that you so readily are prepared to criticise when the press go the other way. I am a keen follower of tennis, english and live in ENgland, i know lots of people and i don't know ONE English person who was the slightest bit offended by his comment. Pure banter and I wouldn't expect him to support England (not care).

Andy Murray gets great support from all British fans, of course there are some that don't support him but frankly, and I admit this is a punt, but I would wager more ENglish people support Murray than did Henman. Henman opened up the class war in England which tapped into some insecurities within some people making him unsupportable.

Please mate don't make out that 'the english' in general care about a fun comment made from Murray, just because presumably some pratt on some daytime phone in complained.

One other challenge. To say the English don't mock themselves is absolutely ludicrous. I don't know a nation who knocks themselves more! How many jokes can we have about penalty shoot outs, having no identity, class jokes about stuffiness, English idiots abroad, hooligans. I'm sorry mate but that comment you made is the most outraegous accusation I have ever heard. The english are known for self mocking (and yes I admit mocking others as well).

Unlike one or two others I recognise that you are intelligent but it seems even you have occasional lapses and get caught up in the "Generalisation Game", or the hype in the anti English press.
34

WL,

livingston 04/10/2008 20:09:46
I do not think that Scotland should be part of a "Team GB". If there is to be a team for the UK (it should include Northern Ireland) it should be called "Team UK". Anyway, it is better not to be in the "Team GB/UK".
It will not be long before there will be a "Team Scotland" in the Olympics.

 

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