Well I for one am looking forward to watching Team GB the Olympics. 'll be at Wembley cheering them on especially the Welsh lads, and I'll even cheer Bellamy.
Now i am very happy for you that you feel the way you do, but i think that in a wider footballing context you are missing the point,
Cheers Mabon. I dont see Team GB being a threat to the Welsh side though. Team GB will immediately turn into a farce though if Beckham is selected and it turns into a Beckham show.
Stereotongue you talk as if we would have influence over it, beleive me the footballing world would not give a monkees what we thought about it, england tried to get support by sounding out other football nations such as germany,holland etc after they lost the vote for world cup 2018, the silence from the feedback coming back was deafening, the british footballing nations are not that popular within FIFA.
To be honest with you, I think you are missing the point as well MabonJack, the Olympics are held once every four years, every nation in the world can take place that is counted as a country, as a host nation we are very lucky, when I was in Greece in 2004 I stayed for almost the entire games, the Greeks loved it. I am sure the people of this country will as well. I was lucky I saw the torch three times in different areas, you could see people are behind the games.
I don't see the olympic team as a threat today, or tomorrow but the fact we have played as 1 team may well be a threat a little way down the line, there are countries within FIFA who will try and make it a reality another time, they have already tried a few times in recent years, why make it easier for them, just for a month of union jack flag waving
Personally valley i dont care about the olympics, its the Welsh football team i care about, now most people in this country are just looking at a month of people running round in circles, jumping over bars , throwing balls of steel and spears as far as they can. etc, and that is great for those with an interest in it, now ask yourself this question, we as the four home nations in football have not competed in the olympics since 1972,and before that it was known as the english amateur football team, now the olympics in london and they want a team, where have they been for the last 40 years, i will tell you they had no interest,now if england were not in the euros we would not be having this discussion. it has been well documented that there are very real risks to us getting involved in this, it is no accident that all the celtic nations want no part of this.
I personally see the countries on this island as four separate nations, We dont play as GB at anytime if the olympics were in another country they would not give a toss about it, we are 3 countries and a principality and this nonsense we should not have a GB team once every 4 years is long over due and im glad we have entered a team,... Many people in certain quarters been campaigning for a football side in the olympics for many years.... Everyone else has entered and as we are represented at GB level in all the other sports That are taking place then the rules are that we can only enter as GB just like all the other sports ....why in the world would anyone want to stop that....what good does it do....the nation enters as GB and all home countries represent the the Nation that includes all the british isles so why not football.....
Dai we are a country now,we qualify under european rules, and anyway for footballing purposes we are officially a member country of fifa, there is that country thing again. Why in the world would you want to play as 1 dai, that dont make sense
You are wrong there MabonJack, I have seen that the Celtic nations are very much for the Olympics, they estimate 700k welsh people saw the torches throughout the land! What you mean is of course that the backward thinking people in the FAW are not for it, they are trying to protect their own cushy numbers they have. As for the 5 votes that the British have out of 9 I think you said in the last thread we discussed, I think it's a disgrace and nepotism at its worst, no wonder other nations are pissed off about it. FIFA is a worldwide organisation and should represent more than what the British are, I have travelled and lived out of the UK and can see why this get the backs up of other countries. And before you say it, I am all for welsh football, what I can't stand is obvious situations that are unfair, I think that there should only be one vote for all of us with the other votes going to other countries. That is all the argument is about votes , they don't really care if the home nations are in FIFA
Valley when i talk about celtic nations i talk about the governing bodies, i am not saying the people within those celtic nations, now i am glad you are acknowledging the fact that there people within FIFA who maybe a little pissed off with the special priveleges we as home nations have within FIFA, now those are the people we need to be worried about, these people are from the african continent and concacaf, it is well documented valley that these continenents have tried in recent years to force a vote on the status of the british football associations, they failed then but the will is still there, sepp blatter has told all the home nations this, but only the celtic nations are listening I have never said that you are not loyal to welsh football or Wales far from it, but what i will say is this, you are one of a very few individuals who trust FIFA.
Mabon on the this subject is like Jager on the subject of agents , very passionate & never will their minds be changed !
I am not saying to trust FIFA without thought, but you must see the unfairness of the way it's structured to favour the British ? We are like the british empire in world football, I think that is unfair and shouldn't be in this day and age, no matter that we saved FIFA going back 50 years ago. The whole thing stinks and if you looked at this objectively you can see it, it's not about our nations in FIFA as it makes little difference if we are in it, what the objections are is the power of having 5 votes has. Out of interest though who exactly can vote in this committee in FIFA ?
Valley i agree with you it is unfair, that is what is worrying me about this whole thing, the africans and americas are gaining more influence within FIFA with each passing year, home nations (4+ permanent vice president, each home nation has a turn every 4 years), uefa, concacaf,africans,australasia,
I respect your opinion, that why we have had some good debates on here of late, everyone has an opinion which is valid
