POSTED: November 3rd 2011
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JOHN GOODBODY: Football a toss up for British team at London 2012
THE JOHN GOODBODY COLUMN / An authoritative and exclusive series from Sports Features Communications
LONDON: The only sport for which tickets still remain available for the 2012 Olympics is football, which may seem curious given that it is overwhelmingly the most popular sport in Britain.
However, despite the huge interest in many countries in the competition, Britain has not bothered to enter a team since 1972. This will change next year.
It has always been inconceivable that London should host the Games without the host nation entering a team.
However, the problem is what team it will be.
When the Olympic tournament was amateur, players from all four home countries, England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland could be selected with the blessing of their individual associations.
However, the criteria for selection have changed over 40 years. Players have to be under 23 years-old, although three players over that age can be included.
Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland are petrified that if players from those countries take part next year then their status as independent nations, which they historically and jealously guard, will be undermined.
Football associations round the world will naturally wonder why if there can be a professional British team in the Olympics, there can’t be one for the World Cup or European Championship.
Many European countries will see one British team as a way to improve their chances of qualifying for the final stages of these competitions.
Both the International Olympic Committee and FIFA are keen to see the 2012 Olympic tournament as a major success.
FIFA has assured the four home nations in writing that their independence will not be comprised. Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland see such assurances as worthless because administrations change and a future Executive Committee may view the situation differently.
And, anyway, given the recent record of members of the FIFA Executive Committee for rank dishonesty, no one can blame the Scots, Welsh and Irish.
They have allowed the Football Association (of England) to organise both the men’s and women’s teams and the two managers were recently announced: Stuart Pearce for the men and Hope Powell for the women.
However, the whole issue of whether players from the other nations will be selected became prominent last week when Gareth Bale, the Welsh International, was pictured wearing a British shirt, with his spokesman saying “while he is 100 percent Welsh, he is also British.”
This was as clear an indication as is possible that Bale wants to be considered and given that he is one of the most gifted young players in the Premiership, as his two goals for Tottenham Hotspur against Queen’s Park Rangers last Sunday indicated, this was a real coup for Team GB.
Another may well be that David Beckham, who played such an important role in London getting the Games in 2005, is believed to be interested in having the Games as his international swansong.
The FAs of Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland admit they cannot stop the players from taking part in the tournament, which is being held across the British Isles. Still, they will obviously try to persuade any of their players of their views.
However, a far stronger influence may well be from the clubs, who will not want their players disturbing their pre-season training by participating in a tournament, especially if they have earlier taken part in the European Championship.
What therefore may be even more significant is the composition of the women’s team because that influence from the clubs will not be there and also because the women’s Olympic football tournament enjoys a far higher status than the Women’s World Cup.
If any Scottish, Welsh or Northern Irish women take part next year, some countries in the world may well then be knocking on the door of FIFA insisting that, in future, a British women’s team is entered for international tournaments. And after the women...perhaps the men ?
** JOHN GOODBODY covered the 2008 Olympics for The Sunday Times, his 11th successive Summer Games and is the author of the audio book A History of the Olympics, read by Barry Davies, the BBC commentator. He was Sports News Correspondent of The Times 1986-2007, for whom he received journalistic awards in all three decades on the paper, including Sports Reporter of The Year in 2001.
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