its only been worthless because we have never entered a team, i bet there will be loads of interest if we field one.....
H, The problem as I see it is that the football world is getting too big. With the developing world wanting more places in the World Cup Finals, since the 1st World Cup, Europe has had a large amount of finalists. Africa, Asia & Australasia are starting to pull together to get the amount of European finalists down to allow more from their area. They say why should an area the size of the UK have more teams that Africa, we have always been able to show that we are separate nations but a GB team in the Olympics would lose that argument. With the fall of the iron curtain Europe has more & more countries and with the chance of fewer places in the finals we could see groups of 8 - 10 teams. UEFA & FIFA would welcome less teams because they will be fighting for fewer places. PS I don't trust UEFA or FIFA
hmmmmmmmmm Australasia is Oceania and we pulled out to go to asia so NZ are guaranteed a playoff spot every 4 years
If FIFA or EUFA wanted to 'shaft' Wales, Scotland, N. Ireland & England (they would lose their identity too)...they would do it anyway....regardless of whether a 'Team GB' was entered into the Olympics
Controversial it maybe but any Welshman who signs up for this should never wear the Welsh shirt again, they all talk about pride in wearing the red shirt of our country, now lets see if they have the balls to defend the right of our small nation to compete as an independant nation, and i include joe allen in that as well, and hang their heads in shame if any of our players join this , one thing you can guarantee there will be no Team GB at the next olympics and neither should there be at this one either So to summarise the English FA can go and **** themselves and the BOC with them, and if Bale and Ramsay insist on playing for the England U21s next year, well that will prove their pride in playing for the red shirt, and if it was up to me they would never wear it again. Cymru am Byth
The only ones I remember are Argentina and Nigeria (I think), but that is beside the point. To play in the Olympics in your home country would be a massive honour for a sportsperson.....even a Pro footballer. The buck lies with the FIFA proving, in writing, that it will not effect the Welsh/ home nations standing as individual nations. Fifa hates the fact as "founding fathers" we have individual votes, and would love to get shot of it. If not forthcoming, the FAW will continue to stick their heads in the sand. If they do not get this in writing, any Welsh player who decides to rebel and puts themeselves forward without the FAW's go ahead get's my blessing and goodwishes. For internal politics to destroy an individual's dream is a tradegy. Perhaps it will give the kick up the arse the FAW needs. Cymru am byth
why is there a British lions team......its exactly the same thing with players coming together to represent great Britain every 4 years. what is the problem with that. if rugby can do it why not football..?
Dai, If there were 100+ teams trying to get into the Rugby world cup finals, I think there might be quite a few asking the same question.
Mabon....no disrespect.....but your wrong.....I'm Welsh first and foremost......but i'm also british if i had the opportunity to play in an international tournament finals....then i would....simples..... as for the repurcusions (spelling???)...see my point #24...IMHO
http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/15692920.stm http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/league_of_wales/9416122.stm
Speaking at the International Football Association Board (Ifab) annual meeting in Newport, south Wales, Fifa president Blatter said his organisation has done all it can to help the BOA persuade the four home nations to form a team for the London Games. Trust him at your peril.
This is the thing, iF FIFA had proven themselves to a trust-worthy reliable organisation, then fine. However, if a bunch of countries who want extra places in the WC decide to throw loads of brown paper envelopes around I'd be surprised if Wales continued to have a football team. I wish it didn't, but this really, really worries me regarding the future of the Welsh national team.
Dicky so you would be happy for Wales to lose their footballing independance so Ramsay,Bale and Joe Allen can have their ego's stroked, and if you think that FIFA will not take steps to make TEAM GB a permanent arrangement you are and i say this with the utmost respect very naieve , Sepp Blatter has admitted that this is a very real threat and advised the home nations to let the english put a team out, to do otherwise willl risk our independance. Now you must ask yourself this question, why has there not been a team put forward over the last 40 years, the answer is simple the olympic football team means nowt to the 4 home nations, the only reason they want 1 now is because its london and lets show the world how united we are, if the olympics were in another country do you think they would be making such a fuss about this, i think not and whatever people think about the FAW is not important what is important is that we keep our national team, because if we become the football association of great britain many of our young people will not have the chance to be in the priveleged position that messers ramsay,bale and allen are in now because the english will be running the show if that happens and the team will be england utd, wales,scotland and n ireland will not have a look in. but more importantly the third oldest football association will be consigned to history books. And if you think that is not a possibility like i said earlier you are very naieve. Any welshman who joins this team does not have the future interests of our small nation at heart and i have no doubt that in some way they are proud of being welsh, so now is the time to show it and distance themselves from team gb, rather than help FIFA , personally any player who puts that team gb shirt on, should never ever wear the proud shirt of Wales again no matter how good they are because the Welsh team is more important than any individual, and to even think of playing for team gb and put us at risk , they dont deserve to play for our proud nation