Saint Domingo
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THE Scottish Football Association hopes that any Scot selected for Team GB at the London Olympics in 2012 will declare himself unavailable for the sake of the country.
But the governing body knows it will essentially be powerless to prevent anyone participating in the event should they be inclined to accept the invitation.
There are 525 days until London 2012 kicks off. Make that 523 if you are talking about the Olympic football competition, which will begin with a women’s match at Hampden Park two days before the opening ceremony itself. Yet still the issue of British involvement in the football event remains chaotic.
The story so far runs as follows: Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland are adamant that they will have nothing to do with the tournament. Those three home nations co-authored a letter in May 2009 saying they would not participate in either the men’s or women’s teams, but would not prevent England from fielding both teams under the British banner. They insist that the participation of their players in a Great British team would undermine their footballing autonomy and, crucially, threaten their Fifa vice-presidency and involvement in the game’s rule-making International Football Association Board.
Written guarantees from Sepp Blatter, FIFA’s president, insist that would not be the case, but the SFA point to the likes of Jack Warner, a FIFA vice-president, an emerging Middle Eastern power base in the world game, perceived double dealing over the World Cup, and say there is no such thing as a cast-iron guarantee in the ever shifting sands of world football.
England’s Football Association would be similarly affected by any such change but clearly do not share those fears. It is they who are mandated by the British Olympic Association (BOA) to administer a side in both the men’s and women’s competition – the men’s event is under-23, with three over-age players permitted – and they decided last week that Stuart Pearce was the “logical” candidate for team manager, a decision which is almost certain to be rubber stamped by the BOA.
That, coupled with the freeing up of some fixture dates, heavily suggests that Team GB 2012 will bear an uncanny resemblance to the England Under-21 side. Such an outcome might not exactly please the crowds at the Millennium Stadium or Hampden Park, but it would at least allow administrators to breathe a sigh of relief.
There remains a significant sticking point. Or two. Colin Moynihan, the BOA chief executive, in session with the House of Commons Culture, Media and Sport Committee in December, restated the case that the Olympic charter prevents any form of discrimination when it comes to team selection. The only way for Pearce to square that circle then would be to argue that his team is selected on merit, even if they are all English.
“We are not the English Olympic Committee,” said Moynihan, the former Conservative sports minister. “You would be the first to criticise me if I was to discriminate against an outstanding athlete who had the opportunity to participate.
“If I said I refused to allow the chance for an outstanding Scottish footballer, Welsh footballer, or Northern Irish footballer to participate you would be as strong in your criticism on me on that basis as you would be if I were to discriminate on the basis of religion, colour or creed.”
Another factor to be taken into account is that the European Club Association, the powerful forum of Europe’s top clubs, recently stated their view that no player who has participated in the Euro 2012 finals in June should be called upon for another major tournament in such short order afterwards. This could rule out the top tranche of English players and make the credentials of someone like Tottenham Hotspur’s Gareth Bale, who will turn 23 just a week before the tournament, even more alluring.
All it would take would be for Pearce to select one of these players and we would be in uncharted constitutional territory. Bale recently indicated he would be amenable to the idea of taking part in 2012, although the Welsh FA insisted last night that this was hardly his settled will and clearly hope their man would reconsider once he has the chance to understand the full ramifications.
Craig Gordon, who would have a claim on being the best UK goalkeeper currently around, has similarly hedged his bets in the past. In the women’s game, Bale’s countrywoman Gwennan Harries recently criticised the stance of the FAW, while Julie Fleeting and Kim Little are just two Scots who could be an asset to Team GB. Scotland haven’t reached a major finals since 1998, Northern Ireland since 1982 and Wales the mid-70s, so you could hardly blame a player who fancied the chance to play on the big stage.
Sir Bobby Charlton spoke recently of how Lord Coe had personally asked him on behalf of LOCOG, the London Olympic Games organising committee, to try to build bridges between the home nations. A return of the Home International Championship has been floated as a bargaining chip. Plenty has been written about the subject already but the Team GB debate might only be warming up.
But the governing body knows it will essentially be powerless to prevent anyone participating in the event should they be inclined to accept the invitation.
There are 525 days until London 2012 kicks off. Make that 523 if you are talking about the Olympic football competition, which will begin with a women’s match at Hampden Park two days before the opening ceremony itself. Yet still the issue of British involvement in the football event remains chaotic.
The story so far runs as follows: Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland are adamant that they will have nothing to do with the tournament. Those three home nations co-authored a letter in May 2009 saying they would not participate in either the men’s or women’s teams, but would not prevent England from fielding both teams under the British banner. They insist that the participation of their players in a Great British team would undermine their footballing autonomy and, crucially, threaten their Fifa vice-presidency and involvement in the game’s rule-making International Football Association Board.
Written guarantees from Sepp Blatter, FIFA’s president, insist that would not be the case, but the SFA point to the likes of Jack Warner, a FIFA vice-president, an emerging Middle Eastern power base in the world game, perceived double dealing over the World Cup, and say there is no such thing as a cast-iron guarantee in the ever shifting sands of world football.
England’s Football Association would be similarly affected by any such change but clearly do not share those fears. It is they who are mandated by the British Olympic Association (BOA) to administer a side in both the men’s and women’s competition – the men’s event is under-23, with three over-age players permitted – and they decided last week that Stuart Pearce was the “logical” candidate for team manager, a decision which is almost certain to be rubber stamped by the BOA.
That, coupled with the freeing up of some fixture dates, heavily suggests that Team GB 2012 will bear an uncanny resemblance to the England Under-21 side. Such an outcome might not exactly please the crowds at the Millennium Stadium or Hampden Park, but it would at least allow administrators to breathe a sigh of relief.
There remains a significant sticking point. Or two. Colin Moynihan, the BOA chief executive, in session with the House of Commons Culture, Media and Sport Committee in December, restated the case that the Olympic charter prevents any form of discrimination when it comes to team selection. The only way for Pearce to square that circle then would be to argue that his team is selected on merit, even if they are all English.
“We are not the English Olympic Committee,” said Moynihan, the former Conservative sports minister. “You would be the first to criticise me if I was to discriminate against an outstanding athlete who had the opportunity to participate.
“If I said I refused to allow the chance for an outstanding Scottish footballer, Welsh footballer, or Northern Irish footballer to participate you would be as strong in your criticism on me on that basis as you would be if I were to discriminate on the basis of religion, colour or creed.”
Another factor to be taken into account is that the European Club Association, the powerful forum of Europe’s top clubs, recently stated their view that no player who has participated in the Euro 2012 finals in June should be called upon for another major tournament in such short order afterwards. This could rule out the top tranche of English players and make the credentials of someone like Tottenham Hotspur’s Gareth Bale, who will turn 23 just a week before the tournament, even more alluring.
All it would take would be for Pearce to select one of these players and we would be in uncharted constitutional territory. Bale recently indicated he would be amenable to the idea of taking part in 2012, although the Welsh FA insisted last night that this was hardly his settled will and clearly hope their man would reconsider once he has the chance to understand the full ramifications.
Craig Gordon, who would have a claim on being the best UK goalkeeper currently around, has similarly hedged his bets in the past. In the women’s game, Bale’s countrywoman Gwennan Harries recently criticised the stance of the FAW, while Julie Fleeting and Kim Little are just two Scots who could be an asset to Team GB. Scotland haven’t reached a major finals since 1998, Northern Ireland since 1982 and Wales the mid-70s, so you could hardly blame a player who fancied the chance to play on the big stage.
Sir Bobby Charlton spoke recently of how Lord Coe had personally asked him on behalf of LOCOG, the London Olympic Games organising committee, to try to build bridges between the home nations. A return of the Home International Championship has been floated as a bargaining chip. Plenty has been written about the subject already but the Team GB debate might only be warming up.
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