posted Jan 9, 2009

i am 100% against this GB team. why do we have to have a unified football team for the olympics? why? there is no need for it. very few scottish people consider themselves to be British (myself being one of those people) and 3 out of the four home nations are against it so why continue to pursue it? nonsense

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posted Jan 9, 2009

ive got a new idea that would solve the problems, why don't we split team gb and just have all the home nations have their own olympic team?

it's what they do for the commonwealth games so why not.... mind personally it'd be dissapointing coz chris hoy is unreal

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posted Jan 9, 2009

I think it would be an absolute disgrace if England were entered as a "Great Britain and Northern Ireland" team. I don't even know why it has been put forward. Why not just put Wales, Scotland or Northern Ireland forward? Why aren't those suggestions getting equal air time? I like the idea of the teams playing each other to see who represents at the olympics I think thats fair. I dont really think its fair on other countries in the tournament if we get to pick from four countries.

Another thing that has been bothering me, why on last years BBC sports personality of the year was David Healy not short listed? If It was Wayne Rooney who set a european record for goal scoring then he definately would have made the list. He probably should have scored more as he played against worse teams and is supposedly better than Healy, but to be fair thats neither here nor there.

cheers

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posted Jan 10, 2009

Why is Rugby not an Olympic sport? Could it be that it is because not many Countries play it?

People need to stop comparing the Lions with a UK soccer team. No Rugby body would want a permanant GB team or the 6 Nations would become the 4 Nations and the Rugby World Cup would loose 3 very good teams (being replaced by 1 team).

I have always thought that football should not be at the Olympics and have believed that for years before this team GB debate.

Football is bigger than the Olympics, we have the World Cup and the Euro Finals which take place in the same summers as each Olympic games.

Look at all the Clubs that complained about sending some of their players to China last summer. FIFA and all the regional area's such as Europe have their own tournaments so let footballs governing bodies take care of football and let the Olympics run sports that many of which are of little interest to the majority of people until such time as GB has a chance at winning a medal.

Keep Football out of the Olympics!

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posted Jan 10, 2009

Football should not be an Olympic event. End of.

At least that should be as far as the argument should go however the reality is that for some implausible reason or another it is and certain people seem determined for 'Team GB' (an inaccurate moniker by the way as it ostracises the Northern Irish athletes) to enter a football team in the London 2012 Olympics. I would question the sanity of whoever raised this idea initially as surely they could have foreseen the huge can of worms that it has opened. There are too many irresolvable issues and debates at the heart of this on political, nationalistic and logistic levels and the simplest thing to do would be to acknowledge the fact that football isn't a high profile Olympic event and not bother with the whole farce that is detracting from the efforts of those in other disciplines that are rightfully an integral part of the Olympics and are therefore more deserving of Olympic attention.

Not entering a UK team in the Olympics would also please all the club managers who may have had players taken from them for the start of the league campaign. The timetable clash between Olympic football and domestic football is another argument for its futility. Furthermore, uniquely for an Olympic event, football has age restrictions, with only a limited quota of players aged over 23 permitted, which only serves to add to the proof that it really is no more than a sideshow that irritates clubs, disinterests fans and, evidently, causes unnecessary discussions. The Olympics are there for the world’s finest athletes to prove themselves on a prestigious global stage however football has its own platform for this end in the FIFA World Cup which truly brings together the best footballers on the planet and conjures up one of the most popular sporting events around. So, considering this, is it really necessary for football to tag along at the Olympics in a compromised format?

It seems though that by this stage the madness has descended to such an extent that football is here to stay as an Olympic event, though with the European Championships having preceded it that very summer interest will, as ever, be low in Olympic football in 2012. And yet the campaign for British inclusion in it will rage on, led principally by overly proud Englishmen who one suspects are secretly hoping for concessions to be made to allow England to solely represent the UK in men’s football as they have already been given permission to do so in women’s football. In any case these people hold no fear of the Home Nations losing their privileged independence in FIFA’s eyes because as the largest of these nations any joint British team would, logically, be comprised in the main by English players. As a Scotsman I admit that given the choice between an all England team or a British select being chosen to represent the UK at the 2012 Olympics I would be more at ease in seeing the all England team take to the field as I do not wish to see any unnecessary precedent set which may now seem insignificant but could in years to come be cast back up to seize our national footballing identity from us.

It is with frustration that I see this polemical debate perpetually arise to the fore and yet it appears destined to remain with us until either one side is silenced or the other sees sense.

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posted Jan 10, 2009

If we are to welcome the atheltes of the world to Great Britain we should show them our culture. There is nothing less British than A GB football team! We dont play together and why should the International Olympic Committee (a bunch of jumped-up PE teachers) force us to do something we dont want to do? I dont think anyone wouldn't rather see the 4 teams play so we should either just field four teams anyway or not host a football tournament at all. Why should we manufacture some fake bit of culture for some committee?

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posted Jan 12, 2009

forestom: what an idiot this guy is lol. Doesn't know his politics!

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posted Jan 13, 2009

'Firstly, any GB team could only comprise of Players from England Wales and Scotland as Northern Ireland is not part of the Island of Britain (even if it is part of the UK duristiction) and therefore can not be included under the banner of Team GB'.

What a load of old tosh. There were numerous Northern Irish athletes representing Great Britain at the last Olympics, Wendy Houvenaghel won a silver medal in the cycling. Northern Ireland is governed as a province of Great Britain and as a result qualifies anyone to compete for Great Britain. It is unlikely that any players would get in the squad unless a quota system was introduced, but how would that create the best available team.

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posted Feb 8, 2009

This GB team seems to have more support from the English rather than the Scottish, Welsh and Northern Irish.

Here is something for the English fans to think about. If the GB team does go ahead and UEFA and FIFA insists that only a GB team can represent the future World cups and European championship which also means the EPL and SPL will also have to be reformed.

If UEFA does not recognize English and Scotland that means English and Scottish champions can not compete in the Champions League until a British League has been reformed.

How would the English fans feel if the EPL is forced to let in 2 to 4 SPL teams and 1 to 2 Welsh and Northern Irish teams just to keep UEFA happy?

Remember this happened to the Bundesliga when they were forced to let in a couple of East German teams in when the Berlin Wall fell.

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posted Mar 1, 2009

blatter has done it again eh ! in december he says a team gb is ok by him and fifa . now,in february just before a commitee tasked with working out how to make this happen is due to report to him, guess what this would be bad for the scottish national team as they would lose their independance as a footballing nation at the world cup. says who step forward one sepp blatter. nice

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