Alex Horne English FA's General Secretary has announced that it is very unlikely that there will be a combined Great Britain football team at the Rio de Janeiro olympics because of the risk to the independance of the home football nations.see link http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/ol...cs-says-FAs-Alex-Horne.html?ito=feeds-newsxml And from a man who said there was no risk to the home nations Cheers Mabon.
It's a shame as there is definitely an appetite for this, as you can see by the numbers watching. I enjoyed the final and the atmosphere of it.
The question i would like answered is why they lied to the british public,and made the FAW,SFA,IFA out to be the enemy, when all the time they knew the risk was there, and continues to be there, they obviously forgot to tell the welsh players they too had concerns, for me it confirms all i have been saying on here for months.
he was on talk sport today and said there is a chance that their will be a team GB in rio... he said its a red herring with fifa and they have at no time said or have indicated they would say that we cant field a GB team once every 4 years. and this was out ouf his own mouth and not what a reporter have written in the daily mail. He cant see any reason whatsoever that we cannot field a mens and womens team in rio....
Dai sepp blatter has stated categorically there is a risk and that was out of his mouth also, the english only wanted this team because they were under pressure from the last labour government and the BOC. I gaurantee you Dai there will be no football team at the next olympics.
Dai there can only be a team gb football team if the english have the agreement of the other home nation, which they will never get again from Wales,Scotland or N Ireland, especially after breaking the last agreement by picking welsh players, keep your team gb shirt for a while it will be worth a fortune in the football memorabilia market in a few years
Looking at the Fail article, it doesn't give quotes about the fears of the FA on there, so is it the interpretation of the reporter's opinion or did Alex Home say those words ? It's funny that the article writer has missed that quote out of his report. I mean they are an upstanding paper that wouldn't dream of bullshitting
Well every article that i read has it as a direct quote. But valley we all knew this before the olympics, it was a PR exercise by the government BOC it was widely reported that there would not be another one, that is the only reason the other home nations stood aside, if they said it was going to be a permanent fixture every 4 years, the other home nations would have refused to sign that letter to FIFA in 2010 for sure. Alex horne is only killing peoples expectation now because the English FA don't want it either.
Really ? Care to link to some of these articles as obviously you have read them and it will save me looking. Also as I went to the games and you didn't I got speaking to people and they would love a TeamGB as a permanent fixture. I am for that for the Olympics only, but the reality is the qualification and it's impossible as I said a month ago as the countries qualify in the under 21 football, which the home nations compete as individuals.
The truth is valley none of the home nations have any interest in a permanent Team GB and rightly so, the reality is that the 4 home nations know there is a real risk of losing their independence, and come rio in 2016 neither will the government care about an olympic football team , if the olympics had been held abroad this summer none of the above would have given a toss about entering a team, the government tried to use it as a unifying PR exercise, personally they were misguided because they are very naieve when it comes to the politics within world football, those that opposed it 7 years ago were right and are still right today. And it would appear that Horne and the english fa now agree with them. Strange they wait until the olympics has ended before withdrawing their support for the next olympics.
10 or a possible 12 depending on if its a group of 5/6 teams. They would have to be in the top 3 european sides that qualify from the 2015 under 21 world cup. The problem is tho that we do not compete in FIFA tournaments as a unified team.
How would they stop players wishing to take part as TeamGB if they want to Mabon ? They have a right to do so as they are British, and could conceivably compete without a country in the Olympics as some have already done so. Not that's it's likely to happen, the point is the FAs cannot force people to do things and bend them to their way, just look at the welsh players who ignored the FAW. They knew that they were powerless to act as everyone if picked has the right to represent their country. Also the federations may have no interest Mabon, but as this about the players and public opinion what they want could mean very little
Valley unless the celtic nations agree to it there can not be a team gb football team, before this team could take the field Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland had to agree in writing that they would step aside and let england form a team for the olympics which was agreed and forwarded to FIFA in May 2011, without that letter there would not have been a team, england promised the celtic nations that they would pick english only players for that team, but they reneged on their promise, now regardless of what the players and public want unless the celtic nations agree like they did for the london olympics england can not enter a british team in any competition. now what the point would be for entering a team that is countryless defeats the object i would say. Ask yourself the question why have they not bothered with this since 1972, because they know what the risks are.
Ask yourself this, why did players from the Celtic nations ignore the federations ? The answer is that they know that they are powerless to act. Like other sports British people have a right to represent their country. I am not saying its going to happen but the federations cannot do anything about it. And looking at the players taking part they obviously enjoyed it, and the fact that the games were sold out so did the public. We haven't heard the last of TeamGB football in the Olympics, and it will happen again at some point
sorry mabon you cant guarantee nothing....why? because as the main man said we did nothing wrong and fifa has not said anything at all about us fielding a team once every 4 years for the Olympics....what is the big deal? there is none, there was none and there wont be none in rio in 4 years time....If fifa had said anything or did not want us to field a team then like the man said....we would have to look into it but fifa were fully aware and they said nothing and thats because the Olympics is a special games that happen once every 4 years and it dont interfere with fifa one bit.....
No direct quote from Horne you note, only a statement forming part of the article written by a journalist. I have tried to find out exactly what Horne said but I could find none that show unequivocally he said this. I tend not to believe journalists. But whatever the case, Dai is spot on. There is no evidence that Team GB would have an effect on the independence of the home nations. Nobody has said that it would be for anything other than the Olympics. You still have Euro and World Cup tournaments and nobody has said that Wales wouldn't compete in those. If you can point to any quote by anyone that says anything else I'd be interested to see it. There has been an assurance from FIFA to the contrary on the other hand. Fact is that most of the Team GB critics have political motivations that are fuelled by a hatred on anything English. If I had my way, (here's the grenade) and yes I know my views are extreme and in the minority, we'd have an England & Wales team as we do in cricket. Standards would be raised across the board and the teams in the LOW (which is of a shocking standard) might actually improve by playing English teams. We'd do away with the laughably amateur FAW once and for all. Yay! Internationally, we could still be proud of Welsh players who play for the team and they might actually win something. One of the great tragedies of Welsh football is that the rare world class talent that we produce never have and will never will play on a world stage. Giggs, Hughs, Rush, Bale, I could go on. All have experienced international failure and I see no change any time soon. I accept most people won't agree, but that doesn't change my views on Team GB who did us proud. Just ask the Swans players who have benefited hugely from their experience what they think.
KJ ... agree! I like the Team GB concept. It's good to see the best of the younger generation going up against their peers. It's a very good standard of football to watch. If the SFA and FAW are concerned about teir futures they should be more progressive, relevant, and professional in their approaches in everything they do.
well said kangaroo.. we would be playing youngsters anyway and not first team international players, Like was said on talk sport...It gives some of the players a taste of playing on the big stage that they would probably never would experience in their life..The home nation teams will always take priority and no player would be allowed to play for GB if the home nations dont let them......scotland would not let their players play but wales and england left it up to the players to decide....you can bet after watching how popular the tournament was that scotland and N ireland will let their players play in rio...
